The Flyers officially loaned Jacob Gaucher back to Lehigh Valley Friday. Gaucher, who played on the fourth line last night alongside Garnet Hathaway and Nic Deslauriers, went pointless in his three game stint with the big club and had a complete clean sheet with no penalties and was even in terms of plus/minus. In 44 games with the Phantoms, Gaucher has 14 goals and 13 assists.
Additionally, the Flyers have placed Anthony Richard on waivers. Assuming he clears (we’ll know by this time tomorrow), he’ll be available to be assigned back to the Phantoms and to get into the lineup for their game against Hartford Saturday night.
Meanwhile the Flyers practiced today for the first time with Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier. The duo, acquired from Calgary along with draft picks in the deal that shipped out Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, were hoping to have their paper work and visas ready in time to play last night against the Capitals, but bad weather in Toronto cancelled their scheduled flight. Both were seen in the management suite chatting with general manager Danny Briere and President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones.
The new additions meant there was some line juggling during practice. Two of the lines stayed the same as last night with Bobby Brink, Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster together as well as Matvei Michkov, Sean Couturier and Rodrigo Abols. Pelletier looked to be the 13th forward while Kuzmenko found himself with Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny. Of course practice lines don’t equate to game time lines so plenty could change between now and when the Flyers host the Penguins Saturday night.
#Flyers line combos in practice
— Jackie Spiegel (@jackiespiegel93) February 7, 2025
Foerster-Cates-Brink
Kuzmenko-Laughton-Konecny
Abols-Couturier-Michkov
Deslauriers-Richard-Hathaway
Pelletier
Meanwhile after practice Kuzmenko met with the Philadelphia media for the first time. He seemed amused by the fact that after waiting a week to play, he should be in the lineup tomorrow night against Pittsburgh, but then have to wait two weeks to play his second game as a Flyer due to the 4 Nations Face-Off. “Why?” he said with a laugh. “Twenty days and just one practice with team but this is my life.” When asked about Matvei Michkov, Kuzmenko said he hoped he would be a “future superstar.” And as for what the future holds for him being an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of the season, Kuzmenko says he’s focused on the remaining 27 games and will let the contract situation unfold in the summer.
So, with any luck and assuming all the paperwork for both former Flames are completed, the Flyers will have a slightly different look for their last game for two weeks tomorrow evening.
