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Holmgren: Waivers won't impact cuts

    by Frank Seravalli
    Published 

BUFFALO -- With the NHL's deadline for roster cuts due at 3 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said on Sunday night that waivers will not have an impact on the cuts made.

Johan Backlund, David Laliberte, Oskars Bartulis and even Matt Walker are the bubble players still in training camp that would need to clear through waivers - and be available to all 29 other teams - if they aren't added to the salary cap by Wednesday.

Backlund could generate some interest on the waiver wire if the Flyers choose to keep Sergei Bobrovsky as the backup to Brian Boucher, with Michael Leighton out for the first month of the season.

"If we went that way, I don't think anyone would claim him," Holmgren said about Backlund. "It's a risk, obviously."

Since Bobrovsky, 22, is on an entry-level contract, he is not subjected to waivers and can move freely from the NHL to AHL as many times as the Flyers wish.

The Flyers have lost Randy Jones, Ossi Vaananen and Glen Metropolit to waivers in recent years. All three of those players were claimed on re-entry waivers, on their way back to the NHL, when teams can claim a player for half of his salary.

Here's my projection:

MAXIMUM OF 23 PLAYERS

FORWARDS (13)
On the roster: Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, Ville Leino, Nikolay Zherdev, James van Riemsdyk, Blair Betts, Jody Shelley, Darroll Powe, Dan Carcillo, Andreas Nodl.
LTIR: Ian Laperriere*
Outside looking in: Bill Guerin, Ben Holmstrom, Mike Testwuide, David Laliberte, Jon Kalinski.

DEFENSEMEN (8)
On the roster: Chris Pronger, Matt Carle, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros, Kimmo Timonen, Sean O'Donnell, Matt Walker, Oskars Bartulis.
Outside looking in: Marc-Andre Bourdon, Erik Gustafsson.

GOALTENDERS (2)
On the roster: Brian Boucher, Sergei Bobrovsky
LTIR: Michael Leighton*
Outside looking in: Johan Backlund.

* denotes injured player, could begin season on Long Term Injured Reserve, which would free team from roster spot and salary cap. Need to miss 10 games or 24 days while on LTIR.

Coach Peter Laviolette has yet to announce his number breakdown, whether he would like to keep one extra forward and two extra defensemen or one extra defensemen and two extra forwards.

Stay tuned.

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter (http://twitter.com/DNFlyers).