It was a short-lived return to the NHL for Corban Knight of the Philadelphia Flyers, who was injured in Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders. Today, Flyers GM Ron Hextall announced that Knight will be out for the next four months with a broken collarbone, taking him out for a huge chunk of the season.
Knight, 28, had played three games for the Flyers this season after spending the entirety of 2017-18 in the minor leagues. An established offensive presence in the AHL, he wasn’t able to contribute anything on the score sheet through those first few games and may have been playing himself out of the lineup already. That decision has been made for the team now, as he’ll be out until at least February with this injury.
The Flyers had already recalled Tyrell Goulbourne and Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and this news will likely only prolong one of their stays. The team inserted Aube-Kubel into the lineup last night against the Vancouver Canucks, but gave him just over five minutes in ice time. It’s clear there is a need in Philadelphia for qualified forwards given the injuries to Knight, James van Riemsdyk and Michael Raffl, but what’s much less clear is who will capitalize on the opportunity. The team is struggling near the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, and needs to find a spark to turn things around or risk falling too far behind the leaders.