A Zayde Wisdom promotion to the Flyers is unrealistic

Zayde Wisdom has opened up a lot of eyes since the Flyers drafted him in the fourth round this past summer. His journey to the league is remarkable considering he had to fight every step of the way to get here. And he is making things count no matter what is going on around him.

With the OHL unable to figure out a start time for the season, players in said league were able to be loaned out to the American Hockey League. For Wisdom, that allowed him to get a head start on his professional career. It even gave him a chance to head to the Flyers training camp before the season began.

After impressing the staff there, it was off to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He made his professional debut there, becoming the youngest player to suit up for the Flyers’ minor league affiliate. Wisdom comes in at 18 years of age and won’t even turn 19 until July. That makes what he is doing now even more impressive.

Wisdom Has Impressed Early On With The Phantoms

It has been four game thus far, which can be considered a small sample size. But Wisdom has taken full advantage of being able to play in the AHL. He has four goals in his first five games. And he has posted back to back two-goal efforts. That has put him as the Phantoms leading scorer early on in the season.

And comparing his start to rookies in the AHL, only five others have more points than him. Seth Jarvis leads the pack with nine points in six games. Jarvis also has Wisdom beat in goals. But he isn’t far behind as his four goals are tied for second with Trevor Zegras, though he was just called up to the Ducks for Monday night’s game.

Wisdom is tenacious on the puck and is able to create space for himself and his teammates. He uses that to his advantage where his teammates are then able to find him in those open areas. He also simply has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. His most recent goals have been proof of all of that.

With all of that said, his play has opened up an important question for a lot of fans. Could the Flyers bank on his lightning in a bottle start and call him up? There’s a chance the team may not get any of their players in protocol back for the matchup with the Rangers on Wednesday.

Like any other player on an entry-level contract, the first year would not be burned if he appeared in fewer than seven games. That number was lowered from the usual nine due to the shortened season. Wisdom could be slotted in somewhere in the bottom six, spots previously held by the likes of Andy Andreoff and David Kase. The latter was recently loaned back to the Phantoms.

While Wisdom’s start has been exciting, it is not truly realistic to believe that he could be called up. He is just 18-years-old and is getting his first taste of professional hockey. And the season is only four games deep. He has come out firing early on, but it is much better to allow him to continue devolving with the Phantoms.

And there is still a small possibility the OHL could find a way to play a shortened season. That would have Wisdom heading back to Kingston. That seems more and more unlikely as the days go by, but it would still be better for him to remain where he is.

It’s tough to say that he wouldn’t succeed in the NHL right now as there have been plenty of players his age who have. But despite the circumstances surrounding the team, this isn’t the right time to experiment with something such as a Wisdom call-up.

Let him continue his confident play in the AHL. The sample size is simply too small and there is not a lot of time to mess around with this shortened season. Just because this is a potential option with all of the changes this season doesn’t mean that it is something the Flyers should do.