The Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers linked up on a trade involving minor-league defencemen on Monday, as Ronnie Attard was acquired in exchange for Ben Gleason.
The Flyers selected Attard in the third round of the 2019 draft after he scored 65 points in 48 games in a breakout season with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL. Attard had been passed over in the draft a couple of times before but his 2018-19 season put him on the map as a prospect.
He spent three seasons with Western Michigan University and inked a two-year, entry-level contract with the Flyers in March of 2022. Attard made the jump straight from the NCAA to the NHL in the latter part of the 2021-22 season, scoring four points over 15 games in his debut with the Flyers.
Philadelphia made a coaching change the following off-season, as Alain Vigneault was let go and John Tortorella replaced him as head coach. Attard didn’t crack the NHL roster out of training camp and wound up playing only two games with the Flyers in 2022-23. He spent most of the season in the AHL, scoring 32 points over 68 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Attard again spent the 2023-24 season between the NHL and AHL, scoring 27 points in 48 games with Lehigh Valley and two points in 12 games with Philadelphia. He was placed on waivers by the Flyers before the 2024-25 season and cleared through.
The Oilers might see something in Attard that makes them believe he can be an NHL defender, but this trade also might have been made simply for the benefit of the team’s AHL affiliate.
The Bakersfield Condors have a logjam of left-handed defenders and can only ice a certain amount of players that the league considers ‘AHL veterans’ on a given night. Gleason, who joined the organization on a two-way contract a couple of summers ago, is a lefty and an AHL veteran while Attard is right-handed and isn’t considered an AHL veteran.
While Attard couldn’t seem to get an opportunity with the Flyers, he might get a look in Edmonton, given the right side of the team’s blueline. The Oilers lost Cody Ceci, Vincent Desharnais, and Philip Broberg over the summer and Troy Stecher, Ty Emberson, and Travis Dermott are the three players who have been playing in their spots so far this season.
If the Oilers don’t give Attard a cup of coffee, he’ll have an opportunity to leave in the off-season. The 25-year-old needs to play 51 NHL games in 2024-25 or else he can become a Group VI unrestricted free agent in the summer.
