Flyers to buy out cancer survivor to make room for Tony DeAngelo and a possible run at a top UFA
Days like today I am extremely happy that Kyle Dubas is the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Does he always make the right move? No, but at the very least, he cares about his players and people within the organization.
Today, the Flyers bought out forward Oskar Lindblom. The same Oskar Lindblom that was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma in December of 2019. The same Oskar Lindblom that beat that cancer and fought his way back into the lineup less than a year later. The question is, why? Lindblom isn't a star player, but his cap hit was only $3 million for one more year.
Now, some will say the Flyers are clearing cap space to make a run at pending UFA Johnny Gaudreau. I call BS on that. If they were, they wouldn't have just committed $10 million over the next 2 seasons to Tony DeAngelo. DeAngelo has been a known issue in the locker room of past teams. Perhaps you'll recall when he was recently punched in the face by Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev before having his contract bought out by the team. Forcing a player like Lindblom out of your locker room while bringing in DeAngelo is not only bad for the team off the ice, it's not a good hockey move if you think there's any chance that DeAngelo goes off the rails again. The Flyers were awful defensively last season and DeAngelo is Tyson Barrie level bad in his own end.
The Flyers attempted to make amends for the move by pledging to donate $100k to a charity of Lindblom's choice. That' a little over 1/8th of what a league minimum player makes to sit in the press box for a year. In other words, not good enough. Here's hoping Lindblom finds a home in the NHL this summer, and that when he plays against Philly, he makes them regret the heartless move they made today.
