Flyers choosing to have a bit of the future now

VOORHEES — Taylor Leier was on a stationary bike after his win with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Friday night when he saw Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, president Paul Holmgren and assistant general manager Barry Hanrahan all walk into Phantoms coach Scott Gordon’s office.

Then they called defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere in and he left with a smile on his face. Leier thought little of it.

Then they called him in, next.

“My heart kind of dropped,” said Leier, the Flyers’ fourth-round pick in 2012. “I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’”

Hextall told him he’d be making his NHL debut the next day against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Leier, 21, has four goals and five assists in 14 games for the Phantoms this season and might have played well enough to earn a roster spot in training camp, but the Flyers couldn’t afford to take him and his entry-level salary-cap hit of about $780,000.

“It’s one of the moments I’ll never forget,” Leier said. “I went upstairs and called my parents. It was awesome. I saw Ghost in the hallway on my way out. We hugged so hard.”

The reason the Flyers could afford to have Leier and Gostisbehere, 22, on the books is because blueliner Mark Streit is out for the next six weeks after surgery for a displaced pubic plate. By putting him on the long-term injured reserve, the Flyers get an allowance of Streit’s $5.25 million cap hit.

“No one’s here to replace Streiter,” said Gostisbehere, who got his first NHL point Saturday, assisting on Wayne Simmonds’ game-tying goal. “Streiter’s a great player. I think we’re all just coming together trying to support each other and trying to play the best we can.”

The Flyers would have loved to get Gostisbehere up sooner also, but again, couldn’t afford him. Hextall said that he though Gostisbehere, who missed most of last season due to a torn ACL, could use a little more experience.

Having the two guys in their early 20s is a bit of a change for the Flyers. Hextall had some options when he went to recall replacements for Streit and R.J. Umberger, who is on injured reserve after blocking a shot off his foot against Winnipeg.

They could have brought up Andrew MacDonald, who would have cost the Flyers only $50,000 more than Gostisbehere to come up. Leier could just as easily have been Nick Cousins instead, or Petr Straka, both of whom have NHL games under their belt.

Even with Leier and Gostisbehere up, the Flyers have roughly $3.55 million in salary-cap space thanks to Streit’s stint on the LTIR, so money wasn’t an issue. The Flyers, who had lost eight of their last nine before beating the Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime Saturday, haven’t been very exciting.

They are 6-8-3, five points shy of the next team ahead of them in the standings and would need to double their points to match the division-leading New York Rangers, who have won nine straight.

Fans have been clamoring for some of the Flyers’ young prospects to join the fold and down at the farm, the players were starting to wonder, too.

“Obviously everyone down there wants to get called up,” Leier said. “Everyone’s goal is to play in the NHL. I didn’t talk to too many guys. It’s kind of a touchy subject when everyone wants to be the one guy. I’m friends with everyone down there and we’ve got a great team down there, too. Everyone’s really good guys. I think for me personally I just tried to worry about myself, keep my thoughts to myself.”

Hextall has been adamant about keeping his prospects away from the NHL, for now, figuring their blue-chip defense prospects like Ivan Provorov or Travis Sanheim are more than a couple years away. With the Flyers five points out of a playoff spot nearly a quarter of the way through the season, they needed a shot in the arm. Perhaps a couple young prospects can do that.

“The guys really welcomed me and they were all super nice,” Leier said. “That helps a lot, especially the first time for a young guy, when the guys take you under their wing and make you feel like a part of the team right away. That eased the nerves a little bit and when I got out there I felt like I could play a little bit.”

His parents, Cindy and Tim, weren’t able to make it to Raleigh, North Carolina in time for their son’s NHL debut. A flight from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan wouldn’t have gotten them there until 10 p.m. Leier is hoping they can make it in by Tuesday night to watch his first home game as an NHLer, against the Los Angeles Kings.

Dave Isaac; (856) 486-2479; disaac@gannettnj.com .