Flyers claim another forward in Zack MacEwen, Kevin Hayes placed on long-term injured reserve

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For the second time in three days, the Flyers claimed a forward off of waivers.
The club plucked Zack MacEwen from the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. As a result of the claim, they placed Kevin Hayes on long-term injured reserve. Prior to adding MacEwen, the Flyers’ only extra player on their roster was Hayes, who is recovering from abdominal surgery.
For a team to put a player on long-term injured reserve, the player must miss at least 10 games and 24 days of the season. Hayes was expected to miss nine to 10 games after unexpectedly having to undergo his procedure two days before the start of training camp.
The Flyers’ second-line center has recently begun skating in his rehab. The club’s depth at forward has been hit by injuries to Hayes, Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski. With their regular season kicking off Friday against the Canucks, the Flyers clearly wanted another forward for some insurance up front. But the club is also right up against the salary cap floor in the NHL’s current flat-cap world, so it had some moving to do in order to add MacEwen.
MacEwen, 25, will be the Flyers’ extra forward for now. MacEwen is regarded as a bottom-six grinder who likes to play a physical style. He surely doesn’t mind dropping the gloves evident by his six fights in 34 games for the Canucks last season.
Through 55 career NHL games, all with the Canucks, MacEwen has six goals and three assists in 8:50 minutes per game.
On Monday, the Flyers claimed Patrick Brown from the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The 29-year-old forward flew into Philadelphia on Tuesday, will have his first practice Thursday and be in the club’s season-opening lineup Friday.