The Philadelphia Flyers have placed forward Olle Lycksell on waivers Monday afternoon for the purpose of reassignment to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
This transaction is coming off Lycksell being a healthy scratch when the team visited the Montreal Canadiens last Saturday and with all the recent roster moves, this demotion makes sense.
While it is disheartening to see the 25-year-old forward go back down to the AHL once again, the math is just not working in his favor. Lycksell was one of the post-trade deadline recalls the Flyers made to fill out the lineup once Scott Laughton and Andrei Kuzmenko were moved a month ago. Since being reinstated on the NHL roster for the third time this season, Lycksell was in a pure depth role. Through the 13 games of this recent stint, he averaged just over 12 minutes a game and had seven shots on goal and a fairly decent rate of production with five assists. No one can complain about that from a bottom-six forward.
But as soon as the Flyers signed center Karsen Dorwart as an NCAA free agent from Michigan State and put him on the main roster, Lycksell wasn’t really needed and was a luxury. With both Lycksell and Dorwart, the Flyers had 14 healthy forwards — they don’t want anyone, especially young players, just sitting around waiting to get a chance due to injury or underperformance. So, Lycksell goes back down to the AHL.
And he will surely play well there. The Phantoms just clinched the playoffs and have four more games to their regular season before that starts. With hot prospect Jett Luchanko now there and newly acquired Nikita Grebenkin becoming a force in Allentown, Lycksell’s addition will be welcomed with wide open arms to solidify a fairly decent forward group down there for the Phantoms.
Of course, there is the possibility that Lycksell is claimed off of waivers by another team. Especially considering his level of AHL production and not being a slouch in the NHL, and the mere fact that after the trade deadline there is not a whole lot of available times to add players to your roster, making this simple waiver wire move even more under the spotlight; it wouldn’t be crazy if a team put in a claim. It could be an on-the-bubble team trying to add some depth or temporarily replace an injured player, or even a team down where the Flyers are in the standings but could just use some more juice. It’s certainly possible.
We will find out in 24 hours if Lycksell is Allentown-bound or off to join a new organization.
