The Philadelphia Flyers are approaching having a close-to-fully-healthy roster for the first time this season. It feels weird to think that what we have already experienced so far — riding the high of an overperforming beginning, crashing down hard, and then normalizing the status quo — was without every player that this team had at their disposal.
Both Rasmus Ristolainen and Marc Staal are set to return soon for the Flyers — in Ristolainen’s case, make his season debut — after going through Tuesday’s practice on non-contact jerseys. Those two experienced blueliners won’t be suiting up for Wednesday’s game against the Hurricanes, but their return is expected soon.
While we don’t want to be glad some players are out of the lineup due to health concerns, it has been pretty good timing for the Flyers. Because of these absences, they have been able to see Egor Zamula’s development into what should be a full-time NHLer, and gave both Travis Sanheim and newcomer Sean Walker more space to rise to the occasion. Sanheim and Walker have arguably been this team’s top blueliners this season, and if more minutes were taken away from them, we might not have found that out.
With these returns, the status quo will be shaken and the blue line will look vastly different. Louie Belpedio will most like be sent back down to Lehigh Valley and someone like Nick Seeler might take more of a backseat. But, according to head coach John Tortorella, Zamula — and other young blueliners — will still be at front of mind and development is still the priority.
“When there are decisions to be made, you know you’re getting deeper in your lineup,” Tortorella said Tuesday. “I’m not going to lose sight of the kids. We’ll see where it all goes.
“We’re going to be making these decisions all year long, whether it be older guys or the younger guys, as we continue. We want to grow them, but we’re trying to win hockey games, too, as we’re involved in the season.”
From the start of the season, even before injuries forced their lineup decisions, this Flyers coaching staff has made it clear that they are focusing on a makeshift carousel and rotation to get young players more opportunity playing in the NHL. Now this effort will be essentially doubled, with Ristolainen and Staal projected to get their fair share of minutes on the blue line.
What does this mean for players like Zamula, or even Cam York? We’ll just have to see if their role really changes. One thing we can hypothesize is that with these two defenseman coming in, who are less inclined to lead any offense or transition the puck up the ice, those two young blueliners will need to do even more of that than they are right now.
This is an ongoing situation and something to keep an eye on, no doubt.