The Philadelphia Flyers fared fairly well in their first three games of the season, all things considered. But they could be getting one of their primary mainstays on the blue line back in action to further bolster their defense.
While playing without top-four defensemen Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen, the Flyers held the Panthers to two goals, the Hurricanes to four (in overtime), and the Cats again to a pair through three games.
Travis Sanheim carried the bulk of the load on the blue line, averaging over 27 minutes per game, and it looks like he might be getting some help for Thursday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
The forward lines stayed the same at practice on Wednesday, but York was on his usual top pair with Sanheim.
York and Sanheim were easily the Flyers’ most-trusted pair last season, getting 54.8% of the expected goals share during their team-leading 870 minutes together at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck. That was the seventh-highest xGF% among pairs with at least 800 minutes played, slightly ahead of the Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad duo in Florida.
Sanheim started this season with Nick Seeler on his left side, but they got out-attempted 48-30 during their 42 minutes together. Getting York back will not only help the Flyers’ top pair, but it’ll get the rest of the defense more in line as well.
Seeler and Jamie Drysdale have a lot of familiarity together on the second pair, playing nearly 588 minutes together at 5-on-5 last season.
The third pair could be either of the other two practice pairs, though.
While Andrae impressed in his season debut, Egor Zamula has fallen out of favor in recent weeks.
“He’s got to pick it up. Yup. Definitely,” Tocchet said late in the preseason.
Zamula’s time with the Flyers could be running out with York back and Andrae up with the big club, but that’s a discussion for another day.
Rick Tocchet may prefer to go with the more defensively sound Adam Ginning and Noah Juulsen pair as the third duo. It’d be a bit frustrating to sit Andrae after his game on Monday night, though.
There has been nothing made official yet, and Tocchet may or may not confirm anything after practice, but it certainly looks like the Flyers are getting York back for Thursday night’s game against the Jets.
