The Flyers announced this afternoon that rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson has been recalled while defenseman Matt Walker, who cleared waivers last week, will be sent to the Adirondack Phantoms.
It’s a roster move that was really a question of “when” it would take place, rather than “if.” Walker did not look particularly steady in his four games this season while Gustafsson displayed a lot of potential in his five games played. Gustafsson also averaged eight minutes more than Walker per game, despite having significantly less NHL experience.
There is no guarantee that Gustafsson will replace Andreas Lilja in tomorrow’s line-up, but I would not be surprised if Peter Laviolette was eager to reacclimatize him to the NHL against a team as porous as the New York Islanders. In the past, Gustafsson had paired with Matt Carle, but Marc-Andre Bourdon has gradually taken ownership of that responsibility, so it’s anyone’s guess who Lavi would pair him with.
The other benefit of sending Walker back to Glen Falls is that it frees up additional salary cap space by the time the trade deadline rolls around. The team can currently take on as much as $3.8 million, but that number will increase above $4 million until the trade deadline while Walker is off the books.
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Still don’t understand why Homer needed to take back Walker in the Gagne deal. What a wast of cap space! Walker & Shelley are the biggest wastes we have! Homer has made some really great roster moves, but those two are still head scratchers. Bryz is well on his way to being #3 on the list.
Josh, they have to go all out to get Suter &/or Weber. I’d rather they’d get Weber.
DCar, right on… Shelley has no reason to have a locker. I think it’s the legendary Flyer loyalty at work there. Shelley has no other place to go – just like Cote after the league made book on how to pummel him all the time. So he’ll hang on until the end of the season and offer him something in the organization or a release…. all the while taking cap space…
Bryz’s numbers are bad even for a backup. He clearly has some mental issues that he needs to control if he’s going to be taken seriously as a number 1 goalie.