In another season flush with injuries and disappointing performances, the Philadelphia Flyers are again leaning into their youth movement, this time handing an opportunity to one of their biggest, most physical defense prospects.
On Saturday, the Flyers recalled 6-foot-4 defenseman Hunter McDonald from the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, opting for one of their in-house favorites this time over someone like Ty Murchison, who impressed in a brief NHL cameo for Philadelphia last month.
McDonald, 23, is currently in the midst of his second full pro season, having played 71 games for the Phantoms last season, scoring four goals, 14 assists, and 18 points.
The 230-pounder has only five assists in 33 games this season, but as his size would suggest, scoring is not the name of McDonald's game.
Instead, it's all about hits, physicality, and intimidation.
Something McDonald has to work on, at least from my own limited viewings, is his discipline. A good number of his 160 penalty minutes over the last two seasons come from fights and physical altercations, but McDonald also has a tendency to grab in reach.
That's common for many young players who find themselves struggling to keep up with the pace of play. So, in some ways, McDonald is better suited for the NHL, and in other ways, like the above, not so much.
Either way, though, the former fifth-round pick was brought aboard in correspondence with Rasmus Ristolainen being placed on injured reserve, and it would be surprising to see the Flyers call up another young prospect just for him to not play.
If that were the case, and McDonald was just another healthy body as backup, options like Murchison and even Adam Ginning, who had just been put on waivers, would have made more sense.
Emil Andrae's play has tailed off in recent weeks, and given that the 5-foot-9 defenseman hasn't recorded a point since a Dec. 22 win against the Vancouver Canucks, it's fair to wonder if McDonald slots in behind Nick Seeler and Cam York on the left side at Andrae's expense.
The Flyers' three-game road trip will have them face fast, aggressive squads in Vegas, Utah, and Colorado, and they probably figure that McDonald's size and physicality gives them an edge defensively.
Should McDonald make his Flyers debut at some point on the trip, he'll be the third Flyers prospect to do so this season, following in the footsteps of teammates Murchison and Denver Barkey.