The Philadelphia Flyers won’t have Zack MacEwen in the lineup for a while, announcing that he underwent surgery to repair a broken jaw, according to Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. His recovery timeline has been set at five weeks.
MacEwen likely suffered the injury during his fight against Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno on Thursday, one of the three straight fights that the two teams were involved in. He didn’t see a shift after that and now will be out through the trade deadline.
Claimed off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks in 2021, MacEwen has established himself as one of the identity players the organization is relying on to try to turn things around. He has played 121 games since the start of last season, racking up 164 penalty minutes in the process. While he doesn’t offer much offensive production — just nine points so far this season — head coach John Tortorella has significantly increased his ice time from a year ago.
MacEwen now averages more than 12 minutes a night and has even seen some power-play time as the net front option on the second unit. On a contender, that likely doesn’t happen given his lack of scoring. But Tortorella is trying to install a culture that rewards hard work, something MacEwen has never lacked.
Undrafted, he fought his way up the Canucks depth chart and debuted in 2018-19 in just his second professional season. Now with 176 games under his belt and a regular spot in the Flyers lineup when healthy, he heads into RFA negotiations this summer with a chance at a multiyear extension. The 26-year-old is one year away from unrestricted free agency, and currently carries a $925K cap hit.
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