Phantoms/Flyers Trade Deadline Aftermath

Phantoms get Jordan Weal back for the stretch run towards the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs. Photo: Nina Weiss/Highland Park Hockey

Phantoms' roster stays intact through NHL's trade deadline

Written by: Tony Androckitis - Twitter/Facebook

The 2017 NHL Trade Deadline has passed, and while it was a largely quiet deadline day due to some of the bigger names being traded earlier in the week there were still plenty of players switching organizations Wednesday.

For the Philadelphia Flyers and particularly the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the AHL roster remained intact as the Flyers continue to stick to their rebuild - making just one trade Wednesday.

The lack of trades is a good thing for the Phantoms, who also got a boost down the stretch in the form of Jordan Weal as the Flyers reassigned Weal to Lehigh Valley this afternoon on paper - making him eligible to play in the AHL down the stretch and in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs.



The Flyers sent impending free agent defenseman Mark Streit to Tampa Bay in exchange for Valtteri Filppula, a 2017-4th round pick and a conditional 2017-7th round pick. The condition on the 7th round pick was that the Flyers receive it if the Lightning traded Streit, which they quickly did moments after acquiring him - sending Streit to Pittsburgh.

The Flyers also signed goaltender Michal Neuvirth ($2.5 million average annual value) and forward Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare ($1.45 million average annual value) to two-year contract extensions that kick in next year in the 2017-18 season.

Perhaps the biggest move for the Phantoms' sake came when they reassigned the AHL affiliate's leading scorer Jordan Weal to Lehigh Valley, thus making him eligible to play in the AHL the rest of this season and the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Flyers Injury Updates

The Flyers announced that injured forward Michael Raffl is expected to miss six to eight weeks, likely ending his season.

Injured forward Travis Konecny is reported to be ahead of schedule, and could return to the Flyers lineup as soon as Saturday.

These injury updates on Raffl and Konecny likely means that Weal will miss the Phantoms' three-game road trip this weekend, but it's possible he could be back in Lehigh Valley's lineup next Wednesday on March 8th when the Phantoms are in Wilkes-Barre taking on the rival Penguins.