Flyers trim preseason roster down to 24; Morgan Frost the most surprising cut

Less than 24 hours after the Flyers’ 3-0 exhibition loss to the New York Islanders, the team announced 10 cuts on Wednesday.

Before Tuesday’s preseason game, coach Alain Vigneault had said the roster would be down to 22-24 players by Thursday’s practice.

He was true to his word as the Flyers’ roster now sits at 24 healthy players, with the team required to get down to 23 by the Oct. 15 opener against the Vancouver Canucks.

Five players were assigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms: forwards Linus Sandin, Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster, and Isaac Ratcliffe; and defenseman Linus Högberg.

Frost had been competing for the second- or third-line center role to help fill the spot Kevin Hayes’ injury opened up. After a strong showing in rookie camp, the 22-year-old didn’t start training camp well. He improved by his second preseason game, but he still did not impact the stat sheet as positively as the coaches wanted.

Four players were placed on waivers: veteran defenseman Adam Clendening; and forwards Gerry Mayhew, German Rubtsov, and Connor Bunnaman.

Bunnaman had been mentioned in the competition for the 13th forward position. However, he did not contribute much against the Islanders on Tuesday night. In that same game, Vigneault noticed Garrett Wilson was playing well and moved him up to a higher line. Wilson somewhat surprisingly remains on the roster, as does Jackson Cates, another forward competing for a position with the big club.

Clendening had been competing with Nick Seeler to be the seventh defenseman. Along with Seeler, prospect Cam York remains on the roster, as the Flyers have yet to announce which of the two will be their extra defenseman.

Felix Sandstrom remains as the third goalie on the roster but is expected to be sent to Lehigh Valley ahead of the opener.