Earlier today the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had loaned goaltender Alex Lyon to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL.
The #Flyers have activated G Alex Lyon from Injured Non-Roster Status and loaned him to the @LVPhantoms. pic.twitter.com/28kkkmMDAR
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 10, 2018
It’s an interesting roster move considering that Lyon is no longer waiver exempt, and it was not reported that he had been placed on waivers at any time over the past 30 days. So either this is a conditioning stint, which can last up to a maximum of fourteen days, or at some point the Flyers were able to slip Lyon through waivers without any member of the hockey media realizing it. With the latter seeming almost impossible in this day and age, it’s fair to assume that this is a conditioning stint, although the Flyers didn’t call it that themselves.
Lyon appeared in 11 games last season with the Flyers, posting a 4-2-1 record alongside a .905 save percentage and 2.75 goals against average. He will join the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, for now, where he went 16-8-2 last season and went on to make 94 saves en route to winning the longest game in AHL history. Lyon joins goaltenders Carter Hart and Anthony Stolarz in a packed Lehigh Valley net.
Update: It looks Lyon was waiver exempt after all, according to Assistant General Manager and Vice President Barry Hanrahan because despite having the first year of his entry level contract burned, he did not appear in a game that season.
Per Flyers AGM and VP Barry Hanrahan, the team CAN assign Alex Lyon to Lehigh Valley without passing him through waivers. I’m guessing it’s because he signed his contract at age-23 (giving him 3 waiver-exempt years) but did not play a pro game in Year 1. From the CBA: pic.twitter.com/U4UeePYSbk
— Charlie O’Connor (@charlieo_conn) October 10, 2018
So there’s our answer; he IS wavier exempt. Neat!
