Philadelphia Flyers Recall Garrett Wilson
According to a team announcement, the Philadelphia Flyers have recalled veteran forward Garrett Wilson. The Flyers recently elevated Wilson to an NHL contract before the trade deadline.
Although he has never played a game for Philadelphia, Wilson, 34, has been a part of the organization for the last six years, exclusively playing for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. If he enters a contest for the Flyers, it’ll be his first NHL appearance since April 16th, 2019, when the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated in the playoffs by the New York Islanders.
Still, he has remained a consistent secondary scorer in the AHL and has served as captain of the Phantoms for the last three years. Throughout his six-year tenure with the club, Wilson has registered 62 goals and 148 points in 341 games with 789 PIMs.
Since the Flyers aren’t dealing with any new injury concerns, there’s no guarantee that Wilson will enter the lineup during his recall. Philadelphia is only five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and has an important contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening.
If he were to play, it would assuredly be on the Flyers’ fourth line. Since he doesn’t have much NHL experience as a center, it would mean that either Garnet Hathaway or Nikita Grebenkin would come out of the lineup.
Philadelphia Flyers Sign, Waive Garrett Wilson
The Philadelphia Flyers are rewarding the captain of the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms for his years of service. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared that the Flyers have signed forward Garrett Wilson to an NHL contract. Wilson must clear waivers before his contract can officially be registered with the Flyers.
Wilson, 34, is in his 15th professional season. He was originally selected with the 107th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. Working his way up through the ECHL and AHL, Wilson made his NHL debut on March 18th, 2014, with the Panthers.
Unfortunately, during some productive years in the AHL with the San Antonio Rampage and Portland Pirates, Wilson failed to produce in the NHL. After spending five years in the Panthers organization, Wilson finished his tenure with zero points in 34 games, averaging 9:26 of ice time.
Seeking a new opportunity, Wilson signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 2016-17 season. It was with the Penguins that Wilson enjoyed the best season of his NHL career. Though he again primarily played in the AHL, Wilson scored two goals and eight points in 50 games with Pittsburgh in the 2018-19 season, and even chipped in one goal across four postseason contests during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Since then, it’s been all AHL for Wilson. Aside from a one-year stint with the Toronto Marlies in 2020-21, Wilson has spent the last six years in Lehigh Valley, and the last three as the team’s captain. Over that stretch, he has scored 62 goals and 145 points in 338 games, with 857 PIMs.
Minor Transactions: 7/15/25
It has been a busy 24 hours transactions-wise around the NHL with several restricted free agents signing before their qualifying offers expire later today. Meanwhile, there have been some other minor signings involving free agents which we’ll run through here.
- After spending the last four seasons in Seattle’s system on an NHL deal, defenseman Gustav Olofsson will be staying there on a different contract. The Kraken’s AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley announced that they’ve signed the blueliner to a two-year minor-league deal. Olofsson is a veteran of 63 NHL games but saw just four games with Seattle. Last season, the 30-year-old played in 51 games with the Firebirds, picking up three goals and 14 assists.
- Lehigh Valley, affiliate of the Flyers, announced the signings of wingers Zayde Wisdom and Garrett Wilson to one-year deals. Wisdom was a fourth-round pick by Philadelphia back in 2020 and had 32 points in 68 games with the Phantoms last season but wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer last month. Wilson, meanwhile, is a veteran of 84 NHL games but last played at the top level in 2019. He had 14 goals and 14 assists in Lehigh Valley last season in 63 games.
- After spending last season on a two-way deal with San Jose, unrestricted free agent defenseman Joey Keane is heading back to Russia as he has signed a two-year deal with Spartak Moskva, per a team release. The 26-year-old originally started in Carolina’s system but went to Spartak once his entry-level deal ended, spending two years there before coming back to North America last season. In 2024-25, Keane had 11 points in 38 games, a stat line identical to his second season with Spartak.
- Bruins prospect Cole Chandler has committed to Northeastern, reports the Northeastern Hockey Blog (Twitter link). The forward was a fifth-round pick last month after putting up 32 points in 64 games with QMJHL Shawinigan during the regular season while adding a dozen more in 16 playoff outings. He’ll return to the Cataractes for the upcoming season and then move to the NCAA starting in 2026-27.