Welcome to the Weekly Power Rankings–a definitive list of what’s naughty and what’s nice in the BSH-verse this week.
TOP FIVE
1. Young Cam
The 21-year-old had 3 points in 3 games this week, upping his season total to 5 in 8. He’s been one of the best Flyers since his return to the big leagues and is making a pretty strong case to remain in Philadelphia for the rest of the season. At the very least, he should be allowed some slack in future slumps—especially since the Flyers aren’t exactly on the cusp of competing for anything anyway.
2. Rasmus Ristolainen
The big righty finally notched his first point of the season after playing 27 games and over 500 minutes without one. It came in the form of an assist to Nick Seeler in Friday’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. It was really just a D-to-D pass, but it counts all the same.
Little Saint Nick Seeler. 🎅🎄
Credit Ristolainen and Cates with the helpers on Seeler’s third goal of the season.#PHIvsCAR | #FueledByPhilly pic.twitter.com/pnBugJabOd
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 24, 2022
3. Christmas songs
My hottest Christmas song take: they’re all good. The ones that are bad? They’re good because they’re about Christmas. Anyway, here’s the five best:
1. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love
2. “Last Christmas” by Wham!
3. “Are You Lonely Tonight, Mrs. Claus?” by Dan Wilson
4. “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses
5. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey
4. The Flyers’ lottery odds
Yes, the Flyers did win a game this week, but they also lost two of them and some other incidents (see: bottom five) point towards a lot more losses in the future. No Atkinson, a potential injury to Hart, and some turmoil in the locker room are not good ingredients for a winning recipe. And losing hockey games is good for lottery odds.
5. Secret Christmas movies
That’s what we call movies that aren’t built around Christmas but do feature Christmassy atmosphere or central Christmas scenes—like Just Friends (dir. Roger Kumble, 2005) or Sleepless in Seattle (dir. Nora Ephron, 1992). When you’re burnt out on Hallmark movies and Elf (dir. Jon Favreau, 2003) and A Christmas Story (dir. Bob Clark, 1983), it’s always refreshing to throw on a secret Christmas movie to maintain some spirit while taking a break.
Honorable mentions to: Wanamaker’s; Glass Onion (dir. Rian Johnson, 2022); pond hockey; coquitos and egg nog; James van Riemsdyk; James van Riemsdyk’s trade value; and the Simpson family’s dog.
BOTTOM FIVE
1. Old Cam
We found out this week that last year’s MVP will undergo a neck surgery and be out the rest of the season. Atkinson had been cleared a few weeks ago and was reportedly close to returning until the news broke that he’d be out for good. Atkinson hadn’t played yet this year.
2. Rasmus Ristolainen
The big righty may have assisted on a goal on Friday, but he also shoved Seth Jarvis from behind into Carter Hart, sending Hart to the bench with an upper-body injury. No news yet on the seriousness of the injury or how long Hart will be out, but even just the potential for Hart missing time is enough to put Risto and the inadvertent result of his aggressive penalty killing near the top of our list.
3. Warmth
Something something bomb cyclone? I don’t know, but warmth took a huge hit this week—it’s unbearably cold. I played football yesterday and my beard was completely frosted over. Bad!
4. Flyers goaltenders
Samuel Ersson made his NHL debut this week, getting tossed into the fire against the Carolina Hurricanes with the team in front of him on a back-to-back. The Canes hung a five-spot on him before pulling him for Carter Hart. Then, Hart took a Hurricane to the head and left the game (see: no. 2).
5. Christmas on a Sunday
It’s the worst day of the week for a Christmas to be on. You don’t get off for Christmas Eve because it’s already a Saturday. It results in the least amount of days off from school or work or whatever you do. Bah humbug.
Honorable mentions to: gift cards; Chuck Fletcher; my fantasy football team; people who try to put their Christ in my Christmas; the Dallas Cowboys; and having a baby that’s too young for presents.
