Prior to the Philadelphia Flyers hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, they decided to make a call that a whole lot of the fan base has been clamoring for.
Announced by the team on Tuesday morning, the Flyers have recalled forward Bobby Brink from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
In a corresponding move, they have placed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on the Injured Reserve list — it is not the Long-Term Injured Reserve since the team does not need the cap overage, and Ryan Ellis will go there before anyone else, if the Flyers need that space at any time this season. There is no official timetable for Ristolainen to recover from this upper-body injury.
Brink, 22, has been down in the AHL since the team sent him down there on Jan. 22 due to some lackluster performances and needing more minutes to really start feeling his offensive game again. Since then, the young winger has appeared in 11 games and in them, has scored six goals and 11 total points. Clearly showing that he is capable enough offensively to be one of the better players down in the minors, but hopefully he worked the kinks out enough to improve his all-around game enough to get some real opportunity in the NHL.
And he might just get that increased opportunity soon enough. Maybe not Tuesday, or this week, but if the Flyers decide to shed some forward talent before the NHL trade deadline on March 8 — the likes of Scott Laughton, for example — there could be more minutes to go around and to a young player like Brink to be part of this push for the postseason.
In 38 games for the Flyers this season, Brink has scored seven goals and 18 points.
