Flyers loan pair of veterans to AHL

The Philadelphia Flyers returned goaltender Cal Petersen and defenseman Victor Mete to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Monday, Dylan H. Robillard of Olde City Sports Network reports.

Petersen, 29, was brought up from the AHL at the beginning of the month in the wake of a mid-body injury to starter Carter Hart. Acquired over the summer from the Los Angeles Kings in the Ivan Provorov three-team trade with the Blue Jackets, the Notre Dame graduate started two games for the Flyers, both against his former team, going 1-1-0 with a .896 SV% and 3.50 GAA.

It has been a difficult past few seasons for Petersen, who has lost his grip on a full-time NHL job after signing a three-year, $15M extension with the Kings in advance of the 2021-22 season that didn’t begin until 2022-23. In hindsight, it’s turned out to be a premature gamble from Kings GM Rob Blake, as Petersen has started just 46 NHL games since signing the deal with a .890 SV%, 3.08 GAA and three shutouts.

Petersen’s extremely poor start to 2022-23 earned him a demotion to the minors, where he spent most of the season with the AHL’s Ontario Reign. There, he posted a .904 SV% in 40 games and earned a spot on Team USA at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, where he excelled with a 0.72 GAA, .956 SV% and 3-0-0 record, leading some to believe he could rebound in the City of Brotherly Love after the trade went through.

That hasn’t been the case, though, as Petersen finished training camp fourth on the Flyers’ netminding depth chart behind Hart and his young backups, Samuel Ersson and Felix Sandström. Petersen has struggled through four games with Lehigh Valley, where he returns to improve on his current 1-3-0 record and .884 SV%.

Mete has now been recalled and returned to the Phantoms for the second time since passing through waivers during the preseason. Serving as a healthy scratch twice after his second recall on November 5, Mete made his Flyers debut on Saturday against the Kings, posting zeroes across the board in less than 11 minutes of ice time.

The Flyers signed Mete, 25, to a one-year, two-way deal with a $775K cap hit in July. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end and has one assist and a -3 rating through five games with the Phantoms.