{"id":448063,"date":"2026-02-06T01:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448063\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T01:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:31:17","slug":"has-emil-andrae-fallen-out-of-the-flyers-defensive-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448063\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Emil Andrae Fallen Out of the Flyers Defensive Rotation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been four games since Emil Andrae last suited up for the Philadelphia Flyers. With the Swedish defenseman<\/a> expected to be a healthy scratch on Thursday, it will be five straight games without playing. <\/p>\n

Following the Flyers\u2019 game on January 26th against the New York Islanders, Andrae was taken out of the lineup, with the expectation that he would just get a reset \u2013 a game or two and back in the lineup. <\/p>\n

Well, that was not the case. It\u2019s now been 10 days since the 23-year-old played in a game. <\/p>\n

The initial scratch certainly had cause. Overall, the Flyers were struggling, but Andrae\u2019s struggles were especially noticeable. There have been times this season when Andrae looked like a legitimate top-four defender. At the same time, there have also been moments where you could see Andrae struggling. <\/p>\n

Talking about Andrae on Monday, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get him in somehow.\u201d The bench boss did mention that the lefty-righty pair, especially against the Washington Capitals, was a little more important. <\/p>\n

So, you take that, and assume that if he wants to get Andrae in a game before the break, Thursday\u2019s game is the last chance. <\/p>\n

At Wednesday\u2019s practice, Andrae was still rotating in with Nick Seeler, indicating he is once again out of the Flyers\u2019 lineup. When asked if he would come back in on Thursday, Tocchet said, \u201cWe\u2019re discussing it. We\u2019ve cleaned up the penalty kill since the Vegas game. I want to put him in [on Thursday], but that\u2019s where we would lose a PK guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Rick Tocchet confirmed that Andrae will once again be out of the lineup, missing his fifth-straight game. <\/p>\n

That said, has Emil Andrae fallen out of the Flyers\u2019 defensive rotation?<\/p>\n

Read More: Flyers Game 56: Lines, Notes, & How to Watch vs. Senato<\/a>rs<\/p>\n

Has Emil Andrae fallen out of the Flyers\u2019 defensive rotation? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Emil Andrae is no longer waiver-exempt. That said, if they wanted to get him down to the AHL to play some games, he would have to clear waivers or be sent on a conditioning loan. <\/p>\n

Now, to the question at hand: has Andrae really fallen out of the Flyers\u2019 defensive rotation? It\u2019s become evidently clear that the team\u2019s top 5 defensemen won\u2019t come out of the lineup. That\u2019s Sanheim, Ristolainen, York, Drysdale, and Seeler. <\/p>\n

So, the choice comes down to Noah Juulsen or Emil Andrae. <\/p>\n

This season, Andrae has a goal and 11 points with a +11 in 40 games. Juulsen has a goal and 9 points with a +3 in 41 games. Andrae is more of a puck-moving defenseman, while Juulsen is more of the stay-at-home physical type. <\/p>\n

Juulsen has more takeaways (7) and hits (78) this season than Andrae (4, 45), while Andrae has more blocked shots (33) when compared to Juulsen (30). Per NaturalStatTrick<\/a>, when Juulsen is on the ice, the Flyers have an expected goals against (xGA) of 20.99, while the xGA while Andrae is on the ice is 27.07.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to compare the two since they play different styles of games. However, I don\u2019t think either has been much more than a third-pair guy. <\/p>\n

Read More: PhHN Daily: Flyers Practice Notes; Gavin McKenna Mess; Panarin Finally Traded<\/a><\/p>\n

Who to play?<\/p>\n

In this matter, I would put Andrae above Juulsen this season. If Tocchet is worried about the lefty-righty pair, then why not go back to York-Sanheim as the top pair? Yes, Sanheim is a left-shot, but he plays well with York. That would free up the 3LHD spot for Andre alongside Ristolainen or Drysdale. <\/p>\n

If the penalty kill argument is the kicker, then let Drysdale, who has greatly improved defensivley, be the 5th penalty killer. At the moment, Juulsen is the 5th penalty killer. <\/p>\n

Either way, I would try to find a way to get Andrae back into a game. At this point in the season, playing the young players is important. I don\u2019t think a third-pair lefty-righty matchup, nor a 5th penalty killer, is reason to keep Andrae out for a fifth-straight game. <\/p>\n

While Emil Andrae has been anything but impressive lately, he cannot get better from the pressbox. The Flyers have to find ways to get him back into the lineup, and if the trend continues after the break, it will be especially concerning. <\/p>\n

Read More: Briere Answers the Signal, Addresses Michkov, Tocchet Noise<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been four games since Emil Andrae last suited up for the Philadelphia Flyers. With the Swedish defenseman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[772,54352,1468,46820,5,4,8831,1467,56,5205],"class_list":["post-448063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-philadelphia-flyers","tag-emil-andrae","tag-emil-andrae-healthy-scracth","tag-flyers","tag-flyers-defense","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-noah-juulsen","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-philadelphiaflyers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116021107129360171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}