Flyers' towering defenseman lands on IR

The towering Swede became one of coach John Tortorella’s most trusted players last season after recovering from a shaky start to impress in a modified role as a stay-at-home defenseman.

Without him, the Flyers will take just one right-handed defenseman, Sean Walker, to their season opener in Columbus on Tuesday. Sophomore left Cam York frequently played on his offside during the 2022-23 season and will likely do so again to start this campaign.

Ristolainen will miss at least seven days and two games because of his undisclosed injury; in the meantime, youngsters Emil Andrae and Egor Zamula round out the Flyers’ seven-man defensive corps. Andrae and Zamula will benefit from the 28-year-old’s vacant minutes as they try to establish themselves in the NHL.

Other notable facets of Philadelphia’s roster announcement were the decision to carry two backup goaltenders, Felix Sandstrom and Sam Ersson, and the inclusion of rookies Bobby Brink and Andrae, who were candidates to return to the AHL and SHL, respectively, for more seasoning.

The Flyers enter 2023-24 as one of the teams most likely to finish with a good draft position after a summer of sweeping changes throughout the organization. New GM Danny Briere showed Ivan Provorov, Kevin Hayes, and Tony DeAngelo the door to kickstart a long overdue rebuild.

If the team is finally prioritizing youth, Ristolainen’s mystery ailment could be a ploy to give Tortorella a longer look at Zamula and Andrae, who will battle for time with veterans like Marc Staal and Nick Seeler on the left side of the blue line.

The Flyers will meet Provorov and the Columbus Blue Jackets in their opening contest this Thursday; that matchup will also serve as a long-awaited return for forwards Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier.