Quick Hits: February 6, 2019
1) The Flyers placed veteran center Jori Lehterठon waivers on Wednesday; a continuation of general manager Chuck Fletcher's process of removing players who do not fit in the team's plans. Within the last month, the team traded Jordan Weal to the Arizona Coyotes and waived Dale Weise and assigned him to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Lehterठhas only dressed in 27 games this season and is dealing with criminal charges in his native Finland. His waiver is a surprise primarily in that it did not come sooner.
Since the question has come up due to the drug ring involvement allegations in Finland, there is a complicated process under which a team can pursue a non-mutual termination of a contract apart from an off-season buyout. Placing a player on waivers is a required first step in the process. Teams do have the authority to suspend a player without pay under orders from the league to do so, but termination is a different process and the NHL has not suspended Lehterà¤.
Essentially, there are only two months left in the 2018-19 regular season at this point, after which he'll be an unrestricted free agent. From a CBA standpoint, it much less messy to simply assign Lehterठto the Phantoms, accept the prorated partial cap relief ($1.025 million) against the remainder of his $4.7 million cap hit, and say goodbye this summer.
The Flyers currently have 12 forwards on their NHL active roster, including Lehterà¤. However, Corban Knight is close to completing his rehab from a broken collarbone (he may need a two-week conditioning assignment to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms first). Assuming Lehterठclears waivers and is assigned to the Phantoms immediately, Knight is a near-term candidate to fill the veteran 13th forward role when he's cleared.
2) As part of Hockey is For Everyone month across the NHL, the Flyers hosted students from the Overbrook School for the Blind after Wednesday's practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Every student was paired with a Flyers player, who helped them skate and gave hockey pointers.
Hockey programs for the blind were introduced in the United States in 2013, and there are now 10 established blind hockey programs in the country. The most significant modification to the sport is the use of a specialized puck: larger, slower-moving and which makes noise to guide players to it. Players’ levels of vision range from legally blind---approximately 10 percent vision or less even with corrective devices such as glasses -- to completely blind. In order to participate in the hockey program, players must be legally blind and must be classified as eligible on one of the three international Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) classifications.
Founded in 1832, the Overbrook School for the Blind, founded in 1832, serves approximately 200 students (ages 3 through 21).
3) Robert Hà¤gg took a maintenance day off from practice on Wednesday. He is expected to be available on Thursday when the Flyers host the LA Kings at the Wells Fargo Center. 4) The NHL announced on Wednesday that Keith Urban will headline the non-game entertainment at the Stadium Series game between the Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field on Feb. 23.