Philadelphia Flyers Remain or Remove: Andrew MacDonald

The six-year, 30 million dollar man was reduced to more of a depth defensemen role in the 2018-19 season, and the Philadelphia Flyers should buy him out of the final year of his contract this offseason.

Everybody’s favorite Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald played the third lowest amount of games in his career this past year with 47 in the full 82 game season. He was constantly in-and-out of the lineup, and for a good reason given the low nine-point total he posted through the campaign.

MacDonalds’ possession metrics at even-strength were still poor with a Corsi and Fenwick-For percentages well below the 50% mark, and he wasn’t able to create much in terms of goals and scoring chances, either. For a guy who’s supposed to be good at defending his own zone, AMac sure likes to get out-scored and out-chanced a lot while on the ice.

Most of the Flyers shot rates against came from the inside of the left circle when MacDonald was on the ice, which rode dangerously close to the slot, according to HockeyViz.com. Some of the other high rate shots bled into the low, left slot, too, giving the opposition primal opportunities to score goals due to the closer proximity to the Philadelphia net.

I think most, if not all, Flyers fans will agree with me when I say MacDonald should depart from the team this offseason. General Manager Chuck Fletcher could opt to keep the 32-year-old blue-liner around in the last year of his lucrative contract, but I’d much rather see MacDonald get bought out. If Fletcher does decide to buy him out come June 15th or 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Finals have concluded, this would create 3.8 million dollars in cap space for Philadelphia this offseason. That would aid in re-signing Restricted Free Agents while also giving the Flyers a little more wiggle room to make big moves by either trade or the Unrestricted Free Agent market.

A buyout would spread MacDonald’s contract out for another year, but not nearly for the five million dollar cap hit he’s due for in 2019-20. Not one NHL team will take on Andrew’s deal in a potential trade and even if they did, the Flyers would have to eat most of the money while receiving little in return.

It’s time for Fletcher to rid the roster of a guy who hardly contributes in either zone and move on from AMac.

Verdict:  Remove