Flyers lose a forward who heads back home for personal reasons

VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers lost a valuable bottom-six forward Saturday.

Lukas Sedlak was placed on unconditional waivers and will head back to his home country for personal reasons.

The Czech Republic native was claimed off of waivers Oct. 19 by the Flyers. During the summer, he signed a one-year, $800,000 deal with the Avalanche after playing the previous three seasons in Russia for the KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Sedlak, who turns 30 years old in February, was a top-line player overseas. He played for John Tortorella's Blue Jackets from 2016-17 to 2018-19. He said his return to the NHL this season didn't bring him what he expected. He had missed playing a larger role and hadn't been home "really for the last 12 years," he said.

"The last few weeks, I was trying to figure it out, if I enjoy it and if hockey is still giving me what I want from it," Sedlak said Saturday at Flyers Training Center. "Because I feel like my family has sacrificed a lot for me being here. ... I think now, just the negatives kind of overweighed the positives.

"It's nothing with the organization, with the team or anything like that. It's strictly kind of me trying to be home and play a little bit more."

Sedlak and his fiancee live in Prague. He has been away from her, his parents and brother.

"She's studying and working, so she's not here really now," he said. "That's one of the reasons, too."

Sedlak had played well for the Flyers, giving them a significant lift in their bottom six. When the Flyers were banged up, he climbed in the lineup and saw some power play time. In 27 games for the Flyers, he recorded eight points (three goals, five assists), a plus-3 mark and 12:42 minutes per game. He had three multi-point games.

With the defending champion Avalanche, Sedlak appeared in three games and played 7:42 minutes per game.

He's likely to join Pardubice in Czech Extraliga.

"He's a good man," Tortorella said. "We're going to miss him. He's a good man, I've known him for a number of years."

"He's played really well for us and we're going to miss him. But this is something that is his decision."

Sedlak expected to play a smaller role when he returned to the NHL.

"When I came from Russia, I obviously played there a lot, I enjoyed playing a lot and kind of being the guy," he said. "I didn't expect to have that here. I knew what I was going to get — how many minutes, stuff like that. I thought I was going to feel better about it. When I signed with Colorado, I kind of knew I might have a chance to win.

"I'm getting to a certain age where it's not just about being in the NHL. It's also about playing, having fun playing, because I don't know how many good years I have left."

Sedlak will leave with some positives from his short time in Philadelphia.

"I remember how much Torts taught me when I was in Columbus. He taught me other things here, as well. I will take that," he said. "Lots of good memories with the guys in the locker room. They were awesome to me."

Subscribe to and rate Flyers Talk

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | YouTube