Four Players Placed On Waivers

Feb 24: Friedman has been claimed on waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The other three have cleared and can now be assigned to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Feb 23: The Philadelphia Flyers have placed Mark Friedman on waivers, a move that would allow them to send him to the taxi squad or minor leagues. The Flyers are expected to get several players back from the COVID Protocol list in the coming days, including Claude Giroux today as he re-joined the team for practice.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, three other players–Tanner Kero, Tommy Cross and Luke Schenn–have also been placed on waivers today.

Friedman (the player, not the scribe), has played in four games for the Flyers this season, including their outdoor match at Lake Tahoe. He was forced to play both forward and defense in that game thanks to the large number of regulars out of the lineup, but that just shows how far down he is on the defensive depth chart at this point. His placement on waivers shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given how easily players have passed through this season.

Kero is much of the same story, having already cleared waivers earlier this year. The 28-year-old center has played in nine games and has two points, but usually shuffles between the active roster and taxi squad for the Dallas Stars and isn’t expected to be claimed. Kero has two points and 24 total in his 81-game NHL career. Cross meanwhile has just three games under his belt at the NHL level and none since the 2015-16 season. The 31-year-old put up 21 points in 50 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds last season.

It’s Schenn that is the interesting name here, even if he too is unlikely to be claimed. The 31-year-old defenseman has nearly 800 games of NHL experience and a recent Stanley Cup on his resume with the Tampa Bay Lightning. For just an $800K salary that’s a ton of experience that could be useful to a banged-up team. In 14 games this season Schenn has just one point, but that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. He has just 149 points in his long career and hasn’t scored more than 16 since the 2011-12 season.