Flyers place defenseman on waivers after signing him to $30M contract

On April 2014, the Philadelphia Flyers signed defenseman Andrew MacDonald to a six-year, $30 million extension. Less than 18 months later, the Flyers are placing him on waivers.

Flyers GM Ron Hextall confirmed the move Monday morning, announcing that MacDonald will hit waivers at Noon ET. The decision comes with MacDonald still having five years and nearly $26 million left on his contract. It’s a tough situation for both MacDonald and the team.

The Flyers acquired the 29 year old from the Islanders at the 2014 trade deadline. MacDonald played poorly last season, sitting as a healthy scratch on a number of occasions. He expressed his dismay with how things went:

It was disappointing. Obviously, it’s not nearly the way I envisioned things going and I was pretty disappointed in myself and my own play, and just felt like things kind of snowballed throughout the year and really just didn’t work out.

It's unlikely MacDonald will be claimed on waivers because of his massive contract. When he clears waivers, the Flyers will have the option to send him to the AHL, and receive $950,000 in salary cap relief. Philadelphia would still be on the hook for around $4 million of his salary, which would count against the cap.