Joona Koppanen Expected To Sign With SHL’s Lulea HF
Penguins pending UFA center Joona Koppanen is expected to sign with Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League for next year, as noted by David Olsson Jiglund of Kuriren. He won’t technically be a UFA until July 1, but he can formalize an agreement with them when SHL free agency opens in May, after the NHL regular season is over.
Koppanen, 28, was a fifth-round pick by the Bruins in 2016. He didn’t make his NHL debut until six years later, which turned out to be his final season in the Boston organization. He became a Group VI unrestricted free agent in 2023 and signed a two-year deal with Pittsburgh, where he’s remained ever since, primarily as a big AHL depth piece with some call-up utility.
The 6’5″, 216-lb Finn has appeared in 30 NHL games over the past four seasons, 27 of which have come in Pittsburgh. He has just one goal and two assists, though, along with a -4 rating while averaging 11:55 of ice time per game. He’s below-average on draws and, while he’s provided fine possession metrics in heavy defensive usage, hasn’t excelled there either. That makes his low point totals in double-digit minutes per game too much of a net negative to give him an extended look, even if he does provide an effective physical presence, averaging two hits per game.
In the AHL, Koppanen has been a consistent, two-way, middle-six forward. He almost always averages around a half a point per game, including a 6-10–16 scoring line with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season.
Koppanen will now play in a top-level European league for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign. He spent all of his post-draft campaign in Finland’s junior circuit before Boston signed him to an entry-level deal. For 2017-18, they loaned him to Ilves in Finland’s first division, Liiga, for most of the year before bringing him over to North America for the rest of his tenure in the organization. He then returned to Ilves on loan during the COVID-shortened 2021 season before AHL games got underway.
He’ll join a Luleå team that won its first SHL championship since 1996 last year. They’re relatively light on NHL experience for a big-name European club, though. Leading the way with 91 games from 2010-14 is 37-year-old defenseman Erik Gustafsson (not the current Red Wings depth name).
Oilers Explored Moving Darnell Nurse
The Oilers were quiet on deadline day, doing their bidding earlier in the week by acquiring Colton Dach, Jason Dickinson, and Connor Murphy in a pair of deals with the Blackhawks. That doesn’t mean they didn’t discuss other options. One of them was opening the door to trying to move struggling defender Darnell Nurse and his anchor contract, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
While nothing got close, it doesn’t appear the Oilers are done toying with the idea. “I can’t pinpoint how deep trade talks actually went, but that’s a name to watch this summer, [no-movement clause] and all,” Pagnotta wrote.
Nurse’s contract has been a point of contention in Edmonton nearly from the moment it was signed. In August 2021, he landed an eight-year, $74MM commitment with a $9.25MM cap hit that didn’t kick in until the 2022-23 campaign. He was coming off a career performance, finishing seventh in Norris Trophy voting, but it came in a much smaller sample than usual during the shortened 2021 COVID year. In the years since, the 31-year-old has never come close to sniffing the 0.64 points per game rate he set that year and has seen his possession impacts consistently decline as well.
The deal also includes no-move protection for the life of the deal, as Pagnotta discusses. That means the Oilers can’t waive or trade him without his approval. That full protection runs through next season. On July 1, 2027, the NMC remains in effect, preventing them from waiving him, but the full trade restriction gets dropped. He’ll then have a modified no-trade clause with only a 10-team no-trade list for the final three seasons of the deal. That removes one obstacle toward moving him if it’s something they still want to explore in the 2027 offseason, but getting someone to take him on at his full cap hit without a significant sweetener will remain prohibitive, considering his continuous decline, even in a rising cap environment.
Edmonton could retain some money to make the rest of his contract more appealing. That’s far preferable to a buyout, which, while technically possible, is nonsensical. The structure of Nurse’s contract ensures he’s paid mostly in signing bonuses from 2026-27 onward, meaning a buyout won’t save them any more than $1MM on average over the next four years.
This season, Nurse has seen his workload drop to third-pairing duties at even-strength behind Mattias Ekholm and Jake Walman among the Oilers’ contingent of lefties. In 64 games, he has a 7-13–20 scoring line with a -13 rating in 64 games. His 0.31 points per game are his lowest since his age-21 season, as is his 20:52 average time on ice. He’s seen a steep drop in deployment from both special teams units, no longer a factor at all on Edmonton’s power play, while averaging less than a minute and a half per game shorthanded. His 48.3% Corsi share at 5-on-5 also trails that of Ekholm’s, Walman’s, and Evan Bouchard‘s despite the most sheltered offensively favorable deployment of his career.
Kyle Dubas Deserves Praise For Retooling The Penguins
When the Pittsburgh Penguins dismissed GM Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke in April 2023, it created a vacancy that needed to be filled by an individual with a clear vision. The Penguins arguably had the least desirable job in the NHL, and there was no extensive list of candidates capable of stepping in and transforming a struggling franchise.
Pittsburgh had missed the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons, had an aging, costly roster, lacked prospects in the pipeline, had very few draft picks, and had minimal cap space. Despite all the negatives linked to the role, Pittsburgh leveraged its considerable resources at the time to attract Kyle Dubas to lead the organization, offering him a lengthy, substantial financial commitment and full autonomy to run the team as he deemed fit.
It was a significant gamble, and one that appears to be paying off nearly three years later.
Make no mistake: during the first two months Dubas was in charge, he did almost nothing right. The Ryan Graves contract remains a complete disaster; the Tristan Jarry deal was a major failure; and the other contracts he signed that summer did little to benefit the Penguins the following season.
The only positive from that summer was acquiring three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, who hasn’t been his usual offensive self but has become a more complete defender this season.
But during the 2023-24 season, when it became clear the Penguins were out of contention, they shifted to a retooling approach that resembled a rebuild. At the deadline, Dubas traded pending UFA Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Michael Bunting, a second-round pick that would become defenseman Harrison Brunicke, forward prospects Ville Koivunen, Vasiliy Ponomarev, and Cruz Lucius, along with a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick.
It was a significant haul for Dubas, although it lacked top-tier assets and was viewed as a move focused on quantity rather than quality. Nevertheless, the move sparked a run for Dubas that allowed him to avoid a full-scale rebuild, despite widespread belief that he was rebuilding the Penguins.
Dubas started dismantling the Penguins’ roster by trading away several veterans. At the same time, he added draft picks and young players who hadn’t panned out elsewhere, along with veterans on overpriced contracts that their former teams needed to shed for salary-cap reasons.
Dubas was happy to acquire these types of players in exchange for draft picks, as shown in his trades for Kevin Hayes and Cody Glass, in which he received second-, third-, and sixth-round picks for taking on their contracts. He also made short-term bets on players with potential upside, signing forward Anthony Beauvillier to a one-year deal and defenceman Matt Grzelcyk for just one year.
During the first part of the 2024-25 season, Dubas’ decisions seemed disastrous. The Penguins were out of playoff contention by January and began selling off pending UFAs, starting with Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor, whom they traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a first-round pick and several other veterans who were eventually moved out.
Dubas kept retooling, moving on from Glass to acquire more assets, including Bunting, who eventually helped the Penguins land Thomas Novak and additional draft picks. He also traded Beauvillier for a second-round draft pick at the deadline and acquired Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins for a fifth-rounder.
It all seemed like a video game. Dubas was wheeling and dealing as if he had a controller in his hand, but on-ice results were underwhelming at best.
The Penguins missed the playoffs for a third straight year, and fans and media alike began questioning whether Sidney Crosby should remain in Pittsburgh, since Dubas wasn’t building a strong team around him. Despite missing postseason hockey, the Penguins weren’t building for the here and now, as Dubas was adding draft picks and younger assets – something many believed was impossible without a full rebuild.
Aside from the asset acquisition, another big story was brewing. Dubas had pulled the Penguins out of an awful cap situation, and they had flexibility on the horizon.
Pittsburgh has over $47MM in cap space available this summer (per PuckPedia) and won’t have a ton of holes to fill, as they finally have a youth movement coming.
Then there was the mastery Dubas showed during the summer of 2025, first drafting Benjamin Kindel with the 11th overall pick, which most people thought was a reach. He then traded down with his second pick and ultimately left the first round of the entry draft with Bill Zonnon and Will Horcoff.
Dubas then spent the rest of the summer acquiring castoffs and second-round picks, taking on Matt Dumba’s contract and the sweetener from the Stars, as well as Connor Clifton from Buffalo. By late summer, the Penguins had more draft capital for the next three NHL drafts than any other team, all without a full-scale rebuild.
Dubas also went bargain-hunting among free agents last summer and found great success, signing Anthony Mantha to a one-year deal that has been a significant bargain, as well as defensemen Parker Wotherspoon and Justin Brazeau, who fill top four and top six roles on the Penguins for just $2.5MM combined and are signed for another season.
But Dubas’s best work this season has been the Jarry for Stuart Skinner swap and the Egor Chinakhov trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Skinner has outperformed Jarry since the trade, playing exceptionally well and helping the Penguins re-enter playoff contention.
Pittsburgh also received a second-round pick and Brett Kulak from Edmonton, who was later traded for Samuel Girard and an additional second-round pick. The Chinakhov trade, on the other hand, has worked out splendidly, as he has fit seamlessly alongside Evgeni Malkin, and the Penguins have been red hot since the trade.
Pittsburgh is now firmly in a playoff race, even without Crosby and, more recently, Malkin. The team isn’t a Stanley Cup favourite, but Dubas has achieved the impossible with this roster in just a few short years.
He made the team younger and faster, overhauled the prospect system, accumulated draft picks, and gained cap flexibility. He managed all of this while keeping the team in playoff contention during the final years of Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang.
Dubas provided the Penguins with direction and made the tough decisions and bold moves that come with having a clear vision. Make no mistake, Dubas had the term and independence when he was hired; he could have torn down the roster and taken the easy route to rebuild.
But he chose the more challenging path of retooling on the fly, one of the toughest ways to build. Dubas took one of the league’s oldest rosters and revitalized it, and for that, he deserves a lot of credit.
Lightning Recall Steven Santini
The Lightning announced today that they’ve recalled right-shot defender Steven Santini from AHL Syracuse. He will step into the lineup tonight against the Blue Jackets after Erik Černák left Sunday’s wild 8-7 loss to the Sabres, falling awkwardly on his leg in a fight at the beginning of the second period, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. Head coach Jon Cooper called Černák day-to-day, per Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider, so he isn’t in for an extended absence.
Santini, 31, has been a frequent flyer between Tampa and Syracuse this season. Today marks his fifth recall of the year, but his first since December. A veteran of nine NHL seasons, he joined the Bolts on a two-way deal in free agency in 2024 and signed a two-year extension last June, so he’s still signed through next season. A veteran all-around defender at the AHL level, his nine NHL games this season are already the most he’s played since suiting up a career-high 39 times for the Devils in 2018-19.
The 6’3″ rearguard has been adequate in a short-term support role. He’s only averaging 11:34 of ice time per game, posting an assist and a +1 rating. A physical shutdown defender during his time as a semi-frequent NHL option in New Jersey, he’s not displaying that same penchant for hitting later in his career. His possession numbers at 5-on-5 are also underwater with a 48.1% Corsi share, but he’s riding a 103.6 PDO and has gotten favorable offensive zone usage en route.
Down in Syracuse, he’s the club’s captain and has six assists and a +10 rating in 32 games. Still a high-end defensive threat in the minors, his offense is definitely trailing off. He’s had double-digit points in four straight minor-league seasons, but that streak could come to a close this year.
He was deployed in the lineup earlier this season because there were multiple occassions were the Bolts were missing three or more defenders at a time. They find themselves in a similar pinch now with Černák exiting, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg dealing with a facial fracture, and Darren Raddysh unavailable on bereavement leave following his father’s passing.
Leafs Recall Bo Groulx
The Maple Leafs announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled center Benoit-Olivier Groulx from AHL Toronto. He’ll give the Leafs a 13th forward for the stretch run after they iced a bare-minimum roster on offense for the last few days following the departures of Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann on deadline day.
It’s the second NHL stint of the season for Groulx, but the first that could result in any playing time. He was summoned for one day last month to practice with the Leafs as they still had players over at the Winter Olympics. It’s his first “real” recall since signing a two-year deal with Toronto in free agency last summer and will likely lead to his first NHL appearance since April 2024 with the Ducks.
Groulx, 26, has played 54 games in the AHL this season and has been the Marlies’ top producer with 27 goals and 50 points. With a +13 rating in tow, it’s easily the best pro season of his career on both sides of the puck. A second-round pick by Anaheim back in 2018, he stands at 6’2″ and 205 lbs and has always carried some intrigue with his bang-and-crash two-way play.
Groulx did get some runway in Anaheim’s NHL lineup, skating in 65 games in parts of three seasons from 2021-24. He averaged 12 minutes of ice time per game but was never able to make any sort of offensive impact, limited to one goal and four assists. After making a career-high 45 appearances in 2023-24, he was non-tendered and signed a two-way deal with the Rangers in the offseason. He cleared waivers and spent all of last season in the minors before landing with Toronto.
Aleksander Barkov Returns To Practice
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov appeared to be lost for the season when he tore both his ACL and MCL in his right knee on his first day of training camp. He’s been pushing for an early return, though, and has been doing light skating work on his own as part of his rehab since the end of December. That culminated in Barkov joining the team for a practice session, albeit in a non-contact jersey, for the first time this morning, the team’s Jameson Olive relays.
Florida and Barkov both hoped that if he did push the envelope for his return, it would be with the intent of captaining them to a third straight Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, a wide range of other impactful injuries completely derailed the Cats’ season. They’re not technically eliminated from playoff contention, but, with 19 games to go, are third-last in the East and sit 11 points back of a playoff spot. Their chances of making the playoffs are down to just 1.5%, per MoneyPuck, with a greater chance at winning the draft lottery for the first overall pick.
With that in mind, there’s little reason to work him into the lineup if he’s anything less than 100%. Outside of Sergei Bobrovsky, all of Florida’s core is signed long-term and still has a chance at multiple deep playoff runs with their group. Those long-term hopes will be dashed if Barkov sustains any additional damage or prevents his knee from fully healing, though.
Nonetheless, one of the most competitive individuals in the sport will bite at the chance to get back on the ice, even if it’s for a few ultimately meaningless games at the end of the schedule. It’s incredibly rare for a player of Barkov’s caliber to miss an entire season in his prime. Even the most notable examples this century, Peter Forsberg in 2001-02 and Nikita Kucherov in 2020-21, saw their clubs make the postseason without them and return to be their club’s top contributors on long playoff runs.
Hopefully, the fact that Barkov’s recovery has seemingly gone as smoothly as it has is a promising sign that he’ll hit the ground running in the fall for his age-31 season. He’s won back-to-back Selke Trophies and has passed the point-per-game threshold six times in the last seven seasons.
Blackhawks’ Oliver Moore Out Multiple Weeks
The Blackhawks will be without center Oliver Moore for at least a “couple of weeks” due to an undisclosed injury, head coach Jeff Blashill said last night (via Tab Bamford of Bleacher Nation). Chicago only has 12 healthy forwards without him, but with just six minor-league forwards under NHL contract, they’ll be mindful of recalling anyone unless they absolutely have to, so as not to decimate AHL Rockford’s roster.
Moore, 21, hadn’t missed a game since his recall in November until getting tangled up with Stars forward Colin Blackwell behind the net Sunday night. He left the game and was immediately ruled out for yesterday’s overtime loss to the Mammoth, which wasn’t a good sign for his long-term availability. With just over five weeks left in the regular season, there appears to be a chance this is season-ending for Moore.
It’s been a good rookie season from Moore, who’s stuck mostly on the wing in a middle-six role but has seen some time at center, too. The 19th overall pick in the 2023 draft signed out of the University of Minnesota last spring and began his NHL career with four assists in nine games with the Hawks to close out the schedule. He didn’t make the opening night roster in the fall, but after lighting up Rockford with nine points and a +8 rating in nine games, Chicago recalled him less than a month into the schedule.
Moore’s skating and two-way acumen, not necessarily his production ceiling, were what got him drafted that high. Mission accomplished on the former. Moore ranks in the 83rd percentile or higher in the four skating speed stats tracked by NHL EDGE, and especially excelled with 131 bursts between 20 and 22 miles per hour, sitting in the 91st percentile there.
If it’s the end of the road for him in 2025-26, he ends his rookie year with a 5-14–19 scoring line in 51 games with a -15 rating. That’s not awful production for a first-year player by any means, and it’s good for 10th in scoring on a Chicago team with a bottom-10 offense. His possession impacts didn’t blow anyone out of the water, but were certainly fine in a tough environment in the Windy City. His 47.1% Corsi share ranks sixth among Blackhawks forwards, and his 48.0% expected goals share ranks second at 5-on-5 (min. 50 minutes), per Natural Stat Trick.
The Blackhawks would have loved to see more of Moore down the stretch. They’ll lose him, but should see the addition of at least one first-round pick on offense in the coming days. 2024 #18 pick Sacha Boisvert will be joining the team after his sophomore season with Boston University ends, which could be as soon as tomorrow if they’re upset by last-place Vermont in the first round of the Hockey East tournament. Last year’s third overall selection, Anton Frondell, is also expected to be recalled from his loan to Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League when his season ends. The SHL’s regular season ends this weekend, but Djurgården has all but booked a spot in the play-in round.
Snapshots: Benak, Cruikshank, Heartlanders
Minnesota Wild prospect Adam Benak announced on social media today that he has committed to play college hockey at Western Michigan University. Benak, a 2025 fourth-round pick of the Wild, has elected to join the reigning NCAA champions, presumably for the 2026-27 season. Benak is currently playing for the Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL, where he has been one of the league’s most productive 18-year-old players. Of players his age, Benak’s 68 points in just 42 games ranks third in total points and second in scoring rate.
The move to college hockey will be the next test for a player who has found a way to be a productive force at the USHL level, OHL level, and on the international stage. Entering the season, Benak was ranked as the No. 15 prospect in the Wild’s system by the team at Elite Prospects, with scout Sebastian High writing that while he has middle-six upside, his “path to an NHL role is long and winding,” in large part due to his status as an undersized forward. Today’s announcement settles that the next step for Benak on his road to pro hockey will be the NCAA, and scouts will likely be curious to see if he’ll be able to translate his quality production from junior hockey to the college ranks.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- The AHL’s Hershey Bears announced that veteran forward Grant Cruikshank has signed a one-year AHL contract extension to remain with the organization for the 2026-27 season. The 27-year-old has had a solid 2025-26 campaign, setting a career-high for games played (52), goals (nine), and points (14) in a single AHL season. After a five-year college career, Cruikshank began his time as a professional in the ECHL, but after scoring 43 points in 35 games as a rookie, he quickly elevated himself to the AHL side of the AHL/ECHL bubble. Last season, he got into 31 games for the Bears, and this year, he’s been able to carve out a regular role in head coach Derek King’s lineup. He’s become a far more regular fixture on the Bears’ penalty kill, a unit that ranks No. 15 in the AHL, and it’s his development into a reliable defensive forward that has likely earned him this early extension. While he may not have a clear path to the NHL, he could look forward to a long AHL career as a penalty-killing defensive forward, perhaps in the mold of longtime Bridgeport forward Jeff Kubiak.
- The ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders announced today that the league’s Board of Governors approved the team’s decision to voluntarily suspend operations for the 2026-27 season. In their announcement, Heartlanders owner Michael Devlin called the move “an incredibly difficult decision” but one that “is the most responsible course” as the team reviews options for the franchise’s long-term sustainability. The Heartlanders are the ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild, and have players who are signed to, or have previously signed, NHL contracts on their roster, including Elliot Desnoyers, Cameron Butler, and Stevie Leskovar. Iowa went 36-25-11 last season but has fallen to 19-30-5 this year, No. 28 of 30 teams in league standings. According to HockeyDB, they rank last in the ECHL in average attendance per game.
Blue Jackets’ Erik Gudbranson Suffers Upper-Body Injury
Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness told the media, including team reporter Jeff Svoboda, that veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson will not travel for Columbus’ upcoming three-game road trip after suffering an upper-body injury during today’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
The injury limited Gudbranson to just five minutes of ice time today. The 34-year-old had a late start to his 2025-26 season as he was on injured reserve until mid-January with a hip injury.
The Blue Jackets did not reveal a full recovery timeline for Gudbranson, but that is presumably because the full extent of the upper-body injury is likely still being evaluated.
Should Gudbranson miss more than just this upcoming three-game road trip, the consequences could be significant both for Columbus and for Gudbranson himself.
The Blue Jackets have turned their season around since hiring Rick Bowness as their head coach, and are in the midst of a furious push up the Eastern Conference standings. The playoffs currently look like a very realistic possibility for the team, if they can sustain their pace.
Gudbranson has been a key defensive specialist for the Blue Jackets since making his season debut, and his efforts have helped propel the stunning reversal the team has experienced in its competitive fortunes for 2025-26. He’s the Blue Jackets’ No. 3 defenseman in terms of ice time, skating nearly 21 minutes per night.
He’s also a key player on the penalty kill, sitting just a few seconds behind Ivan Provorov for the team lead in short-handed time-on-ice per game. His 2:55 short-handed time on ice per game ranks just outside the top-20 in the NHL in that metric. While Columbus doesn’t have one of the league’s better penalty kills, it’s clear Gudbranson retains the trust of Bowness in key defensive situations.
With all of that in mind, it’s clear losing Gudbranson will pose a challenge for the Blue Jackets. It could present an opportunity for Yegor Zamula or Jake Christiansen to take on some of Gudbranson’s minutes in his absence, but neither is an ideal replacement for the defenseman.
From Gudbranson’s perspective, an extended injury absence would come at an extremely inopportune time. He’s playing out the final year of the four-year, $4MM AAV deal he signed in Columbus, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
While he will be able to offer interested teams a wealth of experience and some coveted traits (his size, physicality, and status as a right-shot defenseman), if he ends up missing even more time this season, his free agent case will be presented with questions attached. More specifically, Gudbranson’s trip to free agency (assuming he does not sign an extension in Columbus) could be dogged with questions over whether teams can trust him to stay healthy as he progresses deeper into his thirties.
It’s Gudbranson’s upcoming free agency, combined with his team’s playoff chase, that gives this development a clear set of stakes. The hope will be, for all parties involved, that the extent of Gudbranson’s absence is limited to just the team’s upcoming road trip.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Flyers’ Travis Konecny, Nick Seeler Return From Injury
Two veteran Philadelphia Flyers players returned from injury-related absences for the team’s game tonight against the Rangers: winger Travis Konecny and defenseman Nick Seeler.
Konecny is the more notable name of the pair, as he has led the Flyers in scoring each season for the last half-decade.
The 28-year-old has 57 points in 58 games this season, and holds a six-point lead over teammate Trevor Zegras for the scoring lead.
Last week, it was announced that Konecny would be sidelined on a day-to-day basis as he dealt with an upper-body injury. He missed the team’s victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 2, as well as their following two contests.
With his return tonight, his injury absence is capped at three games, a stretch in which the Flyers went 2-1-0.
With the Flyers clinging to slim playoff hopes at this stage of the season (their 29-22-11 record puts them seven points behind the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, with a game in hand), getting Konecny back now gives the team a boost to its competitive chances.
Were the Flyers somehow in the Western Conference, they would actually be in playoff position, but their geographic position puts their playoff hopes in a precarious spot. For them to build any momentum to go on a run and challenge for a playoff spot for the rest of the season, they’ll need Konecny healthy and playing at his best.
The other injured Flyer to be returning, Seeler, isn’t quite as important to the team as Konecny, but that’s not to say he doesn’t play a useful role in head coach Rick Tocchet’s lineup. The 32-year-old is the Flyers’ No. 5 defenseman in terms of ice time, averaging 18:21 per game.
He’s a regular penalty killer, averaging over two minutes of ice time per game short-handed. He also adds imposing size and a physical edge to a Flyers defense staffed with other players (outside of veteran Rasmus Ristolainen) who are not known for having that kind of dimension to their game.
Seeler missed the Flyers’ last two games nursing a lower-body injury. While Seeler was sidelined, 24-year-old Emil Andrae played in Seeler’s former role on the Flyers’ third pairing, next to veteran Noah Juulsen. With Seeler back, Andrae will exit the lineup and serve as a healthy scratch.
That sort of development has larger implications for Andrae. He is a pending arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, meaning each game carries significant stakes – he’s playing to prove he deserves a spot in the Flyers’ future plans. Each game spent as a healthy scratch is a lost opportunity for Andrae to make his case for a new contract with the Flyers.
But putting the consequences of Seeler’s return for Andrae aside, it’s clear his relatively quick recovery is a positive development for the Flyers as a whole. Seeler, like Konecny, is a valuable veteran for the team, and if they are to continue to play meaningful hockey down the stretch, they’ll need to have both players healthy and productive for as long as possible.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports