It appears that some reinforcements are finally on the way for the Flyers. After missing just under two weeks and six games for them with an upper-body injury, all signs are pointing to defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returning to the lineup tonight for the Flyers’ matchup with the visiting Islanders. The change isn’t wholly locked in just yet, as Rick Tocchet told media after the pregame skate that the decision will be made to slide him back into the lineup in place of Noah Juulsen, so long as he feels well enough after warmups. Officially, that makes for a game-time decision, but it’s positive movement all the same towards getting Ristolainen back in the lineup, all the same.
How he lines up
Based on the looks in the morning skate, Ristolainen is set to ease back into action with third pair minutes, playing alongside Emil Andrae. It’s something of a new look, but it’s one which makes sense given both Ristolainen’s situation and the broader context of the arrangement of their defense group. That is, while he’s not coming off of a tremendously long layoff, there is an expectation that it will take a bit of time for Ristolainen to get himself back up to game speed again, to get his timing working completely, and being able to limit his minutes and manage his matchups a bit while he does that should be a benefit to him.
But on top of that, it allows for them to opt for something like the path of least resistance, the least disruptive change for the rest of their pairs. We recall, ahead of the Flyers’ matchup with the Avalanche to close out their road trip, the coaching staff made some notable shifts to the defensive pairs, which saw Nick Seeler moved up to the second pairing with Jamie Drysdale, and Andrae shuffled down to the third pair to play alongside Noah Juulsen. And this change was one of the many things which was working well for the Flyers on the way to their huge win over the Avalanche, so it feels natural that the move — for now at least — is to keep these pairs rolling largely the same.
Now, as far as the combination of Ristolainen and Andrae goes, this isn’t an arrangement that we’ve seen much of this season, but these two did get a handful of games together last season in a similar sheltered role, and did show some promise therein. The Flyers will be hoping that they can hit the ground running and tap into a bit of that old positive play in this one, as they face off against a tough divisional opponent.
Corresponding moves?
While also not made official just yet, with Ristolainen likely set to come off of IR today, it’s safe to assume that a move to return Hunter McDonald to the Phantoms will be coming before long. McDonald, who was called up on January 17 — after Ristolainen’s IR placement and ahead of the road trip out west — was a possibility to be the next defense prospect to make his NHL debut for the Flyers this season (after Ty Murchison did it last month), but given how significant of a challenge that would have been against such a difficult opponent as any of Vegas, Utah, or Colorado would have been, it doesn’t come as the biggest surprise that McDonald instead served as more of an emergency extra, coming along for an extended road trip. All the same, though, getting the recall even for this was a nice nod of confidence, an acknowledgment of the good work he’s been doing of late down with the Phantoms, and he’s surely still take back with him some lessons about how things are done with the big club.
All the same, the timing of his return for the Phantoms, all told, could not be better. While the team has been and will likely remain for the foreseeable future depleted up front, the injuries on the once crowded back end are mounting on them. Ty Murchison is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, and this past weekend saw the Phantoms without Oliver Bonk for both of their two games as he’s battling an injury as well (though there’s no official word yet on the severity of this, or his timeline for return), so what was once a real position of strength for the team is looking a bit tenuously balanced suddenly, and getting a player like McDonald back — who plays big minutes and who has been nicely settling his game down on the defensive side of late — would be a major boost to them.
