Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Brière provided an official update on injured defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Oliver Bonk on Monday.
Ristolainen’s 2024-25 season ended early due to an upper-body injury in the middle of March. The Flyers then announced at the end of the season that he had undergone surgery for a ruptured triceps, which was the same injury and surgery had undertaken the year prior.
His initial timeline to return was 6-7 months post-surgery and it was always expected that he would miss all of training camp and the beginning of the 2025-26 season.
There have been few updates since the off-season but Brière finally gave us some insight into his return date, which could be somewhere within the next month and a half, as reported by Jackie Spiegel of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
It does feel like his injury and return to the ice is being dragged and delayed, but considering his injury history since joining the Flyers, as well as the re-aggravation of his triceps, you could say they’re taking a very cautious approach.
The Flyers acquired the hulking defenseman from the Buffalo Sabres in the summer of 2021, and now 5 seasons deep with the club he’s dealt with a myriad of injuries, all the while missing 4 season openers. Out of a possible 328 games played, Ristolainen has missed 94, including 51 in 2023-24.
Things didn’t start off too well for Ristolainen but under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw, the former first round pick had enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance. Gone are the days where he’d quarterback a power play and collect 40 points, but here are the days where he can play 18-20 minutes a night of consistent shutdown hockey.
The Flyers do miss his presence on the ice as the 6’4 defenseman is certainly one of their more intimidating skaters with 406 blocked shots and 545 hits over the course of his 4 seasons. His penalty minute totals have also dramatically dropped to a combined 22 over the last 2 seasons, indicating that he’s a lot more restrained and tactical with when he decides to get rough and tough.
In his absence the Flyers have rolled with some combination of Adam Ginning, Noah Juulsen, and Egor Zamula, with the latter having featured a lot less as of late. Emil Andrae was also recalled ahead of Tuesday’s matchup against Pittsburgh. Upon his arrival, it is likely Ristolainen takes a third pair role alongside either Juulsen, Ginning, or even Andrae, depending on what their plan is for the soon-to-be-free agent Zamula.
As for Bonk, it’s not the start of his professional career that anyone was hoping for as he was forced to miss all of training camp, while dealing with an upper injury.
It was initially deemed to be a day-to-day ailment, which then became week-to-week, before he was placed on the non-roster injured reserve to begin the season. However, Brière mentions that they didn’t know how serious it was at first and that it kept lingering through rookie camp and training camp.
His timeline to return is a little more murky than Ristolainen’s and could stretch into a 5-6 week absence, which would push his Lehigh Valley Phantoms debut to the middle of December.
Bonk was the later of two first picks from the 2023 NHL Entry Draft when they also selected Matvei Michkov. The 6’4” defenseman notched 24 goals and 67 points in 60 games during the first of two championship seasons with the London Knights. He also added 16 points in 18 postseason games.
However, he took a backseat to Sam Dickinson in 2024-25 and had somewhat of a down season with 11 goals and 40 point in 52 games, before a 14-point postseason run. Bonk had also represented Team Canada at the World Juniors in 2024 and 2025, here he scored 1 goal and 5 points in 10 games.
It will be a situation worth monitoring as both defensemen are a ways away from making their return to the ice. Although the Flyers have given us a timeline for both players, they’ve never really been forthright about their medical updates in the past.
Nevertheless, if anything, expect a return before the new year.
