- Moving on to another team in the Metropolitan Division, even though Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reported earlier that newly-acquired defenseman Jamie Drysdale was not seen at practice today, he was able to draw into the lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers this evening. Suiting up for the team in two games, Drysdale came down with an illness shortly after arriving in Philadelphia and subsequently missed the next two contests for the team. Drawing back in the lineup against the Dallas Stars, Drysdale has already skated in over 14 minutes of the game and has put two shots on the net.
Flyers Rumors
Walker And Seeler Would Like To Remain With Flyers
Flyers defensemen Sean Walker and Nick Seeler have been speculative trade candidates for most of the season as pending unrestricted free agents but with Philadelphia finding itself in a top-three spot in the Metropolitan Division, there’s a chance they may not move after all. As Kevin Kurz of The Athletic notes (subscription link), that would be an outcome both blueliners would be quite pleased with as both have expressed an interest in remaining with the Flyers beyond this season. Walker carries a $2.65MM cap hit and has 15 points in 44 games while logging over 20 minutes a night on the back end while Seeler makes the league minimum and is averaging more than 17 minutes a night. Both players appear to be heading for raises on the open market next summer.
Snapshots: Couturier, Drysdale, Red Wings, Nečas
The Philadelphia Flyers will be without Sean Couturier and Jamie Drysdale in their Monday night game against the St. Louis Blues, as they face an undisclosed injury and illness respectively. Both players also sat out of the team’s Saturday night win over the Winnipeg Jets. Bobby Brink and Marc Staal served as the duo’s replacements in Saturday’s 11-forward, seven-defensemen lineup, but the return of Noah Cates will push Staal out of Monday’s lineup.
Drysdale has only played two games with the Flyers since joining the team via trade with the Anaheim Ducks. He’s recorded an assist in both outings with Philadelphia, continuing what’s been a productive season for the third-year pro – with Drysdale boasting seven points in 12 games. The 21-year-old missed 29 games earlier in the season with a shoulder injury. The injury followed complicated contract negotiations with Anaheim, with Drysdale signing a new contract just nine days before the start of the season. He will now spend the three-year, $6.9MM deal with the Flyers.
More notes from around the league:
- The Detroit Red Wings have signed a three-year extension with ECHL affiliate the Toledo Walleye. Toledo began their affiliation with Detroit in the 2009-10 season and have proven productive, only missing the postseason three times since. This includes championship appearances in two of the last three playoffs. Toledo most notably served as the first professional coaching role for current Detroit head coach Derek LaLonde, who coached the Walleye from 2014 to 2016.
- Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Nečas missed a fifth consecutive game on Monday as he’s recovering from an upper-body injury. He’s been replaced by Brendan Lemieux, who has yet to record a point since Nečas left the lineup. Nečas has 26 points of his own through 38 games.
Afternoon Notes: Bruins, Cates, Senators
The Boston Bruins saw a quartet of players return to practice, including rookie forward Matthew Poitras, defensemen Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort, and starting goaltender Linus Ullmark. All four players were held out of the team’s Monday afternoon win over the New Jersey Devils. Of the four returnees, Poitras and Ullmark are the two who have avoided an injured reserve placement. Poitras is working his way back from a shoulder injury that’s held him out of the Bruins’ last three games, while Ullmark is coming back from a lower-body injury suffered in Boston’s overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes one week ago. Carlo is facing an upper-body injury, while Forbort is facing an undisclosed injury that’s troubled him since training camp and earned him a placement on long-term IR in early December.
The Bruins are also missing forward Milan Lucic with injury – but they’ve progressed nicely regardless, going 2-0-1 in the three games they’ve played since losing Ullmark last Tuesday. Roster holes have been plugged by Jesper Boqvist, who is seeing his first NHL action since December, and Brandon Bussi, who is currently backing up Jeremy Swayman and could make his NHL debut if Swayman needs a breather before Ullmark is ready to return. Boqvist has managed two points in seven NHL games this year, while Bussi has operated as the starter for the AHL’s Providence Bruins and managed a .901 save percentage in 20 AHL games.
The Bruins also saw the return of Pavel Zacha on Monday. The 26-year-old missed the team’s Saturday win with illness.
Other notes from around the league:
- Noah Cates is set to return to the Philadelphia Flyers lineup on Monday evening, as the Philadelphia Flyers take on the St. Louis Blues. Cates has been out since November 25th with a foot injury. He was off to a slow start to the season, managing just four points in 21 games – a step down from the 38 points he recorded in 82 games as a rookie last season.
- The Ottawa Senators have promoted Justin Peters to the role of goaltending coach and assigned Zac Bierk to a scouting and development position. Peters is an 83-game veteran of the NHL, setting a career .901 save percentage. He also played in 301 career AHL games and managed a career .907 save percentage. He has been a goalie coach with the AHL’s Belleville Senators since the 2021-22 season.
Flyers Were Seeking Bowen Byram In A Cutter Gauthier Trade
Among the teams that the Flyers discussed a Cutter Gauthier trade with was the Avalanche, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link). Friedman suggests that Philadelphia’s target from the Avs may have been blueliner Bowen Byram, an option that wasn’t palatable for Colorado in a one-for-one swap. Of course, Gauthier wound up being moved to Anaheim for another blueliner, Jamie Drysdale, who is off to a nice start with his new team with a pair of assists in his first two games while averaging nearly 21 minutes a night. With Drysdale being a right-shot player and Byram a left-shot blueliner (which Philadelphia has more of in their system), it’s possible that Colorado’s rejection may work out better for them in the long run.
Ducks Send Jamie Drysdale To Flyers For Cutter Gauthier
The Anaheim Ducks have swapped top prospects with the Philadelphia Flyers, trading Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for forward Cutter Gauthier. Gauthier is coming off a 2024 World Juniors performance that saw him record two goals and 12 points in seven games.
This trade comes suddenly but may be deeper rooted than fans expect, with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun sharing that Gauthier wouldn’t meet with the Flyers front office and that he told the club he didn’t want to sign. This report was backed up by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, making it seem as though Philadelphia’s arm was twisted in the negotiations.
In sending away Gauthier, the Flyers send away one of the league’s top prospects, with the 19-year-old scoring a dazzling 23 points in 17 games as Boston College’s top centerman. It’s a follow-up to his strong season last year, which saw him manage 37 points in 32 games. Gauthier was the fifth overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The cost for Anaheim is undeniably steep, with the team moving out a former sixth-overall pick and a second-round pick. Drysdale’s season has, much like his early career, been marked by underachievement, with the 21-year-old defenseman boasting just five points through 10 games this season. These junior year struggles could be in part due to injury, with Drysdale missing 29 games so far this season, battling a series of injuries that delayed his start to the year and earned him injured reserve placements.
Philadelphia will look to breathe new life into Drysdale, backed by a blue line that’s become incredibly robust thanks to Sean Walker’s breakout season. Meanwhile, Anaheim brings in a dazzling young centerman who could serve as the successor to veteran Adam Henrique, who has found himself a part of trade rumors with the Trade Deadline approaching. It’s a deal that works for both sides at a glance, though each player will have the rest of their careers to underline just how foolish of a trade this may have been
Flyers Assign Rhett Gardner To AHL
The Flyers have assigned forward Rhett Gardner to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, according to a team statement. Gardner was a healthy scratch in today’s 3-2 win over the Flames.
Gardner signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Flyers in free agency last offseason, and he earned his first recall to the Flyers in mid-December. He was ferried back to Lehigh Valley after the Flyers played their last game before the Christmas break, but they promptly recalled him as the roster freeze wrapped up. The minor-league shutdown center served as injury insurance for most of his time on the NHL roster, as head coach John Tortorella scratched him in seven straight games before he made his season debut Thursday against the Blue Jackets. He entered the lineup in place of Morgan Frost, who sat as a healthy scratch for the 11th time this season but returned to play today.
Frost is an everyday piece of the Flyers’ top nine, posting 11 points in 27 appearances this season, but has earned the ire of Tortorella at points this season. That has resulted in extending benchings, including a six-game streak of scratches early in the season. With Frost still in the fold, though, and no injuries on offense to speak of, it makes sense the Flyers would want to return Gardner to the minors and avoid unnecessarily running out his waiver-exempt status.
The 27-year-old Gardner has now played in parts of four NHL seasons since making his debut in 2019-20, getting into 41 games while recording one goal and one assist. A long-time member of the Stars organization, who acquired his rights with the 116th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, all 40 of Gardner’s previous major-league games came in a fourth-line role with Dallas. Gardner now returns to the Phantoms, where he has three goals and one assist in his first 21 games with the team.
Metropolitan Notes: Flyers, Pelech, Varlamov
The Philadelphia Flyers have announced they will healthy scratching veteran forward Cam Atkinson tonight when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The long-time former Blue Jacket had a terrific start to the year in Philadelphia and has eight goals and 10 assists on the season in 37 games. However, he has struggled as of late with just three assists in his last 17 games and no goals in his last 22 games.
The Flyers also announced that young center Morgan Frost will be a healthy scratch. Frost set career highs last season with 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games but is on pace for just 33 points this season. The 24-year-old has been far less physical this season and has been somewhat sheltered as he’s seen over 70 percent of his shifts start in the offensive zone. Frost has run very hot and cold this season as he started the year pointless in his first six games before rallying for four points in his next three games. His season has been a cycle of putting up points in bunches and then disappearing from the scoresheet for an extended period.
Both players are unlikely to be held out of the lineup for too long as the club is likely being sent a message by head coach John Tortorella after dropping five of their last six games.
In other Metropolitan Notes:
- Stefan Rosner of NHL.com is reporting that defenseman Adam Pelech of the New York Islanders is getting closer to returning from injury. Pelech has been out of the Islanders lineup since November 24th when he suffered an upper-body injury in a game against the Ottawa Senators. The Toronto, Ontario native struggled to start the year, registering just three assists in his first 16 games while struggling at 5 on 5. He started to put together a stretch of good games leading up to the injury, but unfortunately, he was forced out of the lineup just as he was trending upward.
- Stefan Rosner is also reporting that Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov is dealing with a lower-body injury and will be out day-to-day. According to Rosner, Varlamov will remain with the team on the Islanders’ road trip but will likely not play in the coming days. Varlamov had been dealing with an undisclosed injury late in December and sat out a game on December 29th against the Washington Capitals.
Minor Transactions: 01/03/2024
The hockey world is fulling pulling into the second half of the 2023-24 season, with the 100th anniversary of the Spengler Cup being awarded to the tourney’s host team, HC Davos, and the semi-finals of the World Juniors Championship set to begin soon. This means plenty of exciting time for international hockey, as well as plenty of roster moves, as players return from their national team back to their league play. As always, we’ll cover notable transactions here.
- Philadelphia Flyers prospect Alexis Gendron has seen his QMJHL rights traded from the Gatineau Olympiques to the Drummondville Voltigeurs, with Gatineau receiving three draft picks in return. This must have been what Philadelphia wanted to see, as they’ve assigned Gendron back to the QMJHL for the rest of the season. The 20-year-old, former seventh-round draft pick was previously playing in his first professional season, recording five goals and seven points in 17 AHL games. Gendron has previously played four seasons in the QMJHL – including three with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada – totaling 141 points in 160 games in the league.
- Team Canada’s Spengler Cup team has returned a quartet of players to their AHL squad. This includes the Laval Rockets’ Nicolas Beaudin, the Belleville Senators’ Dillon Heatherington, the Manitoba Moose’s Thomas Milic, and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ Ty Smith. Milic appeared in one game between the pipes for Team Canada, while Smith led the team’s defensemen with five points. Heatherington and Beaudin only combined for one assist through the tournament’s four games.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Flyers Return Alexis Gendron To QMJHL
Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports is reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins have transferred forward Matthew Nieto to the Long-Term Injured Reserve after activating forward Bryan Rust. Nieto has been out of action for the Penguins with a lower-body injury since November 30th and is free to return whenever he is physically able to as he has already exceeded the 10-game, 24-day requirement for LTIR.
Nieto signed a two-year deal with the Penguins on July 1st and has been terrific on the penalty kill but has struggled at even strength as the fourth line has been ineffective when he has been a part of it thus far. In 22 games this season the 31-year-old Long Beach, California native has a goal and three assists. The timing of Nieto’s injury was unfortunate as he was starting to gain traction in the games leading up to him getting hurt.
In other evening notes:
- Philadelphia Flyers writer Bill Meltzer is reporting that the Flyers have returned forward Alexis Gendron to the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL. The 20-year-old had played in 17 games for the Flyers AHL affiliate the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and had posted five goals and two assists. His QMJHL rights were traded by the Gatineau Olympiques to Drummondville on December 30th meaning he will be suiting up for the Voltigeurs for the first time.
- Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago is reporting that the Chicago Blackhawks are set to welcome defenseman Nikita Zaitsev back to the lineup tonight when they take on the Nashville Predators. The 32-year-old has been out with an illness and will draw back into the lineup in place of Isaak Phillips after a two-game absence. Zaitsev has dressed in 18 games this season and has averaged 15:42 of ice time per game while registering a goal and four assists.