The Flyers are finally trying to rid themselves of their biggest roster cog.
Jori Lehtera was placed on waivers per the Flyers official site, and happily confirmed here in the embedded tweet below.
Per GM Chuck Fletcher, the #Flyers have placed forward Jori Lehtera on waivers.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 6, 2019
Lehtera, who hasn’t played since Jan. 19 against Montreal, has just three points (1G, 2A) in 27 games this season while spending most of his time in the press box. If this is it for Lehtera in Philly, it’ll mean he’ll have posted just 11 points in 89 games with the Flyers.
The 31-year-old was acquired by then-GM Ron Hextall in the famous Brayden Schenn trade with the St. Louis Blues that has netted the Flyers the draft picks that eventually became Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. While losing Schenn hurt, Frost and Farabee rank among the Flyers’ best prospects and the $4.7 million cap hit that Lehtera carried would provide ample salary cap space this summer for the team.
While on-ice production was at a minimum for Lehtera, his off-ice issues have also made headlines and could very well impact his NHL future as well. As for the present, we’ll wait to see if a team puts in a claim on the veteran and what’s next in the next day or so. For the NHL roster not much changes as Phil Varone has filled in for Lehtera for a while now and this could be GM Chuck Fletcher looking to add a roster spot he needs for a younger player in Lehigh Valley or perhaps ahead of the trade deadline on Feb. 25.
