The audition for Philadelphia’s fourth-line center position has become a little more open.
On Friday, the Flyers announced that free agent signing Ryan White would miss the next five months with a pectoral tear. The news comes just weeks after White underwent a procedure to fix the ailment -- it’s unclear what’s transpired since then, but GM Ron Hextall made the announcement just a short while ago, ruling the gritty forward out for a significant amount of time.
White, 26, inked a one-year, $575,000 deal with the Flyers this summer after spending his first five NHL seasons in Montreal. An energy guy that’s not afraid to drop the mitts (here he is fighting now-teammate Wayne Simmonds), White posted career highs last season in games played (52) and points (six), but was injured during offseason training in late August.
When healthy, White projected to be battling the likes of Scott Laughton, Chris VandeVelde, Blair Jones and Nick Cousins for a spot down the middle.