Flyers Place Garrett Wilson On Waivers

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that forward Garrett Wilson has been placed on waivers.

The move is presumably for the purpose of reassigning Wilson to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Assuming he clears waivers, the Flyers will be able to reassign Wilson tomorrow and clear a spot on their 23-man active roster, which is currently full.

Wilson’s placement on waivers comes amid a growing youth movement in Philadelphia. The Flyers got off to the worst start of any team in the NHL, dropping their first nine games. After the club secured its first win on Oct. 17, they recalled three forwards to their active roster: Alex Bump, Cole Knuble, and Jacob Gaucher. All three have taken regular shifts for the Flyers since being recalled. Wilson, who played in the Flyers’ last game before those recalls, was a healthy scratch for each of the games that have followed.

As things stand, it appears Bump and Knuble in particular have seized the roster spot that once belonged to Wilson. Just last night, Knuble scored two goals to lead the Flyers to victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

While Wilson, 35, is a far more experienced option than either of those two, both Bump and Knuble provide more upside and more of a youthful spark to the Flyers’ lineup. Since Philadelphia’s early-season plunge down the standings has already dealt a significant blow to the team’s playoff odds, the club is likely already becoming increasingly motivated to devote its roster spots to younger, developing players.

With that said, Wilson himself was never overwhelmingly likely to spend a huge portion of the 2026-27 season in the NHL, anyway. He’s served as the captain of the Phantoms for the last three seasons, and has over 750 career AHL games to his name. By comparison, he’s only registered five NHL games since the start of the 2020s.

An aggressive, physical player, Wilson has twice been the AHL’s most-penalized player. While he was once capable of scoring at a solid middle-six clip in the AHL, his offensive numbers declined sharply last season.

In 2025-26, he scored just four goals and 16 points in 54 games, well below the 14 goals and 28 points he managed the year prior. He’ll still be a core veteran player for the Phantoms, but his days as one of the club’s more reliable offensive producers appear to be over.