The Flyers roll into tonight’s game against Columbus on their hottest streak of the season, and now they’re getting back some of the forwards that were hurt before it all started:
Cousins and McDonald have been loaned to @LVPhantoms, while Umberger and White have been activated from IR → https://t.co/m6K47BllAn
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 5, 2015
Umberger started the year out fairly well but fell way off after what evidently was another injury, so the team wasn’t looking to take any chances with him. His being ready to go means the team has to be about as confident as it can be that he’s healthy. If he can play like he did in early-to-mid-October — as opposed to the way he did right before he was put on IR — he can be a boost to this team’s bottom-6.
White, meanwhile, figures to slot in on the fourth line following a shoulder injury that he suffered a couple of weeks back.
Cousins and McDonald, meanwhile, will both head back to Lehigh Valley, where they’ll have bigger roles and more minutes waiting for them than they did here after a pair of fairly quiet NHL stints for the two of them. McDonald had a goal against Nashville on Black Friday, but that was all for either one of them in terms of scoring, and both of them were playing right around eight minutes per game with no special teams time.
While there will surely be some hand-wringing over messing with the lineup during a winning streak, chances are losing either of them won’t make a big difference for now. The team will continue to work with Cousins as a prospect in Lehigh Valley, while McDonald can be another veteran presence for the young talent they’ve got down there.
