Flyers’ Egor Zamula cleared waivers and will be assigned to Lehigh Valley
Zamula, who has been with the organization since 2018, has played in 13 games this season and with Rasmus Ristolainen's return it became clear he was the odd man out.
NEW YORK — At 11:59 p.m. on Friday, NHL rosters are frozen until 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 28.
During this time, the Flyers are unable to waive, trade, or loan players. The lone exception is an injury that prevents them from dressing a full roster.
With time ticking down, the Flyers made a move and waived defenseman Egor Zamula on Thursday. He cleared waivers on Friday and will be assigned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.
The writing was on the wall for the Russian, who struggled to find his footing this season. Coupled with Rasmus Ristolainen finally being healthy and returning to the lineup Tuesday in Montreal, and eight defensemen on the roster, it had become clear that Zamula was the odd man out.
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In 13 games this season, he has one assist and a plus-minus of plus-4, boosted by a plus-5 night when he returned to the lineup on Nov. 22 against the New Jersey Devils. Across 168 games with the Flyers, since being signed as an undrafted free agent in September 2018, Zamula has 41 points (eight goals, 33 assists) and is minus-12.
A long-standing criticism, dating back to former coach John Tortorella, has been Zamula’s pace of play. Coach Rick Tocchet also said he wanted to see the 6-foot-3, 200-pound defenseman move the puck more quickly.
“I call it awareness,” Tocchet said in October. “You’re looking where to go instead of catch it, skate, and then have awareness. And I think if he can get that in his game … [because] for him, five feet is a big difference.
“Like, skate five feet to open up options, because when you first get it, the options aren’t usually open — there’s a stick in your lane, there’s a player in your lane — but once you escape, the other team has to react off you, and that means somebody should be open.”
Zamula will be a restricted free agent on July 1. He will get a chance to work on his game with the Phantoms and assistant coach Nick Schultz. He last played for the Phantoms in the 2022-23 season and has 54 points (five goals, 49 assists) and a minus-1 rating in 127 career AHL games.
The move comes after Zamula was jumped in the depth chart by Emil Andrae, Noah Juulsen, and, more recently, Ty Murchison, who made his NHL debut on Dec. 9 and played well in three games.
“He’s knocking on the door. The hard part for the guys who come up for a couple is going down. ... I’ve seen it go the other way, where a guy comes up, and he goes down and doesn’t play as well,” said Tocchet in Buffalo on Thursday. At Tuesday’s morning skate in Montreal, Tocchet and Murchison spoke at length, hours before the defenseman was sent back to the Phantoms.
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“So I kind of warned him, hey, you’ve got to be who you are. Sometimes a guy gets here, they go down, they try to hold the puck more, they try to be something they’re not. And I don’t think that’s going to be a problem with him; he knows who he is. ... And he’s knocking on the door. I mean, who knows, with the [way the] NHL is, he could be up in 48 hours. That’s just the way it works. So that was my message to him.”
Sending Zamula down also solidifies Juulsen’s spot as the team’s seventh defenseman.
“Noah’s a pro. I had him in Vancouver. He knows the deal. He’ll be ready when his number is called upon. A popular guy in the room, that’s the culture that we’re building here,” Tocchet said in Buffalo.
“I was actually talking to players today, there’s some guys that maybe they don’t play as much, they’re the first guys cheering guys on. So that’s how you build culture, and Noah’s one of those guys who does that.”