Danny Syvret, like most Flyers, left practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J., yesterday morning, looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving.

Syvret, 24, originally had two stops planned for the holiday. First was dinner with teammate Chris Pronger and his family in Haddonfield. Next was a stop to see George Arbocus, a 12-year-old fan with whom Syvret connected from his days with the Phantoms. The boy has Asperger's syndrome, a disorder related to autism.

Instead, Syvret was stuck packing his bags - with today's destination unknown.

Syvret was placed on waivers yesterday afternoon. As a restricted free agent this summer, he signed a 1-year, two-way contract with the Flyers that left him vulnerable to the waiver wire if he is reassigned to the AHL after any 10-game or 30-day stay in the NHL.

"I was definitely surprised," Syvret said. "But after sitting out a few games in a row, I didn't know what was in store for me."

Syvret made the Flyers out of training camp and posted two assists in 13 games before sitting out the last seven as a healthy scratch. Oskars Bartulis was recalled from the Phantoms on Nov. 9 and hasn't been out of the lineup since, bumping Syvret and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.

The Flyers surprisingly tried to push Syvret through the waiver wire at noon on Thanksgiving, a day when most teams' offices are closed and only four teams were in action. All 29 teams have until noon today to put in a claim for Syvret. A source close to the situation said there was not a lot of interest buzzing last night.

A move like this would not have been allowed during the Christmas holiday, when an 8-day roster freeze goes into effect.

"We certainly don't want to lose Danny," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said yesterday when reached by phone. "Now that we are back from this road trip, it doesn't make sense to have two healthy defensemen sitting around.

"If he clears waivers, we would probably send him to the Phantoms so he can get playing again."

Holmgren said Bartulis has impressed him since his call-up, particularly his "poise with the puck."

"He has also defended very well, too," Holmgren said.

Last year with the Phantoms, Syvret posted 57 points in 76 games. He is a mobile defenseman with a nose for the net. Syvret played 26 games with the Edmonton Oilers in 2005-06 and '06-07 before he was traded to the Flyers on June 6, 2008, for Ryan Potulny.

Now, he has a flight scheduled today for Albany, N.Y., for 1 p.m. but he won't know until noon whether he has been claimed by another team.

"I had to get my stuff together for whatever comes next for me," Syvret said. "Whether it be Adirondack or another organization. My goal was to make the team out of camp and become an NHLer. That's still my goal."

Holiday practice

 

The Flyers skated yesterday in Voorhees, even though it wasn't a "full-scale practice," as coach John Stevens said.

"We probably took half the team out today and left the rest of the guys off the ice," Stevens said. "We had a lot of guys play a lot of minutes on [Wednesday night] but we still wanted to get shots on both goalies."

Brian Boucher helped the Flyers to a 2-1 win over Marty Biron and the New York Islanders on Wednesday night, as they closed out their five-game road trip with a 2-3 record. Ray Emery will start this afternoon against Buffalo in the Flyers' annual Black Friday matinee at the Wachovia Center.

Slap shots

 

Danny Briere will serve the final game of his two-game suspension today against his former team ... This is the third time this month the Flyers will play the Sabres, with each team winning once on the road. The Sabres are winless in their last four games (0-3-1) ... The Flyers' final game of 10 in 17 days is tomorrow night in Atlanta.

Flyers report card

 

Holidays always leave time for reflection so we figured now would be a good time to pass out the dreaded interim reports that you hated in high school.

OFFENSE: Jeff Carter has had a quiet start to the season. Through 22 games he has nine goals and 22 points and is only a short burst away from being on pace to match his 86-point performance of last year. The real story has been the Flyers' secondary scoring. James van Riemsdyk (6 goals), Darroll Powe (6 goals) and Arron Asham (3 goals) all have contributed. Danny Briere is tied for the goal-scoring lead with 10 goals despite missing five games. Mike Richards is just one point behind Carter for the team lead. Still, the most lethal scorers have room to grow. The Flyers are third in the NHL in offense, scoring 3.32 goals per game. GRADE: B

DEFENSE: Chris Pronger has played as advertised. He anchors what might be the Flyers' best top-to-bottom defensive unit in franchise history. Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn had poor starts but have rebounded. The team has withstood injuries to Ryan Parent and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. The defense corps also has added 62 points this season, on pace to score almost 100 more points than last year (141). Matt Carle, possibly the Flyers' most underrated player, leads the NHL in plus/minus with a plus-18. GRADE: B-PLUS

GOALTENDING: Ray Emery, like the team, has been inconsistent. When he is in the zone, he is as good as anyone in the league with a 2.57 GAA and a .910 save percentage. Recently, he has looked uncomfortable and has struggled seeing pucks. Backup Brian Boucher helped carry the Flyers on their recent five-game road trip. Boucher will get back into a rhythm now that he is healthy. GRADE: C-PLUS

SPECIAL TEAMS: Since the puck dropped on Oct. 2, the Flyers' power play has been near the top of the NHL. Heading into last night's action, they held the top spot, operating at a 26.4 percent clip. The penalty kill hasn't been too shabby either, staving off better than 80 percent of opportunities. The Flyers have given up two more shorthanded goals against (3) than they did in 82 games last season. GRADE: A-MINUS

OVERALL: Sitting at 13-8-1, the Flyers could have been in a better spot on Black Friday with a 3-2 or 4-1 road trip. Then again, on a team ravaged by injuries in the early going, it could be a lot worse. GRADE: B