from Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post,
Part of the reason for the wait is that Hextall wants to see if he can find a trade partner to make the decision of cutting or waiving a player easier.
“We’ll see what comes along, if anything, and go from there,” he said.
He still has 14 forwards on the roster with eight defensemen and two goalies. It would appear as though his final cut will come to a defenseman, especially considering he publically said he’d rather carry seven than eight “in a perfect world.”
His world is far from perfect looking at the roster and the salaries that go along with it.
The “extra” players in Saturday’s practice were Vinny Lecavalier, Sam Gagner, Andrew MacDonald and Luke Schenn. Together, those four total $16.3 million in salary cap space while the other 20 accounted for $54.88 million.
Salary isn’t everything in a determining factor, but it sure is important. Just look at the Edmonton Oilers, who Saturday played defenseman Nikita Nikitin and his $4.5 million cap hit on waivers. If he clears, the Oilers will send him to the American Hockey League and still have all but $950,000 of his cap hit on their books.
The Oilers did this because of roster space, but the Flyers might consider a move like that because they need the $950,000 of space. As it stands they have roughly $585,000, barely enough for one call-up depending on the player’s salary.
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