Although cuts might have been anticipated today, the only news thus far from the Flyers is that they’ve placed goaltender Cal Petersen on waivers.
Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Petersen wasn’t expected to make the Flyers after the arrivals of both Ivan Fedotov and Alexei Kolosov during training camp. The fact the Flyers also signed Eetu Mäkiniemi to a contract last week after inviting him to a professional try out during training camp just shows how low in the pecking order Petersen is.
The goaltender, earning $5 million this season in the last year of his contract, was rather abysmal in his short stint with the Flyers this camp, playing just 28:46 minutes against Montreal and lit up for four goals, resulting in four goals against and a .667 save percentage. The adage two out of three ain’t bad usually applies but when you’re stopping two out of three shots in the NHL you’re not long for the big leagues. The one silver lining is that by being buried in the minors Petersen’s cap hit of $3.85 million will be roughly just over a million dollars less than the $5 million on the books. As is well documented Petersen was acquired in the June, 2023 trade with the Los Angeles Kings alongside Helge Grans, Sean Walker and a second round pick in 2024 in exchange for Ivan Provorov and Hayden Hodgson.
Petersen, who will turn 30 in October, appeared in five games last season and had a save percentage of .864, giving up 18 goals and with a 3.90 goals-against average. Petersen’s poor play, albeit a small sample size, was enough for coach John Tortorella to lean heavily on Sam Ersson during the 2023-24 playoff hunt. Petersen is not expected to see any action (barring a horrible rash of injuries to Flyer goalies) this season and seems to be the third-string goalie with Lehigh Valley now with Kolosov and Mäkiniemi both much younger and looking towards the future.
If any team claims Petersen it would come as a huge surprise and asset to the Flyers, relieving themselves of that cap hit for the rest of the season. It’s unlikely he’s claimed but we’ll know for sure on Thursday. There was speculation the Flyers would buy him out but with just one season left on the books, and the fact stretching that contract out makes little sense to a team not looking to sign free agents, it makes sense he’s off the books come April.
