The Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Egor Zamula have seemed to come to a fork in the road. The team this afternoon put the blueliner on waivers.
Transaction: We have placed defenseman Egor Zamula on waivers.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 18, 2025
Zamula played 13 games this season for the Flyers with just one assist over that time. It was a steep drop not in terms of production but in terms of appearances. The defenseman, as previously reported, played two consecutive seasons under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw where he saw 60-plus games. But with the additions of Rasmus Ristolainen returning from injury, the rise in the play of Emil Andrae, the acquisition of Noah Juulsen in the offseason, and the recent call up of Ty Murchison for a handful of games, the writing was on the wall it seemed for Zamula and the organization.
Zamula’s biggest claim to fame this season was having a +5 in terms of plus/minus in a game against the Devils earlier this season. But with the defenseman’s play seemingly faltering month after month, and head coach Rick Tocchet and the coaching staff not having much faith or confidence that he could do the job, it was almost a certainty that something would’ve happened.
Zamula being on waivers was coming
Many probably would’ve thought that Zamula might be trade bait for some team needing depth due to injuries. Or possibly taking a chance on a depth defenseman who is turning 26 in March and will still be a restricted free agent when the 2025-26 season ends. Placing him on the waiver wire shows that there probably wasn’t much interest in anyone acquiring Zamula for even a mid-round or a late-round pick down the road.
However, by putting him on waivers, it seems that Zamula will be a case of addition by subtraction is someone is willing to claim him and take what’s left of his contract, valued this year at a 1.7 million average annual value (AAV). This should also mean that Emil Andrae might only have to look over his shoulder at Noah Juulsen should he begin to see his game drop in play.
In his time with Philadelphia, Zamula played 168 games, scoring eight goals and adding 33 assists for 41 points over what was essentially four cups of coffee over four seasons (including this one) and the two seasons of 60-plus games. We won’t know until tomorrow afternoon if anyone has claimed Zamula. But as it stands now his time as a Flyer looks to have come to an end.