The Flyers have assigned Scott Laughton to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a conditioning loan, meaning he’s at most two weeks from returning to the NHL lineup.
Laughton has been skating since October 23 in his recovery from a lower-body injury suffered in early October. He was originally scheduled to be out for 3-4 weeks.
The Phantoms have upcoming games on Friday in Providence and on Saturday at home against Springfield.
Here are the rules on conditioning loans, via the NHL CBA:
Unless a Player consents, he shall not be Loaned on a Conditioning Loan to a minor league club. Such Conditioning Loan shall not extend for more than fourteen (14) consecutive days. The Commissioner may take whatever steps he deems necessary to investigate the circumstances under which a Player is Loaned on a Conditioning Loan. If the Commissioner has reason to believe or determines that the Club has used the Conditioning Loan to evade Waivers, or otherwise Circumvent any provision of this Agreement, he may take such disciplinary action against the Club, as he deems appropriate. The Player shall continue, during the period of such Conditioning Loan, to receive the same Paragraph 1 NHL Salary, and be entitled to the same benefits, that he would have received had he continued to play with the Club.
Laughton is exempt from waivers, so it’s possible that he winds up back with Lehigh Valley anyway. He could be an odd-man out here in Philadelphia given the rest of the bottom-six and the impending return of Michael Raffl to the lineup. We’ll see.
