Samuel Morin’s time in Philadelphia has come to a close, at least for about eight months or so. The Flyers announced that on the final day of training camp, they’ve sent the defenseman back to Rimouski of the QMJHL, where he’ll play out his final junior season.
Ultimately, this is the right decision for Morin’s development. He’s a strong player and quite honestly would make the Flyers defense better right now, but that’s more an indictment on the Flyers NHL-level defenders than it is on Morin being NHL ready. He has flaws and taking another year to develop in junior will help him.
It’s a little interesting given the rumors that the Flyers want to move a defenseman, and the speculation that said move would be because they wanted Morin to stick around. But they have options, of course — ones that are more flexible than Morin, since he can only play in the NHL or in juniors, nowhere in between. There’s Shayne Gostisbehere, who could be called up from Lehigh Valley at any time, and there’s also Robert Hagg or Mark Alt or Brandon Manning, who could all be called up as well if the Flyers move a contract on the blue line.
There’s also the salary cap issue. As Kevin Christmann detailed yesterday, by sending Morin back to junior now — as opposed to on the first day of the NHL season — the Flyers are probably leaving salary cap space on the table. It’s a complicated issue with long-term injured reserve space and whatnot, but Kevin’s done a good job explaining how it works, so check out that link if you’re interested.
