Sep 29, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Cal Petersen (40) shoots the puck alongside the boards throughout the third interval in opposition to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Although cuts may need been anticipated at the moment, the one information thus removed from the Flyers is that they’ve positioned goaltender Cal Petersen on waivers.
Petersen wasn’t anticipated to make the Flyers after the arrivals of each Ivan Fedotov and Alexei Kolosov throughout coaching camp. The truth the Flyers additionally signed Eetu Mäkiniemi to a contract final week after inviting him to an expert check out throughout coaching camp simply exhibits how low within the pecking order Petersen is.
The goaltender, incomes $5 million this season within the final yr of his contract, was quite abysmal in his brief stint with the Flyers this camp, playing simply 28:46 minutes in opposition to Montreal and lit up for 4 targets, leading to 4 targets in opposition to and a .667 save proportion. The adage two out of three ain’t unhealthy often applies however while you’re stopping two out of three photographs within the NHL you’re not lengthy for the massive leagues. The one silver lining is that by being buried within the minors Petersen’s cap hit of $3.85 million will be roughly simply over 1,000,000 {dollars} lower than the $5 million on the books. As is properly documented Petersen was acquired within the June, 2023 commerce with the Los Angeles Kings alongside Helge Grans, Sean Walker and a second spherical choose in 2024 in change for Ivan Provorov and Hayden Hodgson.
Petersen, who will flip 30 in October, appeared in 5 video games final season and had a save proportion of .864, giving up 18 targets and with a 3.90 goals-against common. Petersen’s poor play, albeit a small pattern measurement, was sufficient for coach John Tortorella to lean closely on Sam Ersson throughout the 2023-24 playoff hunt. Petersen just isn't anticipated to see any motion (barring a horrible rash of accidents to Flyer goalies) this season and appears to be the third-string goalie with Lehigh Valley now with Kolosov and Mäkiniemi each a lot youthful and looking out in the direction of the long run.
If any group claims Petersen it could come as an enormous shock and asset to the Flyers, relieving themselves of that cap hit for the remainder of the season. It’s unlikely he’s claimed however we’ll know for positive on Thursday. There was hypothesis the Flyers would purchase him out however with only one season left on the books, and the very fact stretching that contract out makes little sense to a group not seeking to signal free brokers, it is sensible he’s off the books come April.
