Flyers Place Travis Konecny on IR, Recall Egor Zamula
By Scott Cole
A week after being listed as week to week, Travis Konecny has been officially placed on IR by the Flyers on Monday. It is a formality as Konecny has been rehabbing and hasn’t suffered any setback.
Konecny was injured a few weeks ago in Boston. He was skating and his forearm was clipped by one of the Bruins. It was just one of those freak things that happens and was not intentional.
His injury came at a rough time for the Flyers. Scott Laughton would be lost to an injury in the very next game and has also been placed on injured reserve. Without TK, the Flyers scoring, which hasn’t been a strong point anyways, has dried up. Konecny had seven goals and 12 assists in the 17 games he’s played in. That’s good for more than a point per game.
In his place on the roster, the Flyers are calling up Egor Zamula again. Zamula has been bouncing back and forth between Philly and Lehigh Valley this season. Zamula in nine games has two assists.
Among the reasons that Zamula was sent down was not due to quality of play but to get him playing. He wasn’t getting the ice time he needed while in Philly. It was believed that by sending him down, he could stay fresh and continue to hone his skills. He’s played in only a handful of games in the AHL, but he at least earned some practice time which he could not have gotten in Philly as the Flyers kept playing home and away games every other day for the last few weeks.
With the Flyers at home for the next five games, there should be plenty of time for Zamula to acclimate himself to the club and get the time in that Coach John Tortorella has wanted for the youngster. Torts has said he has wanted to develop some of the young defensive talent the team has and Zamula has caught his eye in training camp. Perhaps Zamula’s play could cause a struggling defender, such as Justin Braun or Rasmus Ristolainen to take a seat.
Regardless, Zamula will be entering the lineup no matter what according to Tortorella. It will either be for Tony DeAngelo, who is a bit banged up right now, or someone else. Now is the time to develop these players and see who is worth keeping and who the team may have to move on from.