Flyers send Downie, Ross to the minors

Five games into the season, the Flyers remain winless and continue to search for answers on how they can improve their play. They made a few personnel moves today, demoting forwards Steve Downie and Jared Ross to the Phantoms and bringing Andreas Nodl up to the big club.

Downie's demotion was one I called for after his effort Saturday night against the Sharks:

"Steve Downie needs to go play for the Phantoms for a while. He had two penalties on the night, including a dumb slash, and had only 5 minutes of ice time. He needs to get his head straightened out with the Phantoms."

Downie has yet to score a point this season and has played on a different line seemingly every night. He needs to go find some consistency with the Phantoms and hopefully he can be a useful player sometime down the road.

Ross will also go the Phantoms. He was a surprise addition to the club but didn't do anything to distinguish himself in his two games played. Nodl is younger and has more upside.

The Flyers will likely call up one more forward to add to the mix because they now have only 12 forwards on the roster. It's probably too soon for Claude Giroux to come up, so look for the Flyers to bring someone like Darroll Powe up.