Matt Niskanen tried to pull a fast one on the Flyers
Defenseman Matt Niskanen, who played in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Washington and Philadelphia respectively, for a total of 13 seasons and 949 games, retired last year. During his long career, he scored 356 points in the regular season and 42 in 140 playoff games. Add to this glorious career a Stanley Cup in 2018, when he wore the colors of the Washington Capitals.
In short, shortly after his vicious hit on Brendan Gallagher in the playoffs, which broke the number 11's jaw, Niskanen, then 33 years old, announced his retirement. Many people thought this was hasty, but all indications were that Niskanen had thought it through to the end to make such a decision.
But... a huge problem surfaced in the aftermath of that announcement: Niskanen never filed the paperwork that players must complete when they retire after announcing that he was retiring in the 2020 off-season. So he was suspended without pay last season for payroll reasons...
In the end, even though he wasn't retired on paper, he didn't get his $5.75 million since the Flyers suspended him without pay. Let's just say that this situation may indicate that the relationship between the two clans was not going well... Did Niskanen try to get a quick one to the Philadelphia Flyers? It looks like it!
