With MacDonald down, Hakstol rolls the dice

VOORHEES, N.J. » Andrew MacDonald, a poster child of fan criticism in recent years — probably more to due with his $5 million salary than performance — is about to show how important he is to the Flyers.

MacDonald, a veteran NHL defenseman who not only recovered from a mid-career demotion to the Phantoms but this season was rapidly turning into an on-ice leader of a too-youthful defense, will miss at least a month and likely much more after a shot drilled him in the knee Saturday during a 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

He was placed on injured reserve Monday, though curiously general manager Ron Hextall did not call anybody up to take his place on the roster, with the Anaheim Ducks scheduled to pay a visit to the Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night.

“We’re going to go with six (defensemen) right now,” Hextall said Monday. “We’re at home and there’s no reason to call somebody up just yet.”

But a road trip to Ottawa (Thursday) and Toronto (Saturday) looms, and when asked about making a decision about making up for the loss of MacDonald for the longer term, Hextall issued a verbal shrug.

“I don’t know that yet,” he said. “I’m going to kind of approach it on a day to day basis. There’s only six spots, so I don’t really want to call anybody up just yet. But we’ll see how tomorrow goes. If we get banged up and whatnot, we’ll make decisions as we go along.”

Perhaps confounding the situation right now is the status of young forwards Taylor Leier and Jordan Weal, both of whom were absent with injuries Saturday. Both practiced in full Monday and are essentially deemed ready to play. But veteran forward Matt Read, cut after training camp in a MacDonaldlike move (high salary player being outplayed by younger player), played sort of OK Saturday with the other two guys out and was still taking a roster spot Monday.