After the Philadelphia Flyers waived Nicolas Aubé-Kubel yesterday, there was some fear that he could potentially be claimed instead of clearing to stay in the organization. Today, that fear for some came true as Aubé-Kubel was claimed by the Colorado Avalanche.
Aubé-Kubel joined the organization after being drafted in the second round at the 2014 NHL Draft held in Philadelphia. He spent four seasons with the QMJHL’s Val-d’Or Foreurs before playing with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate in the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, with whom he spent parts of five seasons playing with.
He made is NHL debut on October 30th, 2018 with the Flyers as they took on the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. The Flyers would go on to win 3-2. He would play in just eight more games that season for Philadelphia before returning on a more regular basis in 2019-20.
Aubé-Kubel scored his first NHL goal on December 23rd, 2019 against the New York Rangers in a 5-1 blowout victory. He rifled home a top-shelf bullet over Henrik Lundqvist on the power play to do it too in front of the Flyers faithful in South Philadelphia.
He would stick with the team for the rest of the COVID-shortened season, and when the Flyers returned for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Toronto bubble, the NAK Attack came out firing.
In the final game of the Eastern Conference Round-Robin to determine the #1 seed in the conference, Aubé-Kubel scored two goals against the future Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning to help the Flyers win 4-1 and take home the top seed in the playoffs in the East.
It remains the lone multi-goal game in his NHL career, and it was surely a memorable one for himself and the fanbase.
He regressed quite a bit in 2020-21 and did himself no favors this season either. He wasn’t particularly playing well and started to lose not only ice time, but his roster spot to other waiver claims made by the Flyers such as Zack MacEwen and Patrick Brown.
Aubé-Kubel had been a healthy scratch four times leading up to his waiving yesterday. The reasoning was a combination of his poor play and the return of Kevin Hayes from long-term injured reserve. The Flyers needed to shed salary to bring Hayes back, and Aubé-Kubel was obviously deemed the most expendable of the group.
The 25 year-old Slave Lake, Alberta native has scored 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 102 games at the NHL level, all coming with the Flyers at the time of this writing. He was a gritty and physical winger who loved to stir things up and developed a reputation for maybe stepping over the line at inopportune times, but he endeared himself to the fanbase for the way he played.
It isn’t the storybook ending to his Flyers career that he would’ve liked, but hopefully there are greener pastures, or mountains, in Denver. Thank you Nicolas, and good luck with the Avalanche.
