October 05, 2016
The Flyers sent forward Taylor Leier and defenseman Samuel Morin back down to the AHL on Wednesday, as the toughest roster decisions for Ron Hextall and the front office are coming into view:
Per GM Ron Hextall, the #Flyers have assigned Taylor Leier and Sam Morin to the @LVPhantoms.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 5, 2016
Morin, the gigantic French Canadian defenseman with strong skating skills, had an ugly turnover that led to a Rangers goal in Monday night’s preseason game.
Overall though, Morin was impressive in camp and the preseason. The 21-year-old will head back to Lehigh Valley to refine his game, but he’s not too far off from the NHL:
“He made the wrong decision and it didn’t go the way we wanted to, but I think the rest of the game he acquitted very well for himself,” Dave Hakstol said. “Most importantly, I thought after that play he turned the page, moved on, played the rest of the game, and did a good job.”
Now the Flyers are down the 26 players, three over the roster limit. Hextall has decisions to make on defensemen (likely Ivan Provorov, Brandon Manning, and Andrew MacDonald) and forwards (likely Scott Laughton, Jordan Weal, Travis Konecny, Chris VandeVelde, and Roman Lyubimov) as the preseason winds down.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
