Rasmus Ristolainen could be done for season
Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen sounds like he could be done for the season according to coach John Tortorella who met with the press before tonight’s game against the Capitals in Washington. The Flyers made the announcement shortly thereafter.
Injury update: Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 20, 2025
With just 12 more games to go following tonight’s contest, it’s doubtful Ristolainen would be rushed back to finish the season. Possibly returning too soon to play essentially meaningless games and make the injury worse certainly wouldn’t be prudent. The Flyers conclude the season April 17 in Buffalo. The injury will also ensure Emil Andrae gets a far better look and ice time the remainder of the season.
Ristolainen played one of the better seasons as a Flyers this year, leading some to believe he could be traded at the deadline depending on whether Flyers’ general manager Danny Briere’s asking price was met. That obviously never transpired but the 30-year-old blueliner scored four goals and had 15 assists for 19 points in 63 games. Ristolainen was averaging 20:31 of ice time in March.
His busiest month was November where he averaged just over 22 minutes per game, picking up some of the slack from Cam York’s injury earlier in the season. The defenseman scored in back-to-back games following the 4 Nations Face-Off, first against Edmonton in a convincing 6-3 win and again against the Penguins in a 6-1 rout. His last game was March 11 against the Senators.
Although it’s too early to speculate on what the injury could be, hopefully it’s not a recurrence of ruptured triceps tendon which he underwent surgery for in the offseason. Any new injury hampers the team’s options particularly if it concerns shipping him off to another team in the offseason. For the time being, it appears that Ristolainen has possibly played his last game of the year. ...
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