Injuries complicate Flyers' roster moves
NEW YORK - Injuries to forward Scott Laughton and defenseman Brandon Manning have muddled the Flyers' final roster decisions. Teams must submit final rosters by 5 p.m. Tuesday, and general manager Ron Hextall conceded he is in a cap quandary, created in part because of unspecified injuries to Laughton and Manning.
NEW YORK - Injuries to forward Scott Laughton and defenseman Brandon Manning have muddled the Flyers' final roster decisions.
Teams must submit final rosters by 5 p.m. Tuesday, and general manager Ron Hextall conceded he is in a cap quandary, created in part because of unspecified injuries to Laughton and Manning.
"It doesn't help, but what are you going to do?" Hextall said before Thursday's exhibition game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Laughton will miss three to four weeks, while Manning is considered "week to week," according to Hextall.
The Flyers have 26 players and must get down to 23. The 26 players have a combined salary-cap hit of around $74.675 million, according to generalfanager.com. Teams cannot exceed $73 million when their final rosters are submitted.
With Manning injured, the seven defensemen in camp figure to start the season with the club, including impressive rookie Ivan Provorov. The others are Radko Gudas, Michael Del Zotto, Mark Streit, Andrew MacDonald, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Nick Schultz.
Laughton's injury means that two forwards will probably be trimmed from the roster to make the Flyers cap-compliant. Candidates include Chris VandeVelde ($712,500 cap hit), Roman Lyubimov ($925,000), Matt Read ($3.625 million), Jordan Weal ($650,000), Nick Cousins ($840,000), and Travis Konecny ($894,166), who has arguably been the Flyers' best forward in camp.
VandeVelde, Weal, and Read would have to clear waivers before being sent to the Phantoms. If Read was sent down, the Flyers would get only $950,000 in cap relief, though his cap hit is $3.625 million.
Lyubimov and Cousins would not need waivers to go to Lehigh Valley, while Konecny, 19, could not go to the Phantoms because of his age and would report to juniors if demoted.
"We've got a pretty good battle going on here" for spots, Hextall said. "I give everybody credit. . . . I don't know what we're going to do at this point. We've got some tough decisions."
Complicating matters is the fact that the cap hits of Laughton and Manning would count against the cap - but not the roster - if they are on injured reserve, which is used for players who miss at least a week.
When picking the final roster, Hextall said, "there are a lot of issues that come into the equation. You wish it was just, 'We're going to put the 23 best guys on our roster,' but there's more to it with the cap and waivers that come into our decision."
When Laughton is healthy, he could be sent to the Phantoms and would not need to clear waivers. Manning would need waivers, and there's a chance he would be claimed by another team.
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