Up and down between the AHL, Taxi Squad and NHL so far this season, Chlapik was bought out by the team today
Filip Chlapik's price tag on waivers at $125 indicates his contract is being terminated. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) February 25, 2021
This seems like an odd situation for a 23-year-old, recent 2nd round draft pick to be suddenly bought out for no apparent reason, it seems like there may be more to the story. Filip Chlapik wasn’t exactly a world-beater in his play so far this season, left off the scoresheet in 1 NHL and 2 AHL games.
Why?
I think Chlapik will clear, and head back to Sparta Praha.
— Shawn Simpson (@TSNSimmer) February 25, 2021
Chlapik started this season playing with HC Sparta Praha of the Czech league and one of the plausible reasons for this sudden buyout could be that he wants to return home and play in the Czech Republic. It’s likely Chlapik’s camp opened up about their client’s wants and Pierre Dorion was happy to oblige. With Covid still prevalent and people going through individual battles with this new normal, him heading back to Europe wouldn’t be surprising.
The Senators have one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL and it was clear that Chlapik had fallen behind on the depth chart and with the more incoming talent to the organization, he likely didn’t have a future with the team. A mutual agreement to part ways could have been likely too if the Senators couldn’t acquire anything significant via trade.
Mismanagement
In his brief NHL career, Chlapik wasn’t flashy but actually yielded positive results both on the ice and analytically. The 23-year-old became a beast defensively and gave up very few quality chances against at even strength.
Filip Chlapík (on waivers) has been good defensively for Ottawa in limited minutes. pic.twitter.com/ja3GrhTyfo
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) February 25, 2021
While Chlapik doesn’t have much value around the league, letting in house, fringe NHL prospects go for nothing is not a good trend especially when the player is better than most of what is deployed on the NHL team’s 4th line.
Struggling to get Chalpik into the lineup while deploying Artem Anisimov, Alex Galchenyuk and even Micheal Haley at moments will rightly be criticized.
Career With Ottawa
Career Stats: 57 GP, 5 G, 6 A, 11 P
Drafted in the 2nd round (48th Overall) in 2015 by the Senators, Chlapik would end up playing 57 games with the big club, scoring 5 goals and totalling 11 points. He was also an integral part of Belleville, producing 88 points in 148 games over the better part of 3 seasons.
Chlapik signed a one-year qualifying offer in the offseason and was under roster control for the next few seasons.