Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall made a move on Tuesday that should open up enough room under the cap and on the Flyers roster for electrifying young defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to stick around the NHL for the rest of the season - and, presumably, the remainder of his professional hockey career - even as fellow blueliner Mark Streit comes off the long-term injured reserve list.
Hextall placed perennially underachieving forward Sam Gagner on waivers Tuesday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. With the Flyers needing to clear less than $300,000 in cap space in order to keep the man they call "Ghost," per Hextall, via Sam Carchidi of Philly.com, that should make plenty of room for Gostisbehere to remain with the big club.
Gagner's cap hit for the season is $4.8 million, but as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period noted, $1.6 million of it is being paid by the Tampa Bay Lightning thanks to a previous trade. He'll cost another team $3.2 million if they choose to claim him.
Gagner, a former first-round pick, has proven inconsistent during his NHL career to this point. Despite being a consistent 40-point producer, he's displayed a frustrating lack of dependability in his game and may now be headed for his fourth NHL franchise after being acquired by the Flyers in the trade that saw Nicklas Grossmann and the contract of Chris Pronger shipped to the dusty confines of the NHL's desert-dwelling team.
Per Carchidi, Streit, a player similar in style and stature to Gostibehere, is expected to return to the Flyers' lineup on Wednesday.
"It feels strong and my skating is strong," Streit told Carchidi Monday after a skating session. "There are no restrictions at all and I feel comfortable. It's just a matter of getting my timing back."
Fellow offensively-oriented blueliner Michael Del Zotto may be leaving the Flyers lineup just as Streit enters it though, as he sat out Philly's loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday and then missed a practice on Monday.
