At the beginning of last season the Philadelphia Flyers had a lot of question marks on the blueline. Yes, another year where Ryan Ellis was a non-factor. The Flyers also parted company with Ivan Provorov, leaving what many thought was a hole that couldn’t be filled overnight. But the pair of Cam York and especially Travis Sanheim did what was necessary to keep the team in the hunt. Now with another season looming, both Sanheim and York (and a lot of Flyers faithful) are hopeful that a missing piece can be discovered in Jamie Drysdale.
As three of the top four defensemen in the Flyers depth chart, obviously a lot of their individual and collective success or failure will result in the team either sinking or swimming down the homestretch. With no genuine number one defenseman (and none that appear to be in the offing shortly) it’s clear this trio will have to at best maintain or improve their play and in the case of one just simply get through 82 games without nagging injuries or season-ending surgeries. Can Drysdale rebound from what was a rather problematic 2023-24? Or will he make Flyer fans think about William who Drysdale was traded for with some inconsistent play? Can Sanheim maintain the workload he did for the first half of the season? Or is it simply too much for him to handle? And can York find a way to became a bit more effectively offensively without giving up much without the puck? Lot of questions but let’s see if there’s answers.
Jamie Drysdale
What did we see from Drysdale last season?
Drysdale, like much of the NHL pundits, had no clue he would end up with the Flyers as late as New Year’s Day 2024. But the Anaheim Duck, despite being shocked at the news, quickly got himself together and played his first game with the Flyers at home against the Canadiens. The sixth selection overall in the 2020 draft, Drysdale played nearly 20 minutes that first game (19:46) and got an assist. More importantly than the points was the way Drysdale skated, so fluid and so lateral that compared to most of the other Flyer skaters he looked highly impressive.
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