Flyers acquire D-man with connection to GM, recall winger

The Philadelphia Flyers made a pair of minor moves Wednesday, including the recall of right winger Hayden Hodgson from the AHL’s Phantoms on emergency conditions.

Hodgson, 26, is available for the Flyers’ game in St. Louis on Thursday night. If he plays, it would be his NHL debut.

On Tuesday, the Flyers signed the 6-foot-2, 207-pound Hodgson to an NHL contract. He has 18 goals and 29 points in 44 games with Lehigh Valley this season.

“He’s been the biggest surprise on our team,” Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere told the team’s website. “I feel like he came out of nowhere. I didn’t know about him. Nobody here knew about him. I was wondering, ‘Who is this kid?’ and he came on the ice and I saw what he can do. What I like about him is he does everything hard and it starts in practice. And you see the results. The sky’s the limit for him.”

In addition, the Flyers announced they had acquired defenseman Brennan Menell, a Minnesota native,from the Toronto Maple Leafs for future considerations.

Philadelphia Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher is familiar with Menell from when they were with the Minnesota Wild’s organization. Fletcher, then the Minnesota GM, signed Menel as an undrafted free agent before the 2017-18 season.

Menel spent three seasons in Minnesota’s organization — five games with the NHL team, and 199 games with the AHL’s Iowa Wild — before playing in Russia’s KHL for one year.

Menell, 24, played this season for the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. He was assigned to the Phantoms on Wednesday.

In 20 games with the Marlies, Menell had five points (goal, four assists).