Morin sent back to juniors
The Flyers sent first round pick Samuel Morin back to his junior team in Quebec on Friday.
UPDATE: (12:18 pm EST) Flyers placed WJay Rosehill, F Chris VandeVelde and Rob Zepp on waivers today.
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The Flyers sent first round pick Samuel Morin back to his junior team in Quebec on Friday.
Morin, 19, is expected to be in Rimouski's lineup in time for Saturday night's game.
The result did not come as much of a surprise. Though the Flyers would have liked to kept their hands on Morin - where he could train with NHL players in a controlled, monitored environment - they simply did not have room to keep him.
NHL transfer rules prevent junior-eligible players under the age of 20 from playing in the AHL. The Flyers could have kept Morin and played him in up to 9 games before burning the first year on his contract. But with a logjam of 7 NHL contracts ahead of him, the Flyers were not interested in sitting one of their regular players to give Morin an extended tryout.
Even with Morin out of the picture, the Flyers would still like to move one of their defensemen to create room for younger players knocking at the door, like Shayne Gostisbehere. Read today's story in the Daily News for more information.
Forwards Chris VandeVelde and Jay Rosehill and goaltender Rob Zepp were not on the ice for the Flyers' practice on Friday, signaling other roster moves could be in the works.
Rosehill played in just 2 of the Flyers' 8 exhibition games this preseason. He received praise from coach Craig Berube, but GM Ron Hextall spoke on Thursday in Washington of the dimishing returns of keeping an enforcer on the roster.
"I think nowadays, you've got to be able to play," Hextall said. "You've got to be able to play minutes. We're seeing that's going out of the game more. You'd love to have big guys that can play and do the rough stuff when it needs to be done, but that role is diminishing."
All three players would require waivers to be sent to the AHL, making them susceptible to a claim by the other 29 teams until Saturday at noon.
SIMMONDS UPDATE: Wayne Simmonds (lower-body injury) did not skate for the second day in a row. He is still expected to make the trip to Massachusetts with the team and play in the first game of the regular season on Wednesday in Boston.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers