After executing a trade with the Calgary Flames last week for Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier, the duo have finally arrived in Philadelphia and could be making their Flyers debuts tomorrow against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Immigration and visa-related issues kept them in Canada for the most part but a recent snowstorm cancelled their flight and grounded them in Toronto until Thursday night. They made it to the Wells Fargo Center and met with the Flyers’ brass during their contest against the Washington Capitals.
To make room for their arrivals, the Flyers loaned Jacob Gaucher back to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms and placed Anthony Richard on waivers for purpose of reassignment.
Earlier today at practice, Kuzmenko was seen skating with Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny, while Pelletier was an extra body as Richard was centering Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway on the fourth line. It looks as if Richard was a placeholder for Pelletier as both newcomers get acclimated to their new surroundings.
Kuzmenko will look to get back on track on the offensive side of the puck as he generated just 4 goals and 15 points in 37 games this year with the Flames. He is just two years removed from his 39-goal and 74-point NHL debut season and one year removed from his second half with the Flames where he scored 14 goals and 25 points in 29 games after being traded from Vancouver.
Pelletier will look to pick up where he left off this season after registering 11 points in 24 games at the NHL-level. He’s only suited up for 61 games across 3 seasons partially due to AHL time but also due to injury. At the AHL-level he’s collected 130 points across 139 games so there’s certainly a lot of skill to unearth still.
As for Gaucher, he made his NHL debut last week after a great start to his season with the Phantoms. He scored 14 goals and 27 points in 44 games before seeing 7:30 ATOI with the Flyers where he added 2 blocked shots and 4 hits to go along with a 69.2% faceoff success rate.
Richard has been an AHL journeyman but provided fireworks during his first stint with the Flyers. He collected 6 points in 7 games and was a spark plug for the bottom-6 at the time. Unfortunately his second stint didn’t go as planned as he went without a point in 8 games and registered a -7 rating.
If Richard passes through waivers he will rejoin the Phantoms where he’s collected 8 goals and 19 points in just 18 games.
The Flyers play their final game tomorrow night against the Penguins on home ice before a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. This will be the first of 3 games against the Penguins in short order as they also have a home-and-home with them shortly after the league resumes play.
Kuzmenko and Pelletier will look to add some much needed offensive punch to a lacklustre group that has now dropped 5 straight games, 7 of their last 10, and ranks 23rd in the league in goals per game.
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