Watching the Philadelphia Flyers throughout the preseason, it looked as if Emil Andrae would have a pretty clear path to the opening night lineup.
Even before the injury to Cam York, it seemed like Andrae’s smooth skating stride and puck moving ability would make him an asset for a defensive corps that doesn’t exactly have those skills in spades. Andrae also more closely resembles York’s game than someone like Adam Ginning or Noah Juulsen, but ultimately, the Flyers’ braintrust decided to go with more veteran options, leaving Andrae to go back to the AHL, once again.
Thankfully for the 23-year-old Swede, that didn’t last long. After a two assist performance in his first AHL contest, Andrae got the call back to the big club, with Dennis Gilbert heading back in the other direction. He made his season debut in the Flyers 5-2 win over the Panthers. He showed some speed, competition in puck battles, and had a shot on goal. He primarily played with Noah Juulsen, but surprisingly, Andrae also took some shifts with Jamie Drysdale, with Rick Tocchet pairing the Flyers two most offensively focused defenders together to relative success. In Andrae’s 10:22 of ice time, the Flyers had a 7-1 lead in shot attempts, and while that isn’t everything, it’s hard to have a bad game if the team gets those results when you’re on the ice.
But once again it seems that none of that really mattered, as Andrae was once again shuttled down to Lehigh Valley in order to accommodate the return of Cam York from injury. That leaves York to join Drysdale, Juulsen, Nick Seeler, Travis Sanheim, Yegor Zamula, and Adam Ginning as the defensemen on the Flyers roster, with Andrae back to his starring role as the Phantoms best offensive defender.
Andrae has shown enough to be NHL regular
Strong play, an intriguing skillset, good compete in puck battles, none of it seems to matter when it comes to Andrae securing an NHL future. It seems as if no matter what he does, the Flyers view his role as already filled by Drysdale and York, and Tocchet, Briere, and Jones do not seem to be bullish on the idea of having three offensively-minded, smaller defenders on the same team. That crunch results in Andrae repeatedly being shuttled up and down between the NHL and AHL levels, even when his play suggests otherwise.
It is a case where the meritocracy that has been preached from the Tortorella era, into the newly minted Tocchet regime, has not been followed. Andrae, frankly, has shown himself to be an NHL defenseman whenever he has gotten time with the big club. The reason he doesn’t stick around seems to be up to preference; the Flyers’ brain trust would rather have the size of Adam Ginning and Yegor Zamula, along with the veteran presence of someone like Noah Juulsen, rather than the out-and-out skill of someone like Andrae. And that would make sense, if the players that he was being passed over for had actually proven themselves to be NHL-level talent.
Zamula played a consistent role with the Flyers last year, but his start to this season has underwhelmed greatly and put his roster spot in jeopardy. Ginning essentially won the depth defenseman camp battle by default, with the perceived need for his size taking precedence, and the York injury allowing him a path to full-time duty. And Juulsen’ veteran presence, along with his prior associations with the head coach, has seemingly kept him around. None of these players are NHL locks, and they all should realistically be viewed in a similar light as Andrae until they prove to be real mainstays.
He’s shown that he can be effective at the AHL level time and time again, and continuing to send him back and forth isn’t doing anything for his development, or his trade value. If there isn’t a future for Andrae in Philadelphia, the best course of action would be to try and move him on to another situation where he can try to carve out a more significant role. Rasmus Sandin found himself in a similar situation in Toronto, albeit with a better team, and a better overall body of work. Eventually he was dealt to Washington, and carved out a consistent role for himself while allowing the Maple Leafs to build out their defense in their preferred manner.
Andrae’s AHL play speaks for itself, and sending him back and forth won’t teach him much that he doesn’t already know. It seems like his size is the limiting factor, because his tenacity cannot be questioned when you watch his games shift-by-shift. He does not shy away from puck battles, corners, or forecheckers, and despite only being 5’9/190, he isn’t afraid of throwing his weight to the extent that he can.
That seems like the path this relationship is heading down, and at this point, if the Flyers aren’t going to get the most out of the player, it may be for the best. While archetypes and size still matter in today’s NHL, the reality is that a potentially exciting offensive piece is being stifled in favor of far more conservative options. In the situation that the Flyers find themselves in, it just doesn’t seem to make that much sense.
