This is going to be a significant year for Philadelphia Flyers prospects, but one of them is going to be sitting on the sidelines for potentially quite a while.
Announced by the team on Friday, 2020 fourth-round pick Zayde Wisdom has undergone successful shoulder surgery this summer and is out indefinitely.
Injury update: 2020 NHL Draft pick (4th round, 94th overall) Zayde Wisdom had successful shoulder surgery today in Philadelphia. Wisdom appeared in 28 games last season with the @LVPhantoms (AHL), recording 18 points (7g-11a). He is out indefinitely. pic.twitter.com/rkXfsnxCv1
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 13, 2021
Being “out indefinitely” can either mean that it’s going to be a very long time, or that they are just unsure of the recovery time and don’t want to put a timeline out there to the public, even if it’s in a range of months. Either way, Wisdom isn’t starting a season that could have been weirdly beneficial for him.
Due to the Ontario Hockey League closing its doors for the entire 2020-21 season, many prospects drafted out of that league (like Wisdom and fellow 2021 draftee Tyson Foerster) were able to make their professional debuts ahead of time and get some minutes on their respective American Hockey League teams, just one step away from the NHL. And early reports this summer hinted at an official ruling that any OHL player that appeared in 20 or more games (Foerster and Wisdom hit that threshold) could play in the AHL again in the 2021-22 season. Normally it would be either the OHL or NHL until they turn 20 years old, but with the wild pandemic year, some important player development loophole has been taken advantage of.
For Wisdom, at just 18 years old, he was able to play amongst some extremely experienced professional players—and even scored 7 goals and 18 points in 28 games, a remarkable score line for someone that young in that league.
Players did have the option to return to the OHL of course and with the taxi squad disappearing that might mean less ice time for those young prospects in the AHL, which means less potential development. Wisdom might have been among those players and went back to the Kingston Frontenacs to return to being the winger for projected 2022 first overall pick Shane Wright. Now with his surgery and recovery a priority, we will see when he’s able to get back to full health and step on the ice in either Lehigh Valley or Kingston.
