The Philadelphia Flyers sure do love their transactions lately and on Monday morning, they had to bring up a couple players from the AHL to fill out their roster.
Announced by the team, the Flyers have recalled forward Olle Lycksell and defenseman Adam Ginning from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Both of these players have found themselves on the transactions sheet multiple times throughout the season. Lycksell was essentially the first recall the Flyers would make if they needed a forward, and lately Ginning has simply just been given some time to play some NHL hockey before he eventually heads back to Sweden this summer.
Both players should be expected to play pure depth roles in the NHL, but their exact spot in the lineup should be determined at morning skate before the Flyers face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday — if they are even in the lineup.
Because what is interesting about these two players coming up is that if they were recalled as actual, full-on recalls, not only would the Flyers use two of their allotted four post-trade deadline recalls on these players, they would also technically be over their cap limit. With that in mind, there are only a couple options: They did do exactly that and then put defenseman Ryan Ellis on the Long-Term Injured Reserve list to make the financial numbers work, or they have some existing injuries on the roster and they recalled Ginning and Lycksell as emergency loans.
When using an emergency loan — like the Flyers have already with goaltender Felix Sandstrom — the team has to essentially have not enough players to actually fill a lineup. The player also has to have a cap hit of under $850,000 (for the 2023-24 season, it varies season-by-season). Philadelphia can have that placed on Sandstrom because the only healthy goaltender they have is Sam Ersson, currently.
The only issue with the emergency loan is that the Flyers certainly have enough healthy forwards, so it would not make sense to have Lycksell’s recall be applicable, and currently, the Flyers have six defensemen who are healthy on the roster, other than Ginning. Unless they are sending down someone like Marc Staal through waivers, or sending Ronnie Attard back to Lehigh Valley, Ginning should not qualify for an emergency loan.
Hopefully, we get some clarification, but that is where we are at right now.
Either way, the Flyers will have an extremely tough week as they have to face Toronto, Carolina, and Boston as they desperately try to cling onto their playoff spot.
