Following up on a previous report from Sunday, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Sam Morin will miss six to eight weeks after undergoing a procedure to remove loose bodies from his right knee, the team announced on Tuesday. Morin had the surgery on September 10th, according to the Flyers.
It was originally feared that Morin would miss a lot more time after the initial report by Crossing Broad’s Anthony SanFilippo. While Morin is still missing extensive time, the timetable and reason for not playing is relatively mild compared to what he’s been through the last few seasons.
Morin tore the ACL in that same right knee during the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs while playing for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He only played in seven contests between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley in 2018-19 after rehabilitating his knee. He tore the same ACL in November 2019 during another game with the Phantoms. Morin has not played a full professional hockey season since 2016-17 when he appeared in 74 games for Lehigh Valley.
Morin currently has 29 NHL games played under his belt, with one career goal. The goal was a game-deciding one-timed blast from the point against the New York Rangers on March 27th, 2020 to lift the Flyers to a 2-1 victory.
When Morin gets back to full health, which is expected to be sometime in early to mid-November, he could slot in as the Flyers’ seventh defenseman on the depth chart. The Flyers’ top-six currently consists of Ivan Provorov, Ryan Ellis, Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Keith Yandle, and Justin Braun.
With Cam York and Egor Zamula knocking on the NHL door in need of playing time to continue to develop their games professionally, Morin could be the extra body the Flyers carry around on the back end in case of injury or if they give one of the lineup regulars a night off.
With Morin’s injury, the Flyers’ 7th defenseman spot could be filled at the moment by either Adam Clendening or Nick Seeler, two veteran blueliners that each signed two-way contracts in free agency.
The Flyers have been hit by the injury bug hard early on in this preseason, but like Morin, they should be able to persevere through it.