The Philadelphia Flyers were a little busy on Monday as they announced the recalls of defensemen Adam Ginning and forward Olle Lycksell from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The moves put them over the salary cap, which then prompted the club to shift defenseman Ryan Ellis to the long-term injured reserve list.
The Flyers have recently struggled to the tune of a 1-3-0 record in their last four games where they’ve allowed 19 goals during their three defeats and struggled at times during their lone victory against the San Jose Sharks. The patchwork defense that they currently have stationed has been abysmal but with Rasmus Ristolainen, Nick Seeler, and Jamie Drysdale all being placed on IR consecutively, it gave the Flyers very little leeway, especially after they traded Sean Walker.
Ahead of Tuesday’s rematch against the Toronto Maple Leafs, John Tortorella ran five lines and two new power play units at Monday’s practice. At this moment it’s tough to tell which of the five lines will be held out as healthy scratches, but it will most likely come down to some sort of combination out of Denis Gurianov, Sean Couturier, and Cam Atkinson alongside Nicolas Deslauriers, Noah Cates, and Lycksell.
Lycksell was seen on the revamped second unit of the power play with Tyson Foerster, Scott Laughton, Bobby Brink, and Egor Zamula, so it’s hard to see the Flyers making him a healthy scratch. Deslauriers, Brink, Gurianov, and Atkinson have seen plenty of action from the press box in recent weeks, but it will be interesting to see if Tortorella tries to send an even larger message to captain, Couturier, especially with how minimal his role has been over the last few weeks – he played just 11:10 against the Bruins on Saturday night.
As for Ginning, he played exceedingly well in his one game against Florida, which made the decision to reassign him to the Phantoms a little strange. The defense has been deplorable of late and with Marc Staal having just seen about nine minutes of ice time on Saturday, maybe it’s high-time that Tortorella finally made him a healthy scratch.
For reference, Ginning played 18:11 against one of the NHL’s best in the Florida Panthers and delivered 5 hits and 1 blocked shot with 1 takeaway. Staal, on the other hand, played 9:09 against Boston, had 1 hit, no blocked shots, and was a minus-1 while also being on the ice for the lone power play tally.
The Flyers desperately need to find a winning combination in short order with their playoff grasp loosening by the game. The New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, and Detroit Red Wings are on hot pursuit for either the final place in the Metropolitan Division or the Wild Card, and the Flyers have blown several opportunities over the last few weeks to increase their lead.
With no news coming out on either of the three defensemen currently placed on IR, Tortorella and company are running out of options and answers as the gauntlet continues with five more games still on that docket before the schedule eases up.
