Dealing with a rash of untimely injuries and a woeful, winless 0-4-2 start, the Philadelphia Flyers have made more roster moves in search of a spark for the slumping roster.
On the heels of a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers have re-called top defense prospect Oliver Bonk from the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
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In a corresponding move, the Flyers placed standout winger Travis Konecny on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 8, ruling him out at least a week from that date. Konecny, 29, has three assists this season, and appeared to have suffered an injury late in Thursday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators.
On Sunday night, the Flyers will have the tall task of facing the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes without Konecny and top-four defensemen Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen, and the absence of the latter, in particular, creates the opportunity for Bonk to play.
Defenseman Helge Grans, who remained with the NHL club due to his placement on season-opening injured reserve, was given the chance to play against the Bruins on Saturday, but he and veteran defense partner Simon Benoit were distressfully ineffective.
As a result, the Flyers are going to change things up at the position, re-calling a defenseman like Bonk instead of a forward to replace the injured Konecny.
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Grans, 24, will have to pass through waivers in order to be re-assigned to the Phantoms should the Flyers elect to send him down.
This will be a bit of a precarious position for Bonk to be in, having just played for the Phantoms on Saturday and getting thrown right into a back-to-back, but that was also his first game since Oct. 3.
Assuming Bonk’s legs are fresh – he had two assists, three shots on goal, and a +2 rating in a 5-4 overtime loss to Cleveland on Saturday – he should be able to help keep the Flyers moving in the right direction going up against a ferocious Carolina forecheck.
The 21-year-old played in two NHL games last season, one in the regular season and one in the playoffs, scoring one goal and one assist.
