Similar to last year, the Philadelphia Flyers enter the upcoming season with a lot of defensemen but not enough roster spots to hand out.
Barring any unforeseen injuries to their back-end before training camp, the Flyers have 5 roster spots all but locked up with Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Nick Seeler representing 83% of their defensive corps. That final roster spot will come down to veteran Erik Johnson or the slew of prospects who had been marinating over the last year either at the AHL level or with the big club in Egor Zamula‘s case.
In the summer of 2023, the Flyers traded Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets as part of a three-team trade and in return they received a throw-in contract of Sean Walker. Then on the first day of free agency, Daniel Brière signed Marc Staal and Victor Mete for depth purposes. Entering training camp the Flyers would have had Sanheim, York, Ristolainen, Seeler, Walker, Staal, Mete, Zamula, Emil Andrae, and Ronnie Attard all vying for a roster spot. With Ristolainen going down with an injury to start the season, Andrae and Zamula cracked the Opening Night roster with the former lasting 4 games and the latter sticking around for 66.
The 7 defensemen that opened up the season were Andrae, Sanheim, Seeler, Staal, Walker, York, and Zamula. This year could be a little more complicated with just one realistic roster spot open heading into training camp, under the assumption that everyone is healthy. The biggest question marks are Drysdale and Ristolainen who both went under the knife in the early stages of the offseason but the Flyers expect them to be ready for training camp.
Sanheim, York, Drysdale, Seeler, and Ristolainen should be virtual locks for the season opener. Sanheim, York, and Drysdale are essentially the backbone of the back-end for the foreseeable future, Seeler signed a 4-year extension before the trade deadline, and Ristolainen actually played relatively well in his 31-game campaign before succumbing to injuries. It’s not a bad quintet but that does leave one spot open for Andrae, Attard, Ginning, Johnson, and Zamula to vie for.
It’s not the best situation to be in while in a rebuild, considering you would want your top prospects front and centre but the Flyers showed last year that it is of vital importance to have depth and contingency plans at a vital position. When Drysdale, Ristolainen, and Seeler all went down with injuries one after the other, coupled with the departure of Walker, they were left with a back-end in tatters and had to play Staal, Johnson, Ginning, and Attard. The latter two did fairly well all, which has opened the door for their arrivals in 2024-25.
Extending Johnson to a one-year deal should be seen as a similar move to Staal’s signing last summer. Will John Tortorella play Johnson as often as he did last year? Will Tortorella play Johnson as often as he played Staal last year? It’s hard to tell but with more viable options in front of him, Johnson shouldn’t see that much ice-time unless there are injuries or the prospects couldn’t get it done.
Zamula had an up-and-down year but it was his first real taste at the NHL level in his young career. Before last year, Zamula had played in just 26 games across 3 seasons, which was split with time in the AHL as well as some injury concerns. In 2023-24 he scored 5 goals and 21 points in 66 games, was +3, and averaged 16:03 TOI while blocking 79 shots. He fits the mold of a bottom-pair defenseman almost perfectly this season, he’s accustomed to the playbook and defensive schemes, and for the most part he played well. Given a more sturdy and defensive partner, Zamula could be unleashed in more end-to-end play, which is something he is very well suited for despite his 6’5” stature.
Andrae, on the other hand, is probably the Flyers’ most offensively-gifted defensive prospect at the moment. Not only is he seasoned compared to the rest but he has put up strong numbers in both the SHL and the AHL. After a disappointing draft+1 season in 2020-21, where he accumulated just 13 points in 46 combined games between the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan, Andrae bounced back with 33 points in 41 games in the HockeyAllsvenskan in 2021-22 and then 26 points in 51 games in the SHL the following year. He also captained Sweden at the World Juniors in 2021-22, scoring 4 goals and 8 points along the way.
Andrae then made the jump to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at the end of the 2022-23 season, where he potted 2 goals and 6 points in just 10 games. He followed that up with 32 points in 61 games this past season and despite his 5’9 stature, he has impressed with how “big” he plays and he can really lay down the boom – all while quarterbacking a power play.
Attard has been an offensive weapon for the Phantoms over the last couple seasons and he showed up in a big way this year with 10 goals and 27 points in just 48 games. He added 12 goals and 32 points the year prior in 68 games in his first taste of professional hockey. After going undrafted in his first go-around, the Flyers selected Attard in the third round the following year after a massive improvement with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL that saw him go from 15 points in 50 games to 30 goals and 65 points in 48 contests.
He committed to Western Michigan University where he improved from 14 points to 22 points to 36 points in his 3 seasons. With the Flyers, he scored 2 goals and 4 points in 15 games right off the hop but has only seen 14 games since 2021-22. The Flyers chose to let him marinate in 2022-23 as he was a main cog in the Phantoms’ postseason push and the NHL club had too many mouths to feed. This year could provide the same problem but the 25-year-old could surprise with a strong training camp and make the leap over his counterparts.
Ginning was an interesting prospect because at one point in time it looked like his tenure with the Flyers was all but over. The former 2nd round pick from the 2018 draft had not lived up to the expectations that come with such high draft capital and after spending 4 years post-draft in Sweden, his first taste with the Phantoms left a lot to be desired. He accounted for 19 points in 68 games and even saw one game of action for the Flyers but at the time, he had dropped considerably off the hierarchy.
However, this past season was a little different and although he only saw 9 games with the Flyers, he played brilliantly, especially factoring in the difficult circumstances surrounding his call-up. With 3 regulars battered with injury and Walker moved to the Colorado Avalanche, Ginning was thrust into an unenviable spot where he had to play big minutes as the Flyers were starting out on their gauntlet run.
Ginning left the Flyers on a good note and even received a two-year extension on the 17th of June. If there was one extra spot required to be filled out next year, Ginning would have been as close to a shoe-in as as possible as long as he had a decent camp. However, with so many mouths to feed, he’s in tough with stiff competition. He probably will start the year in the minors but should the Flyers need his assistance -whether through injuries or inconsistent play from another defender – he will assuredly get a call.
All of this is under the assumption that both Drysdale and Ristolainen are ready for Opening Night, however with the former dealing with a core injury, there’s a chance he won’t be ready in time. Whereas, Ristolainen is coming off surgery for a strained triceps tendon so his injury isn’t as serious as Drysdale’s but it was serious enough to keep him sidelined for 2 months at the end of the 2023-24 season. If one isn’t ready for the season opener that opens up a spot for 2 of Andrae, Zamula, and Attard but if both are sidelined then we could see all 3 unless the Flyers opt to give Johnson more run.
Whether there’s 1, 2, or 3 spots open on the back-end, training camp is going to be as competitive as ever with the youngsters trying to knock down the front door and prove their worth at the NHL level. If the Flyers choose to keep them in the minors for another year, it would certainly put the rebuild slightly in question but if it’s because they can’t beat out a veteran like Johnson, then there should be question marks surrounding the development going on in the minors.
