Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula goes unclaimed a day after hitting the waiver wire, allowing the club to send him to the minors.
The Chelyabinsk, Russia native has found it difficult to stick into the lineup of late as he has suited up just twice since the calendar flipped to December. Coupled with the return of Rasmus Ristolainen, the Flyers seem more than content with keeping things at status quo as Noah Juulsen represents the 7th defenseman.
The Flyers had also been given a good cameo from Ty Murchison, who gave the club a different element on the back-end compared to a lot of their other prospects that we’ve seen over the years. Adam Ginning, like Zamula, made the team out of camp, but couldn’t stick around long enough to make a greater impact.
It hasn’t been officially announced, but because he went unclaimed, Zamula will more than likely report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. It will be familiar territory for the 25-year-old after having spent parts of three 3 seasons with the AHL affiliate between 2020 and 2022. He accumulated 5 goals and 54 points 127 games, including a 29-point campaign in 58 contests in 2021-22.
The Phantoms are currently 4th in the Atlantic Division with a 13-10-1-2 record and Zamula would be joining the likes of Murchison, Oliver Bonk, Christian Kyrou, Helge Grans, and Hunter McDonald.
It’s a bit surprising that no one wanted to take a chance on Zamula. While he doesn’t play aggressive or physical enough for his 6’3” stature, he’s still a good skater and can be a useful third pair defenseman, playing 12-14 minutes, on a different team.
The Flyers have until tonight’s roster freeze to make a decision on whether they want to demote him now or keep him with the NHL roster, knowing they can demote him in the future.
Zamula currently has a cap hit of $1.7 million but will be a restricted free agent at the end of this season.
