Nikolay Zherdev has cleared waivers today, according to Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com. This means that he stays in the Philadelphia Flyers organization, and now, there are options.
– The Flyers could keep him right where he is now — in the press box. He’ll still be unhappy and he’ll still be the same old Zherdev.
– The Flyers could assign him to the Phantoms. If Zherdev reports, he’s a Phantom. Cool, no cap hit. If Zherdev doesn’t report, which seems a lot more likely, the Flyers can suspend him and his cap hit would go out the window.
– He could just bolt to Russia, which would likely spell the end of his NHL career.
The curious wrench thrown into all this is that Zherdev skated this morning at the WFC during the Flyers’ optional skate. That’s weird, isn’t it? I can’t imagine why he would do that after being waived by the team, unless Jay Grossman made him do it as a showing of good faith. Who knows anymore, though?
