Flyers News: Defensemen Hunter McDonald signs two-year ELC

The GOAT won’t go another day without job security, halleluiah!

"People are going to fill me in on what's going on. I'm not going to be there on my phone. What happens, happens."

A look at what needs to happen for the Flyers to make the playoffs. Schedule, scenarios and more. https://t.co/XoZPlzPOFW

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) April 15, 2024

The dry humor isn’t just for theatrics or a decent hook, either. The Flyers, while I’m sure they wouldn’t confuse him with Wayne Gretzky or Bobby Orr, have been extremely high on McDonald for a long time. And it’s essentially been a unanimous stance in the organization.

Often times, officials can disagree on the merits or demerits of a player. For a couple recent examples, the Flyers have always been high on Tyson Foerster. But there was some internal disagreements, from what I’ve put together, on whether he had star potential or just topped out as a solid contributor.

McDonald probably isn’t thought of in the “potential future star” category, but despite being selected in the 2022 draft as someone who was eligible for selection as early as the 2020 draft? The general tenor of the organization is that he’s on a relative fast track to the NHL.

That would be a hell of a get out of the sixth round.

Despite the org’s bullishness, there does remain some reason for skepticism on McDonald’s long-term viability as an NHL player. Simply put, very few NHL players produce as little as he has and ultimately have extended careers in the league. Even future defensive stalwarts tend to have more offensive pop in them at lower levels.

Still, he has a frame and skating ability that is going to buy him a long rope from any NHL organization. He’s 6’4″, over 200 pounds, and certainly a plus skater for his size, if not an above average skater sans qualifiers.

His limited sampling with the Leigh High Valley Phantoms has also been successful. In his first nine games with the team, McDonald is a +5.

Plus/minus is a stat that has a ton of noise in it, so it shouldn’t be regarded too highly. However, sometimes, the indicator is strong enough that it becomes signal instead of noise.

McDonald already leads the Phantoms defense with that +5 mark. The closest defenseman to his mark is Ronnie Attard, who was a +2… in 46 games.

If that standout defensive acumen turns out to be translatable to the highest levels of professional competition? The Flyers might have found their in-house replacement for Nick Seeler, who has held down a top-4 role with a team who might have made the playoffs if they had any penchant for scoring whatsoever.

I say again: that’d be one hell of a find from a double-overaged 6th-round pick.

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