With the cards stacked against Andrew MacDonald to start the 2019-20 season with the Flyers, following the trade of Radko Gudas for Matt Niskanen. Amac will be waived by the Flyers and bought out by the orange and black tomorrow at noon, once he clears waivers.
Amac gave his all to the Flyers franchise. He was an important character in the locker room, as he was voted by the players to wear the “A,” for Assistant Captain for the past few seasons. He appears to be a lowkey type of guy, not the outspoken leadership type. However, it’s evident the players love him. Unfortunately, MacDonald’s contract did not dictate the player he was supposed to be.
MacDonald made $5 million per year when he initially re-signed with the Flyers to a 6-year contract at the start of the 2014-15 season. Back then, a top 4 Defenseman was making around $5-6 million per year in the NHL.
MacDonald was never a top 4 Defenseman, rather a bottom pairing Defenseman. At times, MacDonald had to play a top 4 role because of need. For the 2018-19 season, Amac started the year on the injured list. He rushed back from injury and played in only a handful of games before he went back on the injured list. For the season, MacDonald tallied 0 goals, and 9 assists in 47 games played last season.
This buyout saves the Flyers approximately $3.83 million in cap space this season (Now evenly washed with the increase of Niskanen’s salary over Gudas’s salary, which is 2.4 million, and 30% retention of Gudas’s salary) according to cap-friendly. In addition, the Flyers will be on the hook for $1.166 million of Amac’s salary this season, and $1.916 million of Amac’s salary for 2020-21. This is a don of a new era in Flyers land Flyers fans.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
