Flyers recall Walker, but he's not in lineup
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Flyers recall Walker, but he's not in lineup
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Veteran Matt Walker, a physical defenseman, cleared re-entry waivers Friday and rejoined the Flyers, GM Paul Holmgren said.
Walker, 31, had played 10 games with the AHL Phantoms and had a goal and an assist.
Walker, however, was not in Friday's lineup in Anaheim. Instead, coach Peter Laviolette went with rookie Kevin Marshall.
In three games with the Flyers earlier this season, Walker was minus-2 with no points and 16 penalty minutes.
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Goaiie Ilya Bryzgalov will start Friday's game, Jaromir Jagr, Brayden Schenn and Harry Zolnierczyk are among the players in the lineup. James van Riemsdyk (upper-body injury) and Jody Shelley are out.
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Here is the expected lineup:
* Hartnell-Giroux-Jagr.
* Read-Briere-Simmonds.
* Talbot-Schenn-Voracek.
* Zolnierczyk-Couturier-Rinaldo.
Defense: Coburn-Timonen; Carle-Bourdon; Meszaros-Marhsall.
Goalie: Bryzgalov.
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Anaheim, whose lineup features South Jersey native Bobby Ryan, will be playing its first game under new coach Bruce Boudreau.
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Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter - @BroadStBull.
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With Walker back maybe the front of the net will get cleared so our goalies can see more shots. Plus he brings a nasty edge with him that we are missing with Pronger out. Have him skate in warm ups and if he feels ready play him tonight against the Ducks! We needto play a full 60 mintues and betough all game don't let the Ducks skate as they can skate with the best of them. We need to hit them all game long force them to play FLYERS HOCKEY! LETS GO FLYERS!!!!— srcdaddy1216- src - Walker is terrible, you know nothing about hockey.— Momus
- Well, i guess there is something to be said for overpaying people and stashing them in the minors. His price tag was so high that nobody else wanted him, even on a fire sale, but that works out just fine for us. I'll take it. Better him than our 9th, 10th, or 11th depth D man.
- He is a 6th d-ma fellas no team has a solid dman from 1 to 6. Like the above mentioned fortunate to have him.— shanehockey28
- No team? Pittsburgh is about 9 deep now after injuries for one. Whoever they plug in plays well, Picard ring a bell? — twpman
- 9 Deep Really? Martin has played all 26 games, is a minus 9. Michalek has played half their games, minus 8. On a first place team that is terrible, horrible. Pitt is barely 4 deep at D. — Sidewinder7
- Walker is fine...he's never been given a n extended look. Yeah, he's had a couple bad games, but which defenseman hasn't..He's a solid 5,6 dman cripled by his salary. But this is what he's here for..plus he'll drop the gloves in a heartbeat to protect a teammate..no other dman will.— philly thug
- What about that DuPont guy? Maybe he can fill in for a few games??— bigdaddyG
- Ok he is not Mark Howe - but with 3 injuries on D what are you going to do?— gob1234
- Now I can make my plans for the Stanley Cup parade in June. Do the Flyers have anyone in their system under age 30.— richw38
- Sadly, they can't bring Oskars Bārtulis up because they know he would be claimed through re-entry waivers. I bet that they were hoping that Matt Walker would be claimed. Bārtulis is a much better puck handler than Walker or Carle, but he is stuck in the minors due to the poor handling of the front office when the season began.— jerzyte
- Oskars Bartulis is a robot, that's why.— PaperThinWalls
- Momus: YES you must be right Ihave no clue what so ever only been a coach and player for the last 37 years. But I have no clue. Walker willgiveus a D-manwho canhit and play with anasty edge. He isa good 5-6 defeseman in the NHL what hurts him with our teamisthe amount of money he make if he made between $850,000 - $1 million he would be on this team every game. We need a guy right now to clear the crease and make the other teams forwards pay the price for staning in the slot we will see how he plays tonight I believe if he plays he will have a good game
philly thug: I agree we need a little toughness on D right now and teams know Walker will not allow anyone to take runs at our guys with out them knowing they will pay the price. I say Walker get 2-3 big hits tonight and play soild in his own end!
— srcdaddy1216 - Are you sure you weren't a basketball coach too? Your spelling and grammar are atrocious. Your (sic) punctuation is on hiatus and your spelling is dreadful. Let me try things your way: I dout that yoiu wer a coach and a playr.
- Matt Walker hasn't been given a fair look. He was the scape goat when Bryz was struggling. Walker is tough and can play physical which all real Flyers fans should love. You want a finesse player watch some Cammi Granato highlights in youtube. With Walker, Rinaldo and/or Shelley, we can bring the hurt to a lot of NHL teams. Look at how many teams are soft. The Sabres got humiliated when Lucic ran Miller and nobody did anything.
— Ferrell31
