After spending seven-plus years with the organization that drafted him, Nicolas Aube-Kubel is no longer a Flyer.
The Flyers placed Aube-Kubel on waivers on Friday in anticipation of Kevin Hayes being activated off LTIR and making his season debut. There were a few forwards to choose from, including Patrick Brown and Zach MacEwen who the Flyers claimed off waivers last month. However, the Flyers decided to cut bait on Aube-Kubel.
Aube-Kubel was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Avalanche and, according to Frank Seravalli, there were a handful of teams poking around on him.
#Flyers’ Nicolas Aube-Kubel has been claimed off waivers by Colorado.
There were a handful of teams poking around on NAK over the last 24 hours.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) November 13, 2021
The Avalanche are expected to be one of the best teams in the league again this season but are off to a 5-5-1 start, putting them near the top of the waiver-priority list. It wouldn’t be very surprising if Ron Hextall and the Pittsburgh Penguins were one of the aforementioned teams, especially since NAK was one of Hexy’s first draft picks.
Aube-Kubel was selected in the second round (48th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft and showed his offensive abilities in the high-scoring QMJHL for two more seasons. He put up back-to-back 38-goal campaigns for a total of 164 points in 122 games from 2014-2016 with the Val-d’Or Foreurs.
But that offense never really translated to the professional level.
Aube-Kubel put up 84 points in 152 AHL games between 2017 and 2020 when he finally earned a full-time spot with the Flyers. He broke out a bit with the big club, recording eight points in 10 games from February 13th to March 5th.
Last season, however, things went downhill. Aube-Kubel had just 12 points in 50 games and had a problematic 44 penalty minutes to go with that. This season he started out slow with one point and three minor penalties in seven games before being waived.
Aube-Kubel should help out the Avalanche’s bottom-six forward group. He could be a player that the Flyers regret waiving, but he hadn’t done much in 2021 to prove his worth. Maybe he’ll find his game again as a role player on a top team.
