The Flyers have made their first trade of the 2024-25 season. Don’t get your hopes up, though. It wasn’t anything of the blockbuster variety.
Instead, defenseman Ronnie Attard is on his way to the Edmonton Oilers while the Flyers have received defenseman Ben Gleason. By the early looks of it, it’s simply each team moving on from a player that wasn’t part of their NHL future.
Attard played himself out of a role with a less than inspiring preseason performance. And Gleason hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since 2018. This is nothing more than two players getting a fresh start in a new city.
The writing was on the wall for Attard before this season, however. It was clear that the once-favored defenseman had been passed by multiple players on the depth chart. He did play in the 12 NHL games last season, 29 in his career, but those came in the final two months of the season.
With limited spots on defense heading into this season, Attard needed to have a perfect training camp to get himself back on the map. He had a large hill to climb already as his pairings in camp showed just how far down the charts he was. Attard did himself no favors in his only preseason game. He looked lost on defense on several plays, multiple that led to goals. He did not get another chance to redeem himself.
By that point, it was rather clear that Philadelphia wasn’t going to be a place for him. Add in healthy scratches at the AHL level this season and it was only a matter of time before Attard was on his way out.
With Gleason, the Flyers get a player who is a year older than Attard and has 359 games of AHL experience under his belt. By rule, he is considered a veteran due to the league’s “development rule” so he isn’t expected to be an every game player necessarily.
What he will bring to the Phantoms is that experience. And a slight offensive touch as well. With the Bakersfield Condors last season, Gleason posted a career-high 10 goals with 32 total points. He also doesn’t find himself in the box very often. His highest penalty total in the AHL is 44 minutes during the 2021-22 season with the Texas Stars.
Overall, Gleason has 40 goals and 177 points in those 359 career games. He’s off to a nice start this season with one goal and four points in seven games. That was tied for fifth in the Condors and second most amongst defensemen. His four points put him in the same spot with his new teammates, though he’d be the top defensive point-getter.
In the right situation, Attard could still have a bright future ahead of him. But the 25-year-old wasn’t able to do that with Philadelphia. Maybe he’ll figure it out with Edmonton.