When Anthony Richard was called up by the Philadelphia Flyers, it was expected to be as a depth option in lieu of Ryan Poehling’s IR placement. However, he was thrust into the lineup right away in place of Matvei Michkov, and while it drew the ire of the fanbase at the beginning, he has done extremely well since his recall and has given the Flyers’ offense and bottom-6 a massive boost.
Ahead of their three-game road trip with stops in Tampa Bay, Florida, and Carolina, the Flyers announced they were going to be without the services of Poehling. who was “banged up” and dealing with some nicks and bruises. They placed him on IR and called up Richard from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and he ended up taking Michkov’s place in the lineup, while also taking his power play spot as well.
Richard’s active status in the lineup wasn’t the pressing issue, as more people were concerned with Michkov’s press box visits, however the AHL-journeyman instantly clicked with the Flyers and has made a great impression early on in the season. In 4 games, Richard has tallied 2 goals and 2 assists, a +3 rating, 7 shots on goal, and has averaged 12:16 TOI.
He had several chances in his season debut against the Tampa Bay Lightning but couldn’t solve Andrei Vasilevskiy. However, he bounced back and scored his first goal as a Flyer the following game against Florida, added an assist against San Jose at home, and then scored a goal and added an assist in a comeback effort against Ottawa.
His impact has been very noticeable right off the hop and it has done wonders to the Flyers’ bottom-6 that has generally lacked firepower, offensive aggression, and a shot-first mentality. With the Flyers trailing 4-2 midway through the third period in a game where they were being heavily outshot, Richard brought it back to a one-goal game 37 seconds after Ottawa had scored and then he recorded the primary assist on Bobby Brink’s game-tying tally 2:03 later.
The Flyers are currently banged up at all three positions with Samuel Ersson expected to miss 1-2 weeks with a lower-body injury, Cam York and Jamie Drysdale are on IR, and Sean Couturier missed the Ottawa game with a lower-body injury and is questionable for Saturday’s contest against Buffalo.
As things stand, the Flyers have 14 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 3 goaltenders on the roster and with York expected to come back in the near future, Richard could become a roster casualty, unless the Flyers go off the wall and decide to send Emil Andrae down or place Ivan Fedotov on waivers for the purpose of reassignment, which are both extremely unlikely.
With Ersson sidelined potentially for a few weeks, they will need Aleksei Kolosov on the main roster to backup Fedotov, so it all boils down to when York returns and needs to be activated off IR. Nevertheless, Richard has shown he can hang around the NHL, produce offense, and make an impact in John Tortorella’s system.
Richard has come into his own at the AHL-level over the last few seasons after recording 30 goals and 67 points in 60 games for the Laval Rocket in 2022-23 and then 25 goals and 55 points in 59 games for the Providence Bruins in 2023-24. This season, the Trois-Rivières, Québec native has 4 goals and 9 points in 7 games for the Phantoms and rightfully earned the first call-up in relation to the forwards.
Prior to this 4-game stint, Richard had just 24 games of NHL experience under his belt with Nashville, Montréal, and Boston spanning back from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Perhaps if he keeps playing the way he’s been playing, he might force the Flyers’ hand into more games at the NHL-level this season.
For the time being, the 27-year-old will be pencilled into the lineup for Saturday’s contest against Buffalo as he looks to extend his point streak to four games and continue to build upon the chemistry he’s fortified with Brink.
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