Flyers Call Up Max Willman, Patrick Brown Starts Rehab
By Scott Cole
The Flyers are still dealing with a rash of injuries. After the 5-2 loss on Sunday to the Dallas Stars, the team made a few roster moves.
Coming up from the AHL is Max Willman. Willman, a 27 year old forward played in 21 games last year, scoring four goals and notching two assists. Willman was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 2014 draft by the Buffalo Sabres. He attended Brown University and played four years there, scoring 16 goals. After suffering a knee injury in his senior year, he was granted an extra year of eligibility; this time playing for Boston University, where he scored one goal in 36 games.
When the Sabres didn’t re-sign him, he became a free agent. He caught on with the ECHL Reading Royals. After putting up 25 points in 20 games, he was called up by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In the two covid shortened seasons, he scored nine goals with 13 assists in 54 games.
So far this season, he has scored two goals with two assists in 11 games.
Going down to the AHL is Tanner Laczynski. Laczynski has struggled with the big club this year with just two assists so far with an average time on ice of less than 10 minutes a game. He is one of those guys who does well in the AHL, and when he’s been called up, he’s been snake bitten by injuries, getting injured in his lone game last year and getting injured five games into his first season in Philly. In 18 career games, he has yet to score a goal. Time could be running out for the 25 year old forward who struggles in most aspects of the game.
In other news, Patrick Brown has been loaned to Lehigh Valley for conditioning. Brown was a waiver wire pickup last year, similar to Lukas Sedlak this season. Brown won 58.5% of his faceoffs last season and was a key figure on the penalty kill. The Flyers have missed him since training camp. With him coming back, he can provide another veteran presence to the team that desperately needs it right now.
Also on the injured front is Wade Allison. Allison was injured in Saturday’s game against Ottawa. He dealt a hit to Senator Jacob Bernard-Docker, and then hit the ice, landing awkwardly and in obvious pain. He had to be helped off the ice and did not return to the game nor did he play in Sunday’s loss to Dallas. It’s believed to be a lower-body injury.
A brief report says that Allison shouldn’t miss too much time. This is welcome news for the 25 year old forward. Allison has suffered a lot of injuries in his brief career. He was injured in 2020-21 in training camp, after turning heads and missed a lot of time during the season, playing only 14 games for the Flyers and 10 games for Lehigh Valley. Last year, after playing 28 games for the Phantoms, he was injured as a call up in his first game after Coots went down. When he has played, he has down signs of brilliance, score four goals in 15 games.
If Allison can return to the lineup soon, that will be great.