The Philadelphia Flyers are starting to look more healthy, again. In the middle of this improbable win streak, the team will be getting back one veteran defenseman and a different blueliner is nearing his season debut.
Marc Staal has been officially activated by the Flyers off of Injured Reserve, the team announced on Tuesday morning.
The offseason free-agent signing has played just four games for his new club and has been missing since suffering a mid-game injury against the Edmonton Oilers back on Oct. 19. In a completely separate transaction, the Flyers have reassigned goaltender Felix Sandstrom to the AHL Phantoms after clearing waivers on Monday.
Staal is slated to make his return to the lineup on Long Island Wednesday night, as the Flyers visit the New York Islanders. At practice, he was skating on a pair with youngster Egor Zamula, forming the team’s bottom pair on the blue line.
The 36-year-old defenseman didn’t earn any points during his four-game debut for Philadelphia, but he did take a total of four penalty minutes and three shots on goal. So, who can say if he makes the team better or worse, truly.
Another guy that might be returning to make the blue line less youthful is Rasmus Ristolainen. The 29-year-old defenseman has not played for the Flyers this season after dealing with an undisclosed minor injury through the first month or so of the season, and will not lace up for the upcoming game against the Islanders. But, he is slowly inching towards his return after he was cleared for full contact for Tuesday’s practice.
Currently, he’s skating with Louie Belpedio on an extra fourth defensive pairing but most likely won’t be there for much longer. The Flyers are hosting the Rangers on Friday and then returning to Long Island for some Saturday Night Island Fever. We could potentially see Ristolainen make his season debut on Saturday, to then let the blue line rotation work its magic.
Of course, these two veterans need to play, but with the Flyers playing good hockey, it will be tough to see them make some current cuts. Our assumption with Staal and Zamula being connected at the bottom, it will be a Ristolainen-for-Seeler swap and Cam York returns to his left side. That would mean the first pairing could be Travis Sanheim and Sean Walker, with York and Ristolainein as the second. We’re just guessing here, though.
