Final roster comes into focus as Jones clears waivers

by Travis Hughes on Sep 28, 2009 2:39 PM EDT in News

Defenseman Randy Jones cleared waivers Monday afternoon, two days after being placed on the wire by the Philadelphia Flyers. His status is currently unknown, as the Flyers now have a number of options now that he has cleared. While he could be traded to another NHL team, the most likely outcome is that he is sent to the Adirondack Phantoms, where he could potentially play the entire season. Regardless, he will still earn his full salary, but his $2.75 million cap hit comes off the Flyers' books. That opens up space for the team to offer a contract to forward Blair Betts, as well as keep James van Riemsdyk and Mika Pyorala on the opening night roster.

Jones will have company on his way to upstate New York, if in fact that is where he ends up. The Flyers have cut forwards David Laliberte, Patrick Maroon, Lukas Kaspar, and Jason Ward, and all four players will report to the Phantoms. Maroon, 21, was hopeful to make the roster out of camp this year before a nagging injury held him out of most action. Accompanied by the emergence of JVR, Pyorala, and Betts, his demotion to the Phantoms at this stage is not difficult to understand.

It now appears as though the Flyers will keep all three tough guys, Dan Carcillo, Arron Asham, and Riley Cote, on the roster over the long haul of the season, although one of them could be sent down temporarily to keep goaltender Johan Backlund on the roster. Backlund was called up on Sunday due to a minor injury to goaltender Brian Boucher, who is expected to miss a week to 10 days. Darroll Powe could also be the odd man out for the time being.

The organization has until Wednesday at 3 PM to get the official roster down to 23 players. Including Backlund and excluding Jones, the roster currently stands at 24 players - 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 3 goalies. See the entire updated roster here.

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Why would they rather keep Cote over Powe?

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by The Legend on Sep 28, 2009 2:48 PM EDT reply actions

Cote over Powe

Because Powe needs playing time somewhere and Cote does not. Also Powe is waiver exempt so that works against him for now.

by tmurder on Sep 28, 2009 2:50 PM EDT reply actions

If that is the rational behind sending Powe up to Glen Falls then I am okay with that. Powe is young and I would like to see him get plenty of time with the Phantoms so he can work on his game. Cote is a waste of space but for some reason the Flyers think he is worth keeping around. Beats me!

by Mitchell Green on Sep 28, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Did I miss Kolanos getting sent down? Or am I simply forgetting such non-news?

Also, what happened to Stevens’ claim that Powe will be a more integral part of the team this year?

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by Geoff Detweiler on Sep 28, 2009 3:01 PM EDT reply actions

Five days ago: http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2009/9/22/1050444/four-more-players-sent-to-phantoms

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by Travis Hughes on Sep 28, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Even though Jones has cleared waivers, there is no way that he can play with the Flyers right? Would his salary come back onto the books if they pulled him up because of an injury or what have you?

by Mitchell Green on Sep 28, 2009 4:20 PM EDT reply actions

He would need to go through re-entry waivers to come back with the Flyers. There’s a very small chance he’d get through though, because if another team picks him up, they only have to deal with half of his cap hit and the Flyers have to deal with the other half. If he somehow got through, I believe 100% of his cap hit would come back onto the books. But I think it’s safe to say the Flyers would sooner call up Ross and Maroon and use them as a D-men than even attempt to bring Jones back.

by Ben Feldman on Sep 28, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions

That sounds entirely accurate, except where it gets tricky is if they call Jones up for the last month of the season or so. At that point, I believe they only sustain his cap hit for as long as he’s on the roster. In reading the CBA last week, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that a team’s cap is determined by a day to day accounting for who’s on the roster. But that might apply solely to mid-season acquisitions.

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by Geoff Detweiler on Sep 28, 2009 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions

This is why you need sources for articles.

Jones is still on the Flyers roster and Holmgren said today that he may remain with the Flyers.

by MarioD on Sep 28, 2009 10:52 PM EDT reply actions

Nothing says that he’s not on the roster. It simply says that he’s cleared waivers. The most likely outcome is still that he either is demoted or traded.

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by Travis Hughes on Sep 28, 2009 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions

No where in the article do you mention that he could stay with the team. The entire article is premised upon him being sent down, including the last line which excludes Jones from even being on the roster at this point.

by MarioD on Sep 28, 2009 11:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Also, this sentence itself contradicts your contention that you aren’t misleadingly reporting Jones is off the team:

The most likely outcome is still that he either is demoted or traded.

Kukkonen cleared waivers like four times last season before finally being sent down. There’s no evidence, sources, etc. provided to support this conclusion.

The only reporting I’m aware of is dispositive of your conclusion.

The fact is, Jones clearing waivers really only muddied the focus of the final roster, because it opened up more possibilities than there were on Friday. By saying the roster “comes into focus” you are inherently stating that Jones is off the team.

General manager Paul Holmgren said no decision had been made as to whether to assign Jones to the Phantoms…

"That’s a possibility but we don’t have to decide that today," Holmgren said of moving Jones to the Phantoms. "He could still be on our roster. We have a number of options. The fact that he has cleared gives us different options."

by MarioD on Sep 28, 2009 11:54 PM EDT up reply actions

That post got all screwed up in editing, sorry.

by MarioD on Sep 28, 2009 11:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, I’m going off the assumption that he won’t be on the roster. Should I have included that he is in fact still on the roster as of this point? Yes, I’ll admit that as a mistake. But still, the chances of him being on the roster come Friday are much higher than him not. If that’s not the case, what was the point in him being put on waivers in the first place?

I take everything Holmgren says in these matters with a grain of salt. He isn’t going to tip his hand at all in public. I mean, look at the day before Jones was waived. Homer obviously knew it was going to happen, but he played dumb.

"I’m not sure where that’s coming from, to be honest with you," Holmgren said.

When a player is placed on waivers, the intention is to get him off of your NHL roster. While the team isn’t going to say that directly in this case, all the other evidence — the reports of other players being all but on the final roster — point to Jones not being on the roster on opening night. It would be an impossibility thanks to the cap and the roster limit. While it might not be out in the open, given all the evidence, I think that’s a fairly easy and and reasonable conclusion to draw.

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by Travis Hughes on Sep 29, 2009 12:08 AM EDT reply actions

That’s just not true. If they want him on the Phantoms, he’d be on the Phantoms today after clearing waivers. The “direct evidence” is that they haven’t made a decision yet.

Guys get placed on waivers for lots of reasons. It could just as easily have been meant as a wakeup call to Jones.

by MarioD on Sep 29, 2009 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions

I sincerely doubt they would risk losing a player for nothing just to send him a wakeup call. The CBA even leads off the section about waivers by talking about “disposing of the services of players.” The whole point of waivers is to keep the process of “disposing of players” fair to those players.

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by Travis Hughes on Sep 29, 2009 1:01 AM EDT up reply actions

crazy Mario

He hasn’t been sent down because he is going to play in the last preseason game as a favor the Randy hoping that someone picks him up. The Flyers don’t want Jones on the Phantoms they rather see him on another NHL team. Flyers have and always tried to take care of their players and that is the sole reason why they moved guys like Patrick Sharp and Ryan Poltany (sp) who weren’t going to get the playing time they deserve on our team so hopefully they catch on somewhere else. Also I don’t think they want to pay someone 3million to play for the Phantoms and eat up ice time from kids like Marshall and Bourdon. I could also see him send down but loaned to another AHL team. Jones is this year’s Denis Gauthier.

by chrislanci on Sep 29, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions