The Philadelphia Flyers have been hit hard by the injury bug recently, especially on the blue line. They currently have two defensemen on injured reserve and another one who hasn’t played since Saturday.
Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and goaltender Samuel Ersson are all on IR while Emil Andrae remains out with a a lower-body injury.
The Flyers got some good news and some bad news on those four players on Wednesday morning:
Injury updates: The following players will not be in the lineup for #CARvsPHI:
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 20, 2024
• Cam York (remains on IR and is day-to-day)
• Sam Ersson (remains on IR and is day-to-day)
• Jamie Drysdale (remains on IR and is day-to-day)
• Emil Andrae (day-to-day) https://t.co/3qrGJzVMKI
The good news is that none of the four players are more than day-to-day. The bad news is that none of them will be available for Wednesday night’s game against the vaunted Carolina Hurricanes.
York was injured late into just his seventh game of the season back on October 23rd in Washington and got placed on IR three days later. The Flyers have been without him for nearly a month now, resulting in Travis Sanheim having to carry even more of the load on the top pair.
Luckily, Sanheim has done that with flying colors, but getting York back will be a boon. The young defenseman has been on the ice at practice in recent days, though, so his return should be imminent.
Drysdale last played on Saturday, November 9th in Florida. He also saw increased ice time due to York’s injury but didn’t handle it nearly as well. He was placed on IR on November 11th to make room for Ryan Poehling. The right-handed rover has also been skating recently but in a non-contact jersey.
The most important bit of news that the Flyers got on Wednesday morning was perhaps Andrae taking the ice for an optional morning skate. He hadn’t skated since leaving Saturday’s game in the third period with an injury.
Cam York and Jamie Drysdale are also on the ice for this optional morning skate. It's less notable than the Andrae appearance, however, as both York/Drysdale have been skating with the club for the past bit. This is Andrae's 1st appearance w/the team since getting banged up.
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) November 20, 2024
Andrae filled in admirably during his 10 games this season. He started on the bottom pair but worked his way up to the top pair showing confidence and poise at just 22 years old.
Lastly, the Flyers appear to be playing it on the safe side with their starting goaltender. Ersson has dealt with a reported groin injury in recent weeks and remains on IR. Ivan Fedotov and Alexei Kolosov have done a decent job in his absence, but it’s been an extremely small sample size.
The Flyers will have a logjam on the blue line once at least one of their defensemen is ready to return. Helge Grans played well in his NHL debut on Monday night, Erik Johnson has held his own, and Egor Zamula has shown some better play of late.
