Flyers’ Hunter McDonald Injured in AHL Debut

The Philadelphia Flyers simply have not had luck on their side when it comes to injuries on defense this season.

That bad luck has now spilled over into the AHL, plaguing the playoff-aspiring Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Hunter McDonald, who joined Lehigh Valley on a tryout a few days ago, suffered an upper-body injury against the Bridgeport Islanders and is “out of the game”, per Phantoms broadcaster Bob Rotruck.

Bridgeport 2 – Lehigh Valley 1 (end 2)
Hunter McDonald is out of the game. He left very early in the first period and went down the tunnel after maybe 2 shifts.

LV Goal: Adam Brooks (8th) on steal and give-and-go with Tanner Laczynski
BRI: Julian Gauther (5), Ruslan Ishakov (17)

— Bob Rotruck (@BobRotruck) March 24, 2024

Rotruck also noted that the injury took place relatively early on in the game, with McDonald taking only a handful of shifts before departing.

It is worth noting that the Flyers prospect missed significant time earlier this season with an upper-body injury, making his season debut for Northeastern against Stonehill College on Oct. 7 and not playing another game until Dec. 28 against University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Before joining up with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley, McDonald appeared in 23 games for Northeastern this season, scoring one goal, five assists, and six points. It is currently unclear whether McDonald’s injury is related to the one that bedeviled him at the start of the season.

Helge Grans missed about a month of action for the Phantoms with a broken hand early in the winter, and Louie Belpedio only recently returned to action after being on the shelf for six weeks with an injury of his own.

With yet another injury striking the organization, the Flyers and the Phantoms could be back to square one in short order.

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