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Why the Flyers put Wade Allison on waivers

The Philadelphia Flyers weirdly put Wade Allison on waivers and we’re trying to find out why.

Photo Credit: Heather Barry

The Philadelphia Flyers decided to slightly shock us all once again on Friday afternoon, when they decided to put 25-year-old winger Wade Allison off on waivers and give all other 31 NHL teams a chance to snatch him up for free.

In a league where logical asset management feels so popular, letting a young forward with some potential to be more than he currently is, go walk away from the team that drafted him in the second round not too long ago, feels foreign. Allison was seen as a hot prospect not too long ago and at one of the first chances the team has, they put him on waivers.

But why did they do this?

Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster

Two names came to mind immediately when this transaction happened: Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster. The two winger prospects were supposed to be battling with each other through the entirety of Flyers training camp and preseason. Both skilled with the puck and not great skaters, they are similar enough players where you feel like the one that impresses more should simply get the job.

Well, now with Allison’s spot in the lineup being open as well as the one, single available position, both players can now enjoy their time being in the NHL, potentially. We have not heard official word that either player has made the team, but it is presumed that with Allison heading to either another NHL team or to the AHL, the possibility of both being on the team has gone from minimal to almost a guarantee.

“Always hurt”

Allison’s career has been marred by injuries. Last season, where he managed to play 60 games and score 15 points for the Flyers, was his first ever season where he managed to play more than 40 games since his USHL days in 2016.

Just being able to play hockey for a solid stretch of time was a positive for anyone paying attention and cheering on Allison. Unfortunately, not everyone saw it that way. Head coach John Tortorella, during a March 16 press conference, after Allison came back from a short-term injury, showed his frustration with the lack of durability.

“It’s hard to be consistent when you’re always hurt,” Tortorella said. “That’s my struggle. You see him coming, you see him coming, now he’s out again.”

No one can say for certain that Allison’s inability to play consistent hockey and be relied upon to be in the lineup for a good chunk of the season, is one of the factors as to why he got waived. But those comments from Tortorella alone is enough to make us think that the Flyers don’t view him as someone they can always have available and therefore, is difficult to build a team with.

A different role

Allison’s ceiling with this current roster is going to be just a bottom-six player. There are too many top-six forwards — even on a team that is contending for the draft lottery — to give Allison the right opportunity that he might end up deserving. There is still a decent amount of runway for his development, so he could turn into a solid middle-six winger that occasionally scores 20 goals, but he just will not have that chance in Philadelphia.

All in all, this move to put Allison on waivers could have been a way to give him a bigger opportunity, be that with another NHL team or back with the Phantoms. If he lights up the AHL, in the rare circumstance where he clears waivers, then he might just get some trade interest or will get a bigger contract next year, in the even more hypothetical scenario where the Flyers let him go to unrestricted free agency at the age of 26 by not qualifying him next summer.

Either way you put it, there are reasons why the Flyers did this. We can decide if they are actually good reasons later.

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