For our season preview series, we now turn to another area of the team – the defensive depth – as an important storyline to discuss as we get closer to opening night. Under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw, the Flyers were able to maximize the talents of quite a few defensemen, including the likes of Nick Seeler and Rasmus Ristolainen. As the team switches to Rick Tocchet and Todd Rierden, continuing to get the most out of the back half of the defense is essential to this team making a step.
Rasmus Ristolainen
What did we see from Ristolainen last season?
Ristolainen’s time in Orange and Black has been hampered due to injuries, and last season was no different. After appearing in only 31 games in 2023-24, Ristolainen appeared in 63 games in 2024-25, but missed the final 19 games of the season after a triceps injury in March. It’s an injury that is going to hold him out of training camp and the first couple months of the season.
When he was on the ice, Ristolainen remained a really effective defenseman for the role that he was in, registering 4 goals and 15 assists and averaging 20:31 TOI. He was the mean, play-killing presence on the Flyers’ second pairing, and he essentially broke even from a play-driving standpoint. There was also a thought that Ristolainen rebuilt his trade value enough to be dealt at last year’s deadline. That never came to fruition – and the injury-riddled Ristolainen likely tanked his trade value by suffering yet another major injury. In reality, we are probably looking at Ristolainen playing out the remainder of his contract in the Orange and Black, as it’s going to be hard to find a suitor for a player that is injured as often as Ristolainen is.
What type of role do we expect Ristolainen to play this season?
Once Ristolainen fully recovers from his triceps injury, we certainly expect Ristolainen to slot into the Flyers’ second or third pair. As one of the main success stories under Brad Shaw, it’ll be really interesting to watch Ristolainen under new coaching, to see if he can keep up the legitimately solid second-pair work from the Shaw seasons.
But, with Ristolainen slated to be out for a few months, the Flyers are going to likely roll with a Sanheim-York-Drysdale-Seeler top four. As we’ll get to in a moment, Seeler will likely have an extended chance to develop chemistry with Drysdale while Ristolainen’s out. If that pair hits, we might see Ristolainen slot right into a third pair role when he is healthy, alongside a player like Egor Zamula, Emil Andrae, or Noah Juulsen.
Nick Seeler
What did we see from Seeler last season?
Last season, Nick Seeler began his 4-year extension with the Flyers doing the same kind of things that warranted the contract in the first place. While he didn’t produce the same strong underlying statistics as he has in previous seasons, Seeler remained a steady presence on the backend in all the ways we’d expect. In 2024-25, Seeler blocked 200 shots and continued to be a leading “culture” guy for the team, while only putting up 3 goals and 17 assists across 77 games. Really, Seeler continued to be a passable second/third pairing player for the Flyers, as he was rarely the guy making key mistakes for the Flyers. Just solid, consistent work from a defenseman that the team relies on for 15-17 minutes a night.
What type of role do we expect Seeler to play this season?
We really expect more of the same from Seeler, a shot-blocking machine that sets the tone for how the Flyers play in their defensive zone. For the first part of the year without Ristolainen, we can probably expect Seeler to slot in on the second pair with Jamie Drysdale. That’s a pair that the Flyers have tried before, and one that showed flashes at various points last year, so we’d expect Tocchet to start with Sanheim-York and Seeler-Drysdale for the top-4. So, look for Seeler to be a stable defensive presence on a pair with the offensively-oriented Drysdale, and we’ll see if Seeler’s underlying metrics improve back to 2023-24 levels (~47 CF%). How the Seeler-Drysdale pair performs in the early goings is going to be a quick litmus test for the growth of Drysdale, because if it doesn’t work, the Flyers might not have two functional pairs without Ristolainen.
Egor Zamula
What did we see from Zamula last season?
Zamula had an alright season in 2024-25, but the flaws that we witnessed in previous seasons remained. Zamula’s pace of play continued to be a sore spot, and his overall hockey IQ and decision making in all three zones was suspect. Zamula registered 3 goals and 12 assists across 63 games, and even with extended looks on the power play units, Zamula didn’t consistently show the offensive poise that he flashed in 2023-24. His underlying metrics were alright though, registering a 49.9 CF% and standing out as one of the best defenseman at denying the opposition entry into the zone and stopping transition rushes. The problem is, Zamula’s performance didn’t grade out well in almost any other way, as his ability to create offense and move the puck up ice to teammates was consistently bad. There just is a lot of question marks that Zamula left unanswered with his play last season, and it’s left his roster spot in a relatively questionable place in 2025-26.
What type of role do we expect Zamula to play this season?
Zamula is going to have another chance to be a de facto third pair player to start the season. With the injury to Ristolainen, the Flyers’ realistic third pair options on opening night go something like this: Zamula, Juulsen, Helge Grans, Emil Andrae. Zamula, with the most games in the Orange and Black out of that group, is essentially a shoe-in for opening night barring a total disaster. However, if he continues to struggle while Grans or Andrae are thriving in the AHL? We’d expect Zamula’s leash to be pretty short, as the Flyers will be really trying to figure out their eventual third pair when Ristolainen returns. He has to improve on his pace of play with the puck, as well as his decision-making, or we’ll be looking towards other options for the third pairing.
Noah Juulsen
What did we see from Juulsen last season?
Juulsen is the “Tocchet guy” that was a fixture of the Vancouver Canucks as a No. 6 or No. 7 defenseman during his tenure. Juulsen was the subject of a lot of ire in Vancouver, where fans frequently lamented about Tocchet’s use of Juulsen on the Canucks’ third-pair. In his 35 games with the Canucks last year, Juulsen had zero points across an average of 16:17 TOI. His underlying stats were not very good, operating on a 43.57 Corsi-for percentage and a 41.12 expected-goals percentage. He’s a pretty physical player, but Juulsen hasn’t been much more than that in his NHL career thus far.
What type of role do we expect Juulsen to play this season?
We’d expect Juulsen to play a role similar to one he played in Vancouver, but perhaps he’s the odd man out of the lineup more times than he’s not as the No. 7. He will likely get a longer look with Rasmus Ristolainen out of the lineup for a month or two, but Juulsen is certainly below Seeler and Zamula on the depth chart. So, Juulsen is probably the No. 6 to start the season, but he’ll have a pretty short leash if things continue to go as poorly as it has to start the preseason. If poor play continues, it wouldn’t be shocking to see either one of Helge Grans or Emil Andrae called up to the big club.
Noah Juulsen looks just as rough tonight as he did yesterday in the scrimmage.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) September 22, 2025
