Flyers Cut Nine Players From Training Camp Roster

The Philadelphia Flyers made nine more cuts to their training camp roster on Wednesday afternoon. Eight of the nine were loaned to the American Hockey League’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who began their training camp this morning.

One of the cuts that stands out is Samu Tuomaala. He was originally going to be sent to the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves, but he’s expressed his interest in trying out the AHL first and the Flyers obliged. The 18 year-old winger from Oulu, Finland spent his 2020-21 campaign with Kärpät U20 of U20 SM-sarja, Finland’s top junior league.

The Flyers’ 2021 second-round draft pick scored 31 points in 30 games and also played in five games with the senior team, as he suited up for Liiga’s Kärpät as well. Tuomaala was impressive in Development Camp and Rookie Camp, and will possibly have a chance to take part in his first full season of professional hockey on North American ice.

Among the more notable cuts made by the Flyers are Max Willman, Maksim Sushko, Samuel Ersson, Wyatte Wylie, and Elliot Desnoyers.

Willman, who is on an NHL two-way contract with the Flyers, played in two preseason contests against the Islanders and Bruins. He racked up two shots on goal, four hits, and one blocked shot in his two games, and will build on an impressive 2020-21 campaign with the Phantoms where he scored 16 points in 31 games to try and keep climbing among the Flyers’ organizational depth chart.

Sushko scored in the preseason opener against the Islanders on September 28th. He played in his first two NHL games with the Flyers last season during their COVID-19 struggles in February, one of which was the Outdoors at Lake Tahoe matchup against the Bruins. He also played in nine games with the Phantoms and 30 games with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL. While he didn’t spend a lot of time on the ice in North America last season, he did have an impressive 2019-20 season with Lehigh Valley when he scored 21 points in 53 games in his rookie season.

Ersson will look to fight for the #1 job in goal for the Phantoms and will have to beat out three other goaltenders to do it. Longtime minor league goalie Pat Nagle is also in Phantoms training camp on an AHL contract, and prospect Kirill Ustimenko was sent down a few days ago as one of Philadelphia’s first cuts. Felix Sandström will also likely be sent down in the coming days but based on his time spent with the Flyers’ taxi squad last season and his standing as the third goalie in training camp so far, he could be the favorite to get the lion’s share of starts in Allentown over Ersson and the others.

Ersson signed his entry-level contract with Philadelphia over the summer and made the jump from Sweden to North America to begin his career with the Flyers organization. He appeared in 42 contests for Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League last season, posting a 16-26-0 record with a 2.96 goals against average, .911 save percentage, and three shutouts. He certainly has the skillset to become a great goalie, and the Flyers even played him for the third period and overtime against the Islanders in their preseason opener where he was really impressive. He’ll be a name to watch for this season.

Wylie spent the 2020-21 season with the Phantoms after playing parts of five seasons with his hometown Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League. He recorded 152 points in 272 games with the Silvertips before making his professional debut last season with Lehigh Valley. He racked up one goal and six assists for seven points in 21 games with the Phantoms. In his two preseason contests with the Flyers he recorded 3 hits, 6 blocked shots, and accrued a -1 rating. Wylie will have an increased role on the Phantoms blueline with some veterans departing in the offseason, and he’ll look to take full advantage of an increased role and more responsibility this season.

Desnoyers endeared himself pretty well to the Flyers and their fanbase in his lone preseason appearance last night. He dropped the gloves with veteran defenseman John Moore and he got the best of the Bruins defenseman, ending up on top of him when the dust settled after they were done chucking knuckles.

Desnoyers will spend the season with the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League rather than in the minors. He scored 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points in just 37 games for the Mooseheads last season and also served as an alternate captain for the club. He led his team in all offensive categories and ended up finishing sixth in goals and seventh in total points among all QMJHL players. Another season of domination in the league will do Desnoyers some good, and next season the 2020 fifth-round pick will come back to camp hungrier than ever before.