What Your Team Is Thankful For: Philadelphia Flyers
As the new year approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Who are the Flyers thankful for?
John Tortorella
The dominant storyline of this Flyers season has been the team’s unexpected competitiveness. The team is currently 18-11-4, which places them third place in the Metropolitan Division but only one point behind the New York Islanders with a game in hand.
Tortorella’s fingerprints are all over the Flyers’ unexpected strength this season.
Tortorella has long been highly regarded for his ability to get the most out of teams who enter most nights at a talent disadvantage compared to their opponents.
He keeps his teams highly accountable, extremely hard-working, and generally maintains a fierce commitment to a hard-to-break-down defensive structure.
The 2023-24 Flyers have been exactly that sort of team. While they’re among the league’s lower-scoring teams, they rank inside the top 10 in terms of the fewest goals surrendered per game and surrender the fifth-fewest shots against per game. In addition, their penalty kill is a bright spot as it ranks fifth in the NHL, killing penalties at an 87.5% rate.
Tortorella is accomplishing all this with the help of talented defensive players such as Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton, though he has also overseen significant player development for specific Flyers. Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost went from first-round “bust” conversations to scoring 27 goals and 46 points, respectively, while blueliners such as Sean Walker and Rasmus Ristolainen have each notably improved under Tortorella’s watch from where they were before.
The Flyers are attempting a large-scale, long-term rebuild with the hope of building a contending team that can compete for Stanley Cups on a legitimate basis for a long period of time. Part of that strategy has been acquiring high-end players through the draft, and it’s true that Tortorella’s success has made it less likely that the Flyers will have a top pick at the 2024 draft.
That being said, the development of the existing players in the Flyers organization is also of paramount importance to the Flyers’ rebuild, and much of the Flyers’ recent winning under Tortorella has come off the back of the development of numerous players.
What are the Flyers thankful for?
A weaker-than-expected Metropolitan Division.
Remember how the Flyers are within striking distance of second place in the Metropolitan Division? Let’s look at how they got there. While the Flyers’ climb in the standings has been in large part due to their own improved play, the sputtering form of many teams who were expected to be division heavyweights this season has helped them along.
Porous goaltending and an inconsistent offensive attack has cost the Hurricanes this season, and while they are comfortably in a Wild Card spot they do not appear to be the contenders for the division title that they have been in recent years.
The Capitals have recovered from a slow start under new head coach Spencer Carbery, but their offensive attack does not have the juice it has had in recent years, and they do not have a single player currently on pace to score 55 or more points.
The Devils have fought through poor goaltending and poor defensive play all season, and those issues combined with injuries have led to a far slower-than-expected start. And in Pittsburgh, team-wide inconsistency has led to a squad capable of decimating a team 7-0 on one night (as they did yesterday) and then losing by the same margin on another.
While each of those teams could reasonably re-enter the playoff picture over the course of the rest of the season, so far their struggles have paved the way for Flyers fans to have legitimate hope for playoff hockey. Is that something that could be reasonably hoped for just a few months ago? Probably not, which means Flyers fans have quite a bit to be thankful for.
What would the Flyers be even more thankful for?
An improved power play.
The Flyers’ blueprint for success this season has been mixing hard work and a stringent commitment to defensive hockey in order to grind out wins against teams who frequently boast more talented lineups. While that blueprint has brought the Flyers into playoff position in this early portion of the season, there have been some costs attached.
First and foremost, the Flyers’ power play currently ranks as the NHL’s worst, converting on just 10.6% of its chances. Even the St. Louis Blues, who suffered through a historically poor start on the man advantage, have now surpassed the Flyers.
In part due to the Flyers’ inability to put together consistent offense on the power play, several of the team’s offensive players have either failed to take meaningful steps forward or taken steps back in terms of production.
Morgan Frost scored 46 points last season but instead of vaulting into the 50-60 point region, he is now on pace to score 32 points. It’s a similar story for Noah Cates, who scored 38 points as a rookie but scored only four this season before going down with an injury. There was hope Tyson Foerster would make an instant impact after scoring seven points in eight games down the stretch last season, but his adjustment has been slower than anticipated and he is on pace to score 33 points.
The Flyers’ defensemen, goaltenders, and select forwards are enjoying positive campaigns for their development. But unless the power play can get on track, the Flyers won’t be operating to their maximum capabilities from a player development perspective.
What should be on the Flyers’ holiday wish list?
An answer to Sean Walker’s future in Philadelphia.
One of the breakout players for the Flyers this season has been Walker, a 29-year-old defenseman acquired this past summer from the Los Angeles Kings. He has seen his ice time leap up from just 14:50 per game last season to 20:49 in this campaign. He’s helped anchor one of the league’s better penalty kill units and is even seeing some time on the power play.
But although Walker has emerged as one of the Flyers’ top blueliners, the reality is that he’s already 29 years old and his improved play will likely mean he’ll command a pay raise over his $2.65MM cap hit this season. For a Flyers team still building for a contending window a little bit more distant in the future, (for when Matvei Michkov is able to sign from Russia, for example) it’s fair to wonder if Walker fits into that timeline.
Any Walker extension would likely deliver the most return on investment in its first few years, and with Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim already on hefty contract extensions, there may not be room for another veteran addition.
This leaves the Flyers in a difficult spot. Do they dangle Walker on the trade market, where he would potentially be a top right-shot option and net the team valuable future assets? Or do they retain him as their own “rental” player to help them keep hold of the playoff spot they currently sit in, even if that means allowing Walker to leave in free agency?
The Flyers’ play moving forward will likely dictate which route they choose to go down, but more than anything else Flyers fans should be hoping to receive some sort of clarity on the future of one of this season’s bigger breakout players.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Washington Capitals Sign Ethan Bear
12/28/23: The Capitals have now officially announced Bear’s signing, confirming the two-year term of the contract as well as its $2.0625MM cap hit.
12/20/23: Washington wrote on X this morning that the team is “expected to sign” Bear “at a later date,” adding that he is joining the team for their morning skate today.
12/11/23: The Capitals have made a contract offer to unrestricted free-agent defenseman Ethan Bear and are expected to close a deal in the near future, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast Monday.
CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal added this morning that Bear’s agency has told his former team, the Canucks, that they’re out of the running for his services. Dhaliwal surmises that the key element in Bear’s decision will be term. The Capitals are one of the few teams prepared to offer Bear a multi-year deal, Friedman said, while the Canucks don’t have the financial flexibility to offer Bear anything more than a one-year, $1MM-prorated deal.
Washington would be the fourth NHL stop for Bear, who has suited up for the Oilers, Hurricanes and Canucks since Edmonton drafted him 124th overall in the 2015 draft. After playing a limited role in Carolina in 2021-22, Bear signed a one-year, $2.2MM deal with the Hurricanes following an arbitration filing but was dealt to Vancouver, along with depth forward Lane Pederson, for a fifth-round pick in the first few days of the 2022-23 campaign. Bear rebuilt his market value in Vancouver, recording three goals, 13 assists and 16 points in 61 games while averaging 18:32 per contest and posting a 51% Corsi share at even strength.
Named to Canada’s roster for the 2023 World Championship, Bear went without a point in eight games before sustaining a shoulder injury that required surgery in mid-June, which carried a projected recovery timeline of six months. With Bear out long-term and his role on the squad moving forward uncertain, the Canucks opted not to issue him a qualifying offer and let him reach unrestricted free agency.
That isn’t to say Vancouver wasn’t interested in retaining the 26-year-old once he was ready to return to play, as they’ve remained in discussions with Bear’s camp and had made contract offers in recent days. With Bear reportedly prioritizing term, however, there was no clear path for a return to the Canucks.
Instead, he looks to join a Capitals defense that’s been solid this season in preventing quality chances against but hasn’t provided much in the way of offense outside of John Carlson, who leads the team in assists with 14 in 25 games. Bear won’t move the needle in terms of point production from the Washington blueline, but he remains a well-rounded player who can log minutes on special teams. The Capitals’ penalty kill has been in the middle of the pack this season, ranking 18th in the league with a 79.8% success rate.
However, considering Bear is a right-shot defenseman, the fit seems a bit puzzling on Washington’s depth chart. Unless they’re looking to try Bear on his off-side, he would sit behind a rather deep right side of the Washington defense comprised of Carlson, Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk, all of whom have been competent this season. Bear is a valuable asset, but he’s not a major upgrade over either Jensen or van Riemsdyk, especially with all three of their right-shot defenders locked into seven-figure cap hits through 2026.
Detroit Red Wings Reassign Simon Edvinsson
The Detroit Red Wings have announced that defenseman Simon Edvinsson has been sent back down to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.
Whereas Edvinsson had been sent down earlier in a paper transaction, this move appears to be more lasting as it comes just as veteran blueliners Jeff Petry and Olli Määttä return to the Red Wings’ lineup.
The sixth overall pick at the 2021 draft, Edvinsson will return to a Grand Rapids team that he has starred for so far this season. In 25 games there he has scored six goals and 16 points, and he has paired that strong offensive production with refinements to his defensive game.
At the NHL level, Edvinsson played a sheltered role as the Red Wings sought to ease him into his first NHL games. He recorded his first point in last night’s loss to the Minnesota Wild, and could very well end up back in Detroit as the team’s first call-up whenever injury trouble strikes again, or if the Red Wings elect to move on from one of their established defensemen.
While there are likely Red Wings fans who would like to see Edvinsson remain in the NHL at the cost of regular ice time to a player like Määttä or Petry, it’s hardly a developmental setback for Edvinsson to play a heavy dose of minutes for a well-established AHL franchise.
Injury Updates: Werenski, Carpenter, Cates
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has dealt with significant injury issues in recent years, including an injury that knocked him out for most of last season. That bad luck continued last night when Werenski was knocked out of the team’s game against the New Jersey Devils after an awkward collision with Devils forward Ondřej Palát.
Today, team reporter Jeff Svoboda relayed word from Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent, who said that Werenski is still being evaluated but the injury is most likely going to keep Werenski out on a week-to-week basis. An extended Werenski absence could very well deal a killing blow to the Blue Jackets’ already long-shot playoff hopes, as the team would need to replace a defenseman scoring at a 60-point pace who plays over 24 minutes per night, including on both special teams units.
Some other injury updates from across the NHL:
- The San Jose Sharks announced that forward Ryan Carpenter has been activated off of injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the team placed forward Givani Smith on injured reserve, retroactive to December 21st. Carpenter has missed the last 10 games with an undisclosed injury and has five points in 18 games so far this season playing as a defensive/penalty-killing specialist in San Jose. Smith 25, has played in 26 games this season and has logged three points and 33 penalty minutes.
- According to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz, Philadelphia Flyers forward Noah Cates skated today as part of his recovery from a lower-body injury that was originally slated to cost him six to eight weeks. Cates was not having the strongest sophomore campaign before his injury, and his offensive production had declined sharply compared to last season. But in his rookie year he showed himself to be a promising defensive forward, so regardless of his struggles so far this year the Flyers have to be hoping that he’ll return to full strength relatively soon.
Central Notes: Barrie, Barlow, Spurgeon
The Nashville Predators announced today that defenseman Tyson Barrie has suffered an upper-body injury and is out on a day-to-day timeline. Barrie did not play in the team’s loss last night against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s been a difficult season for Barrie, who has not performed up to expectations under the new regime in Nashville. The Predators have reportedly given Barrie permission to seek a trade. Seeing as the 32-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, Barrie’s performance this season is of heightened long-term importance to the player, so it makes sense that he would look elsewhere for a more advantageous situation in order to enter the open market on the strongest footing possible. But before he can even consider that, he’ll now need to focus on getting back to full health.
Some other notes from the Central Division:
- One of the Winnipeg Jets’ top prospects, Colby Barlow, is returning to the lineup of his OHL team the Owen Sound Attack. (News via Jets reporter Jamie Thomas) Barlow was selected 18th overall by the Jets at this past summer’s draft and is in the midst of a crucial development season with Owen Sound. He has not played since November 8th, but when healthy scored nine goals and 14 points in 14 games.
- Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon has a “decent chance” of returning from injury to play in the team’s game Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. That would be a big add for the Wild, as Spurgeon has not played since December 10th. The Wild have fared well in his absence but they surely miss the heavy minutes he plays. If nothing else, his return could help lessen the workload placed on the shoulders of rookie Brock Faber, who has gotten close to 30 minutes in several games since Spurgeon got hurt.
Minnesota Wild Hire Cody Franson As AHL Assistant Coach
The Minnesota Wild have made two moves today regarding their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. They have hired former NHL defenseman Cody Franson as an assistant coach, replacing Pat Dwyer, who was promoted to the NHL when the Wild hired John Hynes.
In addition, Minnesota has reassigned defenseman Daemon Hunt to AHL Iowa in a move that, based on the number of recent transactions he has been involved in, could very well be just a paper transaction. Hunt was originally recalled on December 26th, but has not actually played in an AHL game since December 12th.
That being said, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today that defenseman Jared Spurgeon is back at Wild practice. Spurgeon has not played since December 10th but as the Wild’s most important defenseman he would obviously draw into the team’s lineup automatically, and the ripple effect of his return to health could mean Hunt returns to the AHL on a more permanent basis.
Hunt, 21, was the 65th overall pick at the 2020 draft and is in his second professional campaign. He jumped from the WHL to the AHL full-time last season and ended up playing in 65 games for Iowa, scoring just 11 points. His offensive game has seen a real uptick so far this season (he has nine points in 11 games) and Minnesota has rewarded that growth with his first set of NHL games. He’s played in nine NHL contests this season, averaging 10:07 time-on-ice. He’s registered one assist, 15 blocked shots, and four hits in those games.
As for Franson, this hire represents the 550-game NHL veteran’s first crack at coaching. The former AHL All-Star retired after a strong 2021-22 season with the Hershey Bears, a year in which he scored 35 points.
The Wild have quite a few defensive prospects in need of development in Iowa so a hire of someone who was so recently successful at both the AHL and NHL level is easy to understand.
East Notes: Thompson, Holmberg, Letang, Grzelcyk
The Sabres placed star center Tage Thompson on the non-roster list after he was absent from last night’s 4-1 loss to the Bruins for personal reasons. While the move was announced Thursday, it was likely filed with the league in order to reduce the Sabres’ active roster to 23 players before the holiday roster freeze lifted last night at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Buffalo is now at the maximum of 23 players on their roster, but they’ll still need to clear two roster spots in the near future: one to activate Thompson when he’s ready to return to the team, and one to activate injured forward Zemgus Girgensons, whose return to health is imminent.
It’s been a down season for Thompson, who had a three-point game against the Maple Leafs but has otherwise been ineffective since returning from a wrist injury that cost him nine games in November and early December. He has nine goals and 19 points in 26 games on the season, a significant decline from last season’s 47 goals and 94 points.
Elsewhere from the Eastern Conference today:
- The Maple Leafs recalled center Pontus Holmberg from AHL Toronto yesterday, per CapFriendly. Holmberg, who is still waiver-exempt, has been ferried up and down between leagues frequently this season to serve as injury insurance for the Maple Leafs. He last played on December 16 against the Penguins and has one assist in eight games this season, averaging 8:53 per game. He was a healthy scratch for last night’s loss against the Senators. The 24-year-old Swede has excelled at the AHL level this season, potting ten points in 11 games.
- Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is a member of one of the most venerable trios in hockey history with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but he’s often been overshadowed by the achievements of his peers. He took home a milestone of his own last night, however, setting an NHL record by registering five assists in the second period against the Islanders – the most ever in a single period by a defenseman. He added another assist in the third, giving him a six-point night and bringing him to 0.7 points per game on the season, much closer to the pace we’re accustomed to seeing from him. The 36-year-old is still barely ahead of Erik Karlsson for the highest average time on ice on the team (24:40) and is now second on the team in assists behind Jake Guentzel with 20. Letang has four seasons remaining after this on a contract carrying a $6.1MM cap hit.
- Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was in a regular jersey at practice today, according to the Boston Globe’s Conor Ryan, signaling he’s close to returning. Grzelcyk, 29, has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. He is not on injured reserve and is eligible to re-enter the lineup at any time. While he’s held a top-pairing role alongside Charlie McAvoy for most of the season, he may be losing out on his spot. Grzelcyk is currently in one of the worst stretches of his career, posting just one goal and a -3 rating in 20 contests this season while averaging 17:04 per game. 22-year-old rookie Mason Lohrei has seen looks with McAvoy in Grzelcyk’s absence and has put up better stats in more minutes, posting six points and a -1 rating in 18 contests while averaging 17:24 per contest.
Canadiens Activate Jordan Harris Off Injured Reserve
The Canadiens activated defenseman Jordan Harris off injured reserve Thursday, per a team release. To stay under the 23-player roster limit, Montreal returned winger Emil Heineman to AHL Laval in a corresponding transaction.
Harris is projected to return to the lineup tonight against the Hurricanes in a third-pairing role alongside Jayden Struble, reuniting a pair of former Northeastern University teammates. He missed 15 games with a lower-body injury sustained just one game after returning from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for two contests.
The 23-year-old Harris is in the first season of a two-year, $2.8MM extension signed with Montreal last February. Through 16 games this season before his injuries, Harris logged three assists and a -7 rating while averaging 18:44 per game.
Advanced metrics label the 5-foot-11 American as a slightly below-average defender, posting a 46% Corsi share at even strength that exceeds only Kaiden Guhle and Gustav Lindström among Canadiens defensemen this season. He’s still got a few seasons ahead of him to continue his development, however, and there remains optimism that he can break away from the Canadiens’ large group of mid-tier defense prospects to lock down a top-four role by the time he reaches restricted free agency again in 2025.
Meanwhile, Heineman returns to the minors after making his first NHL appearances late last week in back-to-back games. Averaging only 7:50 in road tilts against the Blackhawks and Wild, Heineman failed to take a shot on goal but recorded two hits and a +1 rating. The 22-year-old will continue his development in Laval, with whom he has one goal and four points in seven games this season. Heineman missed most of October and all of November with an injury.
Devils Send Akira Schmid To AHL
The Devils assigned netminder Akira Schmid to the AHL’s Utica Comets on Thursday, according to a team release.
Most expected the Devils to make a move to shake up their crease, but few expected the team to demote last year’s breakout performer between the pipes. Schmid, 23, logged a .922 SV% in 18 appearances in 2022-23, usurping Mackenzie Blackwood for the backup job behind starter Vítek Vaněček by season’s end. The Swiss goalie even stole starts from Vaněček in the postseason, starting eight of New Jersey’s 12 playoff games while recording a .921 SV% and two shutouts. It became clear by the summer that Schmid had secured the backup job behind Vaněček this season, leading the Devils to part ways with Blackwood and trade his signing rights to the Sharks.
Both Schmid and Vaněček have failed to recapture last season’s strong play, however. The Devils’ .888 team SV% is near the bottom of the league, and it’s almost singlehandedly keeping them out of a playoff spot after finishing with 112 points last season.
Even though he’s been below average, Schmid’s numbers are far superior to Vaněček’s this season. In 15 appearances (13 starts), he’s posted a .893 SV% and conceded -3.8 goals saved above average compared to Vaněček’s .885 SV% and -10.2 GSAA in 22 appearances (20 starts).
Choosing to send down the better of your two goalies will certainly raise some eyebrows, but short of trading Vaněček, it’s the only choice Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald had at his disposal to try and improve their goalie situation in the short term. Waiving Vaněček would destroy his trade value as the team continues to browse the market for upgrades, while Schmid can head to Utica without needing waivers.
Last season in Utica, Schmid went 11-7-4 with a .905 SV%, 2.62 GAA and two shutouts in 23 games as he bounced between leagues.
The team now turns to 23-year-old Nico Daws to see if he’s ready for full-time NHL play. New Jersey recalled him yesterday after he posted a 2.39 GAA and .929 SV% in three starts with Utica this month. The 2020 third-round pick missed the first two months of this season after undergoing hip surgery over the summer.
Daws has not made an NHL appearance since the end of the 2021-22 campaign when he made 25 appearances for a Devils team plagued by injuries between the pipes that season. Behind veteran Jonathan Bernier, who played ten games before sustaining a career-ending hip injury, Daws was the best of the other six goalies who suited up for the Devils that year with a 10-11-1 record and .893 SV%. Those still weren’t standout numbers for a team that had decent defensive stats, but he’ll lean on that experience now as he gets another NHL shot. He will presumably start one of the Devils’ upcoming back-to-back road games against the Senators and Bruins to wrap up 2023.
Central Notes: Kantserov, Phillips, Kovalenko, Toninato
KHL club Metallurg Magnitogorsk announced a flurry of contract extensions Thursday morning, including a two-year pact for Blackhawks right-wing prospect Roman Kantserov. The 19-year-old will remain in Russia through the 2025-26 season, although he wasn’t expected to challenge for NHL ice time before then.
Chicago selected Kantserov with the 44th overall pick in 2023, one of their multiple second-round choices in last year’s draft. Some had tabbed Kantserov as a potential late first-round pick, influenced by his intriguing combination of pure shooting and playmaking skill. Skating with Magnitogorsk’s junior club in the MHL last season, Kantserov led the team in goals (27) and points (54) in 45 games. Just one year post-draft, he’s now cracked the pro ranks full-time, appearing in 37 KHL games for Magnitogorsk while recording five goals and five assists for ten points, as well as a +3 rating. Those are solid stats for a teenager logging bottom-six minutes on a Magnitogorsk club that boasts the best record in the KHL’s Eastern conference, and a promising sign that Magnitogorsk can be trusted to handle the most crucial years of Kantserov’s development.
Other notes from the Central Division this morning:
- Sticking with the Blackhawks, the team converted defenseman Isaak Phillips‘ emergency call-up to a regular one today, per CapFriendly. Phillips received his third call-up of the season earlier this month after youngster Kevin Korchinski took personal leave from the team after the death of his father. Korchinski returned to play for Chicago before the holiday break, but Phillips remained on the roster under emergency conditions as Seth Jones, Jarred Tinordi and Alex Vlasic were also sidelined with injuries. Jones remains out, but Tinordi and Vlasic are now healthy. That gives Chicago seven defenders on the active roster, including Phillips. The team’s choice to keep Phillips around instead of returning him to AHL Rockford is notable, given some comments made by head coach Luke Richardson earlier this week. He expressed disappointment in Phillips’ inconsistency despite the player’s belief that he’s ready for a full-time NHL role, calling him a “50-50 player” with some equal flashes of skill and defensive lapses. In 18 games across multiple recalls with the Blackhawks this season, Phillips has five assists and a -6 rating while averaging 18:08 per game. His 44.3% Corsi share at even strength and -3.8 expected rating are rather middle-of-the-pack on a weak Blackhawks roster, and only Jones and Korchinski have put up better possession metrics on the Chicago blueline this season.
- One of the Avalanche’s best prospects is expected to miss some significant time with an injury. KHL Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod forward Nikolai Kovalenko will be out a minimum of two weeks, but likely longer, with an undisclosed ailment, head coach Igor Larionov said earlier this week (via Colorado Hockey Now’s Evan Rawal). The 24-year-old Kovalenko was a sixth-round pick in 2018 but has far outpaced his draft billing, and he’s now considered one of the best players outside North America. The son of former NHL forward Andrei Kovalenko has 29 points in 27 games for Torpedo this season while on loan from the Avalanche and is expected to be a full-time NHLer in Denver next season.
- The Jets brought depth forward Dominic Toninato back up from AHL Manitoba prior to yesterday’s 2-1 loss to the Blackhawks, Jets color analyst Mitchell Clinton relayed. Toninato, who was waived just over two weeks ago, slotted into the lineup against Chicago in the wake of a lower-body injury to David Gustafsson, logging an assist in his first appearance of the season for Winnipeg in 8:23 of ice time. The Jets did not assign Toninato to the minors immediately after he cleared waivers, however, instead waiting until just before the holiday break to do so. Toninato, 29, was a healthy scratch in all 17 Winnipeg games he’d been rostered for this season before last night’s showing.