The Flyers cut two more defensemen on Sunday morning, sending Travis Sanheim to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms where he’ll officially begin his first season as a professional hockey player in the AHL. They also sent defenseman Phil Myers back to the QMJHL, ending his camp despite several big strides forward in his game.
Neither move is necessarily shocking, as we didn’t really expect either guy to really compete for an NHL job this fall. Sanheim played several preseason games for the Flyers, but the general sense is that he needs more time to develop his defensive game before he makes the jump right to the Flyers. A year in the AHL, at least, will do him good.
Myers used this camp to cement himself as a high-value prospect in the Flyers organization. Despite being sent back to junior — he’s not AHL eligible until next year — it’s apparent that he’s thrown himself into the conversation among other NHL-caliber prospects like Sanheim, Samuel Morin and Ivan Provorov. This will be an exciting year to follow along with his development again in the Q, where he should be relatively dominant.
In addition to the two cuts, veteran AHL defenseman Will O’Neill is on waivers today. It’s expected that he will clear and that he will also be assigned to Lehigh Valley.
With those three moves, Flyers camp is down to 31 players. Notable young players remaining in camp include Provorov, Morin and Travis Konecny.
