The Philadelphia Flyers have announced 10 further cuts to their training camp roster ahead of Thursday night’s preseason game against the Washington Capitals, but some names were more surprising than others.
Generally speaking, the AHL players who were cut were, by all accounts, expected to be next on the chopping block, with many not even appearing in a preseason game.
Forwards Sawyer Boulton, Cooper Marody, Garrett Wilson, and Zayde Wisdom were all cut Thursday, alongside goalies Keith Petruzzelli and and Yaniv Perets.
Oscar Eklind, who was signed as a free agent ahead of last season, was placed on waivers with the intention of being assigned to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Then came the surprises, although it’s a relative term.
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Forward prospects Samu Tuomaala, Tucker Robertson (acquired in the J.R. Avon trade), and Massimo Rizzo were all included in this set of roster cuts, and Tuomaala was the only one who managed to appear in a preseason game.
The 22-year-old played in Sunday night’s 3-2 shootout win over the New York Islanders, recording one shot on goal in 13:13 of ice time and missing his shootout attempt.
Tuomaala’s early exclusion, along with the others, is a surprise in the sense that he is fairly experienced at the professional level and hardly had a chance to make an impression in the preseason.
But, on that note, sometimes the question reveals more than the answer, and Tuomaala’s lack of an impression is the impression in itself.
Flyers Stock Up, Stock Down Heading into Training Camp Week 2
Heading into the second week of Philadelphia Flyers training camp, a number of key players have boosted their stocks and chances of making the NHL roster. Others? Not so much.
Fortunately, the Finn isn’t exposed to waivers and will remain in the Flyers organization, but it just got that much harder to envision him playing any sort of role for the Flyers in the future.
The fact that players like Devin Kaplan and Alexis Gendron lasted longer in training camp than Tuomaala says a lot about his prospects of an NHL future in Philadelphia.
As for Robertson and Rizzo, those players are/were more upside dart-throws than anything, but they are clearly on the outside looking in at this point and may end up career AHLers in the absence of meaningful preseason action.
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