The Philadelphia Flyers have been without two defensemen, both dealing with injuries.
Both Rasmus Ristolainen and Oliver Bonk missed Flyers training camp due to injury.
Ristolainen has been recovering from tricep surgery back in March. The Flyers have been without Ristolainen since March 11th of last season.
Oliver Bonk was with the team for rookie camp, where he sustained an upper-body injury that was considered “day-to-day”, but held him out of the Rookie Showcase. The prospect missed the entirety of training camp and preseason.
Ristolainen was always expected to miss the opening portion of the 2025-26 season, but the duration of Bono’s injury has come as a bit of a surprise.
Flyers general manager Danny Briere provided an update on the injured defensemen on Monday afternoon at the Flyers Training Center.
Briere Provides an Update on Flyers’ Injured Defensemen
Regarding Ristolainen, Briere said, “Everything is coming along nicely. Pretty soon, we’re hoping he starts practicing with the team. I don’t know how far away that is, but he’s progressing well.”
As far as a timetable for when we can see Ristolainen suit up in a game, Briere says we’re looking at the range of four to six weeks.
“We didn’t know how serious it was at first,” Briere said about Oliver Bonk’s upper-body injury. Bonk sustained the injury early in rookie camp. “We kept him out of rookie camp, then it lingered. We kept him out of main camp, thinking that it would get better. It’s been a slow process with his upper body injury, but it’s going well now. We’re just hoping that there’s no setbacks.”
Briere mentioned the importance of taking their time with Bonk. “We’re trying to give him the time and proper space between skates, for him to feel good enough to come back and play.”
Regarding a timetable for Bono’s return, Briere said it is harder. A timeline will be easier to determine once Bonk has progressed a little further with the injury and the Flyers are sure there are no setbacks.
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