Brotherly Puck Weekly Issue 23

Nicolas Aube-Kubel to Colorado

On Saturday, the Colorado Avalanche claimed 25-year-old forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers. The 2014 second-round pick played 102 games for the Flyers over parts of four different seasons. Early in his Flyers tenure, he was a premier bottom six winger. He had speed, a scoring touch and a smart physical presence. But Aube-Kubel struggled hard during the 2020 season and was a fairly reckless player taking dumb penalty after dumb penalty. He had a chance to redeem himself this season and get his career back on track, but it was much of the same and due to his $1.075 million cap hit he was a prime candidate to be put on waivers when Kevin Hayes was ready. He’ll be a good project for the Avalanche to try and solve, and if they do, he could carve out a successful career as a bottom-six forward.

Ryan Ellis Out Again

After missing nine games with an injury, Ryan Ellis returned to the Flyers lineup for the game against the Dallas Stars… only to re-injure himself and is now considered week-to-week. It’s pretty standard for Ryan Ellis to miss a bunch of games. He missed 38 games in 2017-18, 20 games in 2019-20 and 21 games last season. His injury will keep him on the shelf for 4-6 weeks, meaning Nick Seeler will have to hold down the fort for the foreseeable future. I touched upon the Ellis situation in another piece this week.

PHF Notes

It was a quiet week for the Premier Hockey Federation with only two games over the past weekend. The Connecticut Whale and Boston Pride squared off twice splitting the decision. The Pride pulled out the win on Saturday in a close game. They jumped out the a 2-0 lead but the Whale charged back to lead 3-2 but a late goal in the third by Christina Putigna tied the game and the Pride won in OT thanks to another goal from Putigna.

The second game was a standout performance by Whale goaltender Abbie Ives who stopped 20 of 21 shots in a 3-1 victory. The underdog Whale took down the reigning Isobel Cup champions to earn their second win of the season.

All six teams are in action this weekend with the Toronto Six taking on the Whale, The Pride and Minnesota Whitecaps square off once again, and the Buffalo Beauts travel to New Jersey to take on the Metropolitan Riveters.

Kevin Hayes Misses the Tampa Game

In a unfortunately unsurprising development, Kevin Hayes was a late scratch in the Thursday night game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Max Willman was recalled on an emergency basis from the Phantoms and suited up in his place. Hayes played in just two games after missing the first month of the season recovering from multiple offseason core muscle surgeries. No word has been given on his absence yet, but Vigneault did state he expected Hayes to play in the Tampa game. We’ll probably learn more before Saturday’s clash with the Boston Bruins. It’s not a great look for the Flyers when their two injured players returned for one and two games respectively before finding themselves back on the shelf.