Many things didn’t go right during the John Tortorella era over the last three seasons of Philadelphia Flyers hockey. However, one consistent strong point of his teams in the City of Brotherly Love was tight checking and quality defensive play. From the 2022-23 through the 2024-25 season (including the end of last year after Tortorella was fired), the Flyers rank eighth in expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (according to Natural Stat Trick) and sixth in shots allowed. The team’s penalty kill numbers overall are a bit more mediocre. However, the team was ninth in net penalty kill over the last full three seasons, which reflects their short-handed attacking prowess that peaked during the 2023-24 season.
When Rick Tocchet’s tenure starts Thursday night against a Florida Panthers team that celebrated another successful banner-raising night on Tuesday, it’s fair to wonder if things might look more concerning. Part of that will be the group taking their new coach’s systems into meaningful action for the first time, especially against the two-time defending champions. But it’s also a commentary on the state of the team’s back-end. A combination of injuries, minimal offseason additions, and stagnating youth has Philadelphia’s blue line in a precarious spot as the new season begins.
Injury Factor Growing
The Flyers have known for a while that they’d begin the season without their full defense available. Rasmus Ristolainen missed the final 16 games of the 2024-25 campaign, undergoing triceps surgery on March 26. The estimated recovery timeline is six months, so Ristolainen shouldn’t be extraordinarily far away from returning, barring a setback. It’s the latest in a long line of injuries in Philadelphia for Ristolainen, who has missed at least 16 games in three of his four seasons with the club, including 70 combined over the last two seasons.
However, he’s now got a partner on injured reserve in another first-round pick, Cam York. It’s never a good sign when two of a team’s top three highest-paid players at a position are unavailable to start the season, especially given the sizable drop between the cap hits of the Flyers’ third (York, $5.1 million) and fourth (Nick Seeler, $2.7 million) most costly rearguards. But after playing nearly 26 minutes in Philadelphia’s final preseason game on Saturday, a dress rehearsal for the real games, news broke that York was dealing with a lower-body injury.
By being placed on injured reserve, York won’t be able to return until at least the Flyers’ fourth game on Oct. 16. So, they will have to survive a three-game stretch that features two games against the Panthers, plus a showdown with the reigning Eastern Conference Finalist Carolina Hurricanes. And if York can’t go right away, he’ll be absent for a showdown with last year’s Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg and Carolina were top-10 scoring teams last season, ranking fourth and ninth, respectively, and Florida is Florida. The Flyers would have their hands full without any absences; down two key players, the task becomes more challenging.
Next Man Up
When roster players go down, there are often two types of potential replacements. Sometimes, an exciting young player is waiting in the wings for the right break to blossom, like when Mark Streit’s oddly specific 2015 injury opened the door for Shayne Gostisbehere’s breakout rookie season. Usually, though, a more modest depth option is lurking behind them, hoping to hold the fort rather than truly improve the outlook.
Sure enough, that’s more where the Flyers find themselves. Their highest regarded defense prospect, Oliver Bonk, is also out of consideration due to injury. Emil Andrae would be next on that pecking list, but the Flyers don’t view his puck skills as strong enough to balance out their concerns, size-related or otherwise, about the 23-year-old Swede. Even Helge Grans and his modest upside took a hit due to underwhelming preseason play.
So, it’s two veteran third-pair or seventh defensemen and a 25-year-old with 11 career NHL games on the roster instead. Noah Juulsen had a tough start to training camp that modestly improved as exhibition play progressed. Still, his opening night roster spot feels more secure because he’s a right-handed shot who’s played under Tocchet before than a testament to his abilities. Ginning was completely off the radar when entering camp and has always been regarded as more of a high-floor option, even when he was first taken in the second round of the 2019 Draft. Gilbert is the main beneficiary of York’s injury — he was placed on waivers before the roster spot opened up.
That trio has combined for exactly one season with more than 35 NHL games (Juulsen played 54 for the Vancouver Canucks in the 2023-24 campaign). Their highest individual point total is seven. Juulsen and Gilbert have played for eight different teams in fewer than 300 total NHL games. Yet at least two of these three will be playing on opening night, and unless they’re paired together, one will probably be getting fairly significant minutes.
Egor Zamula, Philadelphia Flyers (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
That’s also because Egor Zamula’s status on a roster spot feels tenuous. He has become almost an everyday player over the last two seasons, dressing for 66 and 63 games, respectively. But a new coaching staff means fresh starts for everyone, and he has not made a good first impression. It’s fair to wonder if he might’ve been on the outside looking in on Thursday if York and Ristolainen were both healthy. They’re not, so he’ll get an opportunity to shake off the rust or nerves or whatever it might be. However, it will be difficult to shelter Zamula in the short term and difficult to trust him in the long term if his struggles continue.
What’s To Come
Tocchet has two options for arranging Game 1’s top-six. He could stack the best options as much as possible, comprising the top four of Travis Sanheim, Jamie Drysdale, Seeler, and Zamula, then put two of Ginning, Juulsen, and Gilbert on the third pair. Or, he could move one of those three to a higher role to balance things and trust his best players to carry a weaker partner.
Related: Flyers’ Owen Tippett Belongs in the Bottom Six
However, there is another option, although it’s unlikely it will materialize by the season opener. In his first written 32 Thoughts of the season, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Flyers are exploring trade options for a defender. While a significant trade is especially improbable, they do have some extra cap flexibility after jettisoning Ryan Ellis’ dead contract to the San Jose Sharks over the weekend. The Flyers slowly started shifting toward a more aggressive approach in the offseason. Now, we’ll see if that continues in-season.
