With injuries having slowly piled up over the last week, the Philadelphia Flyers might be in store for some good news after they loaned defenseman Adam Ginning back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms earlier today.
Ginning was brought up by the Flyers after defenseman Jamie Drysdale was placed on the injured reserve after his collision with Anaheim Ducks enforcer Ross Johnston.
In what amounted to be a very emotional contest between the two clubs, Drysdale was forced out of the contest against his former club after Johnston seemingly made no effort in getting out of the way, which forced the referees to give him a game misconduct for interference.
The Flyers finished the game shorthanded on the back-end but came out victorious in what was one of their more complete games of the season. Unfortunately, since then they’ve lost 3 straight games, featuring an overtime loss to Toronto before two uneven blowouts at the hands of the white-hot Tampa Bay Lightning.
In his stead, the Flyers used Noah Juulsen on the back-end, whereas Ginning was a healthy scratch in all three games. However, Drysdale had been seen participating in practices as early as the 10th of January, which was always a good sign that they had avoided a potentially serious injury.
That, alongside Ginning’s return to the minors, potentially paves the way for him to return tomorrow when first eligible to be taken off IR ahead of their tilt against Buffalo on Wednesday. It’s an important stretch with the Flyers in action again on Thursday against Pittsburgh as well as Saturday against the New York Rangers.
The three-game losing streak is only the second of its kind all season, with the first one having been all decided in overtime between the 11th and 14th of December. Having Drysdale back in the lineup would allow them to shift their pairings back to normal, would give them back a power play weapon, and a critical piece to their 5v5 defending.
The Flyers assuredly dodged a bullet with Drysdale’s injury not being a serious or long-term issue, considering his overall play this year. The 23-year-old has 3 goals and 15 points in 41 games with a +1 rating, which is a stark improvement from the 7 goals and 20 points he recorded in 70 games last year, to go along with a -32 rating.
He’s also skating a career-high 21:12 TOI, has 41 blocked shots, and has added 2 power play points, so look for his involvement to return back to normal upon his activation from IR, whether that’s tomorrow or in the near future.
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