The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen underwent surgery for his ruptured triceps tendon and that it was performed by Dr. Keith Meister, the head orthopedic surgeon for MLB’s Texas Rangers.
He is expected to be sidelined for the next three months but should be ready for training camp.
While the Flyers were flying in mid-February, the wheels started to fall off with the domino effect that took place on the back-end. Ristolainen was the first casualty after he was diagnosed with a lower body injury after the 10th of February and he was then followed up by Jamie Drysdale and Nick Seeler before Sean Walker was moved to Colorado. The Flyers’ back-end lost four regulars within three weeks, and the latter three within a week.
Ristolainen’s injury was more of a mystery than his counterparts. His final game came on the 10th of February against the Seattle Kraken, where the Flyers won 3-2. He skated 15:26, finished the game, had 2 hits and a blocked shot, and 2 PIM. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but he never returned to the lineup. The club placed him on injured reserve 19 days later, hoping that it would be a 2-3 week timeline.
Drysdale and Seeler both returned from their respective injuries and IR stints for the final stretch drive, however mum was the word on Ristolainen for nearly two months. Fortunately, the hulking Finn is expected to be ready ahead of what should be another grueling training camp, but he has missed a considerable amount of time over the last few years.
He has missed all three season openers dating back to his 2021-22 season, where his first game was the fourth game of the season in 2021, the seventh game of the season in 2022, and the 21st game of the season in 2023. Over the last three years, Ristolainen has appeared in 171 games out of a possible 246, where he has 6 goals and 40 points to go along with a -19 rating, 78 PIM, 448 hits and 312 blocks in 19:32 of ice time per game.
Acquired ahead of the draft in 2021 for a first round pick (13th overall), a future second round pick, and Robert Hägg, it has been a disappointing start to Ristolainen’s Flyers tenure. He has vastly improved from his torturous 2021-22 season and became a rather competent and dependable bottom-four defenseman under John Tortorella and Brad Shaw. He still has three seasons left on his five-year deal that runs through the 2026-27 season.
The Flyers should have a lot of options to choose from next year with Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Ronnie Attard, Adam Ginning, Egor Zamula, Seeler, and Drysdale in the mix alongside prospects in Emil Andrae and potentially Helge Grans.
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