VOORHEES, N.J. — Right around this time in the 2023-24 season, a trade and an injury hit the Flyers simultaneously, depleting their defense for an important stretch run.
The Flyers parted ways with Sean Walker to acquire a first-round pick for their rebuild. On the same day, Nick Seeler was placed on injured reserve. Just like that, the Flyers lost arguably their most effective defensive pair.
Danny Briere finds himself in a similar spot this season. Will the general manager hand the Flyers’ locker room another difficult move?
“We still believe in our group and we think we can make a push here for the playoffs,” Sean Couturier said Tuesday. … “As it comes to trades, we don’t control that. It’s not something we try to focus too much on; we try to focus on what we can control.”
The Flyers have one more game to go before Friday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. They’ll head into Thursday’s matchup with the Mammoth on a three-game winning streak (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP), which has made things interesting. The Flyers are 28-21-11 and in the hunt with 22 games remaining.
But in their 3-2 shootout win Monday night over the Maple Leafs, they saw Seeler exit with a lower-body injury. He didn’t practice Tuesday and head coach Rick Tocchet considered him a game-time decision for Thursday.
“He’s definitely a heart-and-soul guy, plays hard, blocks shots, sacrifices himself for the team,” Couturier said. “He’s willing to do anything to help win. We’ll see with his situation, hopefully he’s all right.”
The Flyers are going to hold Rasmus Ristolainen, their biggest trade chip, in high regard. They won’t sell him short. If Seeler has to miss time, subtracting Ristolainen would then be a serious gut punch to the locker room. The Flyers would be losing two of their more experienced, physical, defensive-minded players on the back end.
While it is a business and players know that, the front office does have to consider how moves are received in the locker room. The Flyers are trying to build right now, so keeping your best players buying in is important.
Tocchet understands his role in all of this. He’s in his first season with the Flyers and has coached Ristolainen for only 23 games. It sounds like Tocchet will stay in his lane and trust his GM.
“Well, I’m the new guy on the block here,” the Flyers’ head coach said. “Risto wasn’t here for most of the year, since I’ve been here. I don’t know how many games he has played under me.”
But Tocchet has been impressed by a healthy Ristolainen, who played 27:14 minutes in the Flyers’ win over Toronto.
“I thought he was outstanding yesterday,” Tocchet said. “He’s a big defenseman, he has got a good shot. I mean, he was wheeling the puck last night like Bobby Orr, to be honest with you. He had a good game last night.
“I love the guy, but I don’t know, it’s a business. Whatever happens, happens. I can’t worry about that stuff, but I will say he has played really well under me.”
Ristolainen didn’t practice Tuesday. He and Christian Dvorak were both out for maintenance days.
Travis Konecny also missed practice after not playing Monday night because of an upper-body injury. He has been considered day to day and a game-time decision for Thursday.
When the Flyers host Utah, they’ll be trying to win four straight for the first time in over two years. Tocchet isn’t exactly pulling up the standings every day, but you can bet he’s aware of the Flyers’ competitors in the race.
“I watch a lot of hockey at night,” Tocchet said. “I don’t watch every game, but I’ll watch a period here or there. Am I rooting against Boston and Washington and these teams? Yeah, I hope they lose every game. But I’m not living and dying by it because there’s nothing you can do, you’re sitting at home, all you’re doing is creating anxiety if you’re seeing the teams come back and win.
“We’ve strung three wins together. Nobody’s patting each other on the back, but can we make it four, five? It’s going to be hard to do, but then you can look, if you can rattle off seven in a row, then all of a sudden you look at the standings and go, ‘Wow.'”