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Sean Couturier, James Van Riemsdyk Have Surgery

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As reported by Giana Han of The Philadelphia Inquirer, a pair of Philadelphia Flyers forwards underwent surgery recently. Center Sean Couturier underwent back revision surgery and will require three to four months of recovery. Winger James van Riemsdyk also had surgery on his left index finger and will miss six weeks. As reported, van Riemsdyk’s surgery was expected to have surgery earlier this week, however Couturier’s comes as a bit of a surprise. At the end of September, it was reported that Couturier would not require surgery on his back. Still, given the recent news that Couturier was not ready to start skating, today’s news gives some context as to why.

Generally, a star player having major back surgery that causes them to miss significant time would come as bad news, however for Couturier and the Flyers, this may be the start of bringing the star’s injury saga to a close. The former Selke winner missed significant time the last two seasons, playing in just 74 out of 138 possible games, including just 29 of 82 last season. His production hasn’t suffered in that time, recording 58 points in those 74 games while chipping in superb defense. Even if Couturier were to miss the maximum four months, it would put him on track for an early March return date which would be, all things considered, fantastic considering rumors that the 29-year-old could miss the entire 2022-23 season.

Van Riemsdyk, like his Flyers, had been off to a strong start to the season, but suffered an injury and left Sunday’s game against the San Jose Sharks early with an apparent injury. Though the surgery had been expected, a timeline for recovery remained unclear heading into the procedure, but with it complete, six weeks appears to be the magic number. Considering the 33-year-old’s status as a pending UFA, this injury is a tough blow not only for the team, but for the player. The veteran doesn’t seem to be the perennial 60-point player he was in his prime with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but has still shown the ability to get to tough areas to score all while being a team leader, two valuable assets to bring into free agency. Should Van Riemsdyk recover as expected and finish the season strong, he should be able to preserve his value in free agency.

With low expectations to start the season, Philadelphia’s strong start has been a welcomed surprise for the team and their fans, the team sitting at 5-2-0 coming into today. Losing one of its core veterans in Van Riemsdyk surely doesn’t help their cause, but a somewhat favorable timeline is a silver lining. With expectations that Couturier might be done for the season, the news that he could return later in the year is encouraging, especially if the team can remain in the playoff hunt. In the meantime, the absences will give opportunities to younger players to shine, as well as newcomers Lukas Sedlak and Kieffer Bellows, who were both claimed off of waivers recently.

Philadelphia Flyers Claim Kieffer Bellows

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The Philadelphia Flyers have claimed Kieffer Bellows off waivers from the New York Islanders, giving the team a new young forward to add to the lineup. Bellows has played in just a single game so far this season.

After making sure they added quite a bit of toughness in the offseason, the Flyers continue to target physical players with the acquisition of Bellows. The difference here is that the 2016 first-round pick also has quite a bit of scoring upside. The 24-year-old was once an incredible sniper at the junior level and has shown the ability to score at the AHL level as well.

Even in the NHL, he has 11 goals and 25 points in 68 games, despite averaging just over 11 minutes a night. He has added 154 hits during that time and had a fight against Max Pacioretty after the Vegas Golden Knights forward took a run at Andy Greene. That sort of protect-your-teammates style is certainly going to fit in well with John Tortorella’s group, though Bellows will have to bring some consistency to his game if he wants to remain a regular in Philadelphia.

Given that the Flyers issued grim updates on both Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson this morning, it comes as no surprise that they would be interested in an addition. Whether Bellows can live up to expectations remains to be seen, but there are certainly worse bets to make. The young forward is on a one-year, $1.2MM contract and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year.

Sean Couturier “Not Ready” To Continue Skating

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While the word setback wasn’t used, it sure seems like that’s what John Tortorella suggested when speaking about Sean Couturier today. He told reporters including Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer that Couturier is “just not ready” to continue his rehab and has stopped skating for the time being. As Jordan Hall of NBCS Philly points out, the veteran forward recently said he was feeling good in his recovery while getting on the ice.

Couturier is not close to returning. Meanwhile, Cam Atkinson is “one frustrated young man,” who isn’t expected to be back anytime soon.

This will sound like the same old song and dance for Flyers fans who have lived in a world of injury setbacks and additional surgeries over the past few years. Ryan Ellis, last year’s offseason prize, played just three games for Philadelphia before ending up on the shelf, and then just one more before being shut down for the year. He hasn’t played at all this season.

Kevin Hayes underwent several surgeries to correct multiple issues and ended up playing in just 48 games. Even Nolan Patrick, the high draft pick that was supposed to help usher in a new era of Flyers hockey, could never get over his migraine and concussion issues to stay in the lineup on a consistent basis.

Couturier, arguably the team’s most important forward, only played 29 games last year. Despite his obvious injury concerns, the team signed him to an eight-year, $62MM contract extension in August 2021 – one that he is only just starting this season. The deal carries a cap hit of $7.75MM through 2029-30. Already 29, Couturier will turn 30 in December and now hasn’t played a full season in several years.

Hopefully, this setback only means that it will take him a little longer to return from his back injury. But with whispers in September of him missing the entire season because of the potential need for surgery, and now keeping him off the ice, there are bad vibes coming out of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Flyers Acquire Evan Barratt

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The Chicago Blackhawks are busy today. After already completing one minor trade with the Montreal Canadiens, the Blackhawks have sent Evan Barratt to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Cooper Zech. The pair of young players will each report to their new minor league affiliates.

Barratt, 23, was a third-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2017 and has spent the last two seasons in the minor leagues after signing his entry-level contract. That contract expires at the end of this season and it is obvious that the new Chicago front office is focused on changing the entire organizational depth chart. The young forward was rather successful last year, with 28 points in 63 games, but hadn’t scored yet in his first two matches with Rockford this year.

He’ll join Lehigh Valley and try to prove to his new organization that he deserves a qualifying offer at the end of the year. Like the earlier trade, which sent Nicolas Beaudin back to where he grew up, Barratt is also headed home. The Bristol, Pennsylvania native played three years at Penn State and now gets a chance to play in front of friends and family once again.

Zech, meanwhile, is an undrafted defenseman that signed with the Flyers in 2021 after playing a few years on AHL contracts with the Providence Bruins. The 23-year-old is the kind of undersized player that can only climb the ladder by putting up big offensive numbers, but unfortunately only had 11 points in 53 games last season for Lehigh Valley.

While he may be a fine depth piece for Rockford, this is another player that could potentially be non-tendered by the Blackhawks at the end of the year. It should be noted that with so many draft picks coming into the organization, Chicago will need to keep contract slots to sign them open over the next few years. The moves today allow two players that are buried on the depth chart go play near their hometown, and hopefully make a bigger impact than they were ever going to have in Chicago.

Philadelphia Flyers Loan Louis Belpedio To AHL

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With the Philadelphia Flyers at home through the weekend and Rasmus Ristolainen back on the ice today at practice, Louis Belpedio has been loaned back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL. Even with James van Riemsdyk’s injury news earlier today, the team has decided to open up the extra roster spot with Ristolainen and Owen Tippett close to returning.

Belpedio, 26, didn’t actually play in a game for the Flyers, despite being recalled over a week ago. The AHL standout, who mixes offensive upside with physicality (even from a relatively small frame), is the prototypical quad-A player – one that is excellent in the minor leagues but can’t lock down a full-time role in the bigs. He has just four NHL games in his career so far.

The Phantoms will be happy, though, after going 2-1-1 through their first four games of the season. Belpedio should give them another weapon on defense to go along with the likes of Ronnie Attard and Cam York. The Flyers meanwhile will be down to six roster defensemen until Ristolainen is activated.

James Van Riemsdyk To Undergo Surgery

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The Philadelphia Flyers will be without James van Riemsdyk for the next while, as head coach John Tortorella announced today the veteran winger will have finger surgery on Friday. While Tortorella doesn’t think it is “season-ending”, as Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, there won’t be a real timeline until after the procedure.

On Cam Atkinson, another injured Flyers forward, Tortorella explained that while he doesn’t expect it to be a month-to-month thing, Atkinson isn’t ready to practice yet.

After a nice start to the season, things weren’t nearly as rosy in Philadelphia on Sunday. The team was shutout 3-0 by the San Jose Sharks, while Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes were both benched in the third period. Tortorella is clearly making an impact on the team (one way or another) but the loss of van Riemsdyk will test their forward group even more.

The 33-year-old forward was off to a good start with five points in his first five games, before exiting just five shifts into his sixth. A free agent at the end of the year, van Riemsdyk still has the ability to put the puck in the net and is coming off his seventh 20+ goal season in 2021-22. An injury like this will certainly not help any thought of another multi-year contract on the open market, especially because of how important his hands are to his overall game. Not the fleetest of foot, van Riemsdyk has always scored from close to (or in) the blue paint of the crease.

For his and the Flyers’ sake, hopefully, this surgery doesn’t take away any of that in-tight touch. Given how long he’ll be out, the Flyers could move van Riemsdyk to long-term injured reserve to gain more flexibility, though they already have $7MM of that space with Ryan Ellis and Patrick Brown on the shelf.

Philadelphia Flyers Loan Jackson Cates To AHL

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The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they have sent forward Jackson Cates to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Cates was recalled from the AHL on October 14th, and will now head back to the minors after skating in three NHL games.

Cates, 25, is an undrafted player who has impressed the Flyers organization in his short tenure with the team. Last season he played mostly in the AHL, and he scored 10 points in 37 games. Those numbers don’t scream “priority call-up” on their own, but Cates’ all-around play earned him eleven NHL games last season.

This year, Cates had a strong training camp and played his way onto the roster shortly after the start of the season. He’ll head back to Lehigh Valley now and look to put together a productive stretch of games there, games that will hopefully earn him a spot back in Philadelphia. Cates is also the brother of teammate Noah Cates, who is himself hoping to latch on in Philadelphia as a full-time NHLer.

There was no corresponding move announced to fill Cates’ now-vacated roster spot, although the Flyers aren’t required to hold the full 23 allowed players on their roster. It’s definitely possible, though, that another roster move is just around the corner.

Philadelphia Flyers Claim Lukas Sedlak

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The Philadelphia Flyers have nabbed another forward, claiming Lukas Sedlak off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. To make room, they’ve loaned Olle Lycksell to the AHL.

Sedlak, it should be noted, has quite a bit of familiarity with head coach John Tortorella from their time with the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was under Tortorella that the versatile Czech forward ascended to the NHL, and under whom he played more than 160 games.

The 29-year-old signed with the Avalanche after playing the last three years in the KHL (where he was a star) but hadn’t found any consistency playing a handful of minutes on the fourth line. He’ll now join a Flyers team that has gotten off to a 3-0 start, defeating the Devils, Canucks, and Lightning to begin the year. Given his ability to play all three forward positions and familiarity with the coaching staff, Sedlak should be able to slide directly into the lineup whenever he joins the Flyers on the road.

Philadelphia is set to take on the Florida Panthers this evening, before heading to Nashville for a Saturday night matchup.

Sedlak will avoid the minor leagues again with the claim; he hasn’t played in the AHL since the 2015-16 season with the Lake Erie Monsters, going out on top by winning the Calder Cup that year. He’ll now be kept on the Flyers roster, at least for the time being, and try to find some more consistent playing time in Philadelphia.

Rasmus Ristolainen Moved To Injured Reserve

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The Philadelphia Flyers are 2-0 and they have only allowed four goals on the year. They’ve been able to do that without highly-paid defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is dealing with an undisclosed injury suffered late in camp. Today, they have moved Ristolainen to injured reserve and recalled Zack MacEwen and Louis Belpedio, meaning they’ll have to keep playing without the big Finn for the next little while.

Given that the IR placement is retroactive, Ristolainen can come back basically at any point. But moving him off the roster at least suggests that he’s going to miss some more time.

Many fans of the team will be excited about the move, given it brings back tough guy MacEwen, who became a favorite last season when he was racking up 110 penalty minutes in 75 games. The 26-year-old forward gives the team another player who can skate and throw huge hits, while dropping the gloves whenever necessary.

Belpedio, meanwhile, gives the team another defensive option, though the group has looked pretty good so far. The 26-year-old has played in just four games at the NHL level in the past but is a strong two-way presence in the minor leagues and is coming off an impressive Calder Cup playoff run with the Laval Rocket.

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Nineteenth Overall

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
16th Overall: Gustav Nyquist, Boston Bruins (121)
17th Overall: Derek Stepan, Anaheim Ducks (51)
18th Overall: Jake Allen, Nashville Predators (34)

Right now, Pekka Rinne’s number hangs in the rafters of Bridgestone Arena, just above where another star netminder, Juuse Saros, plays his games. No doubt, Nashville is happy with its goaltending over the past 15 seasons or so. But, in our redraft, it’s hard not to think about what could have been if the Predators had selected both Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen seventh and eighteenth overall, respectively. Instead in 2008, Nashville selected forward Colin Wilson in the seven spot and goaltender Chet Pickard eighteenth.

Ultimately, Pickard never played in the NHL after a hot start in junior and the AHL. The goaltender would bounce between the AHL and ECHL before heading over to Europe, where he’s now a reliable netminder in Germany’s DEL. Even with Rinne and Saros, it’s likely the Predators would’ve preferred to take Allen over Pickard given Allen’s track record of NHL success.

Originally selected 34th overall by the St. Louis Blues, Allen slides nearly halfway up the draft board in our redraft. Allen was a standout goaltender in the QMJHL when he was selected by St. Louis, returning for the 2008-09 season. He would turn pro for 2009-10, playing goal for the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL and began to establish himself as one of the league’s best. He’d make his NHL debut during the shortened 2012-13 season, suiting up for 15 games with the Blues, returning to the AHL for 2013-14, where he put up a sensational 2.03 goals-against average and .928 save-percentage. That AHL performance would be his last, earning him the promotion to the NHL full-time.

Allen gradually took over the starer’s job in St. Louis, peaking from 2015 through 2018. Eventually, with the emergence of Jordan Binnington and Allen’s own performance slipping a bit, he lost the starting job. Prior to the 2020-21 season, St. Louis dealt Allen to the Montreal Canadiens, where he was expected to backup the legendary Carey Price. Now, with Price’s long-term injury, Allen has emerged as the starter for Montreal, recently signing a two-year extension that runs through 2024-25.

From the eighteenth-overall selection, we move on to the nineteenth, which belonged to the Philadelphia Flyers, who selected defenseman Luca Sbisa. The Italian-born Sbisa appears to have represented fair value for the nineteenth-overall pick. Far from flashy, the stay-at-home defenseman made a career as a steady, reliable, and at times physical presence. Sbisa made his NHL debut immediately after being drafted, getting into 39 NHL games for the Flyers before being sent back to the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. That offseason, he was sent to the Anaheim Ducks in the trade that ultimately brought Chris Pronger to Philadelphia.

Sbisa spent parts of five seasons in Anaheim, taking on a regular role on the Ducks’ blueline. In the summer of 2014, Sbisa was again moved as part of the package to bring in a star, this time heading to the Vancouver Canucks, with Ryan Kesler headed the other way. There, he continued to play the role of a quiet, yet effective blueliner, signing a three-year, $10.8MM extension prior to 2015-16. However, he’d spend just two more seasons in Vancouver before the Vegas Golden Knights selected him in the 2017 expansion draft.

The veteran appeared in just 30 games in the inaugural Vegas season, hitting the open market in 2018. There, he signed with the New York Islanders, getting into just nine games. That offseason, once again a free agent, he returned to Anaheim only briefly, selected off waivers by the Winnipeg Jets before he could suit up for an official game with the Ducks. Sbisa played 41 games for the Jets in 2019-20 and appeared set to join them once again for 2020-21, but was claimed on waivers once again, just prior to the start of the season. He’d work his way into the lineup for just one game with Nashville, which appears to be the last of his career. Though no formal retirement announcement appears to hve been made, Sbisa spent the 2021-22 season working with the Ducks and was recently hired by the San Jose Sharks in a player development role.

With names like John Carlson, Jordan Eberle, Jared Spurgeon, and Markstrom, just to name a few, still on the board, the Flyers likely would’ve opted to change their pick with hindsight. Still, taking Sbisa at nineteenth, given his long career wasn’t a bad bet, especially considering he helped them acquire Pronger, a tremendous asset at the time. With hindsight, would the Flyers opt to take Sbisa again with the names still remaining in our redraft? Or could they go for another option, such as Jake Gardiner, Travis Hamonic, or Tyler Ennis?

2008 Redraft: Nineteenth Overall
Jake Gardiner 20.98% (86 votes)
Justin Schultz 16.34% (67 votes)
Travis Hamonic 13.17% (54 votes)
Zach Bogosian 9.02% (37 votes)
Marco Scandella 8.29% (34 votes)
Luke Schenn 7.80% (32 votes)
Matt Martin 4.88% (20 votes)
Tyler Ennis 4.15% (17 votes)
Michael Del Zotto 3.66% (15 votes)
Jason Demers 3.41% (14 votes)
Mikkel Boedker 2.44% (10 votes)
Colin Wilson 1.95% (8 votes)
Luca Sbisa 1.71% (7 votes)
Matt Calvert 1.22% (5 votes)
Zack Smith 0.49% (2 votes)
Zach Boychuk 0.49% (2 votes)
Total Votes: 410

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