The Flyers may finally be getting some relief on the back end, but that good news comes with a lineup puzzle attached.
Rasmus Ristolainen could be back for Saturday afternoon’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, while Cam York is still up in the air. Rick Tocchet said Friday that Ristolainen is a possibility to return, though he was less certain about York.
Ristolainen has been out for 20 days after blocking a shot with his hand in the overtime loss to Carolina on Oct. 3.
He briefly tried to play through it, returning for one 37-second shift in the third period before leaving for good. He had appeared in only three games before the injury.
The Flyers have spent the last stretch piecing together their blue line, and Oliver Bonk has become one of the biggest beneficiaries. He got the call last week after being the odd man out in camp because David Jiricek needed to clear waivers if the team wanted to send him down. Bonk has made the most of the opening, skating 19:56 per game and locking in beside Travis Sanheim on what has functioned as the top pair over the last several games.
That arrangement has helped steady things at the top, but the picture gets messier once the Flyers move past that first pair.
Nick Seeler has been pushed into a second-pair role even though he fits best on the third pair. He’s handled it reasonably well, but Jamie Drysdale’s uneven start has made the combination harder to trust.
At 5-on-5, the Seeler-Drysdale pairing has posted a 27.4% expected goals share in 91.6 minutes together, per Money Puck. That’s last among 63 pairs with at least 75 minutes together.
And yet the Flyers have still outscored opponents 2-1 with them on the ice, which likely says something about either finishing, goaltending, or both.
The real trouble spot has been the third pair, where Simon Benoit has struggled to hold up. He was scratched for one game, then returned on Wednesday night in Buffalo and was on the ice for the Sabres’ only goal, failing to box out Jason Zucker in the crease on a power play.
Benoit was brought in to be, at most, the Flyers’ sixth defenseman. Ten games in, he has barely met that standard.
David Jiricek, though, has bounced back after a rough preseason finish and a shaky start to the season. He’s looked at least serviceable in his own zone and has done a better job moving the puck up ice, an area where Benoit has had trouble.
Hunter McDonald has also entered the conversation. He has flown under the radar in his two games, even with Cole Knuble drawing the attention on Wednesday night, but McDonald has made smart plays in all three zones without trying too hard to impose himself physically. Still, he is bringing plenty of edge.
Hunter McDonald SITS DOWN Ryan McLeod and Mattias Samuelsson went after him 😵😳 pic.twitter.com/Foo2CqxVyU
- Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 22, 2026
At this point, McDonald looks like he should be ahead of Benoit on the depth chart, at least for now. He’s shown enough to stick in the NHL, even if his inexperience eventually shows itself.
If Ristolainen and York both get back soon, Danny Briere is going to have some decisions to make. McDonald has played well enough to stay up, which could leave Benoit as the odd man out.
Because of the way Benoit has played, it would be surprising if another team claimed him on waivers, meaning the Flyers could still keep him around as a depth option. If things got messy beyond that, the organization would have alternatives in the AHL such as Ty Murchison or Helge Grans.
The biggest question may be where Bonk lands if Ristolainen returns. Sanheim and Bonk have looked good together, and Tocchet could decide to keep that pair intact rather than disrupting a hot stretch. That would allow Ristolainen to ease back in on the second pair.
If that happens, the rest of the right-side mix becomes a little more fluid. The Flyers could keep Seeler with Drysdale, or they could try York with Ristolainen, a look they have not used often. York and Drysdale worked well together last season, and a defense-first third pair of Seeler and Ristolainen could make sense if they can move the puck cleanly.
There are multiple ways to arrange it, and none of them are especially locked in. One possible setup would be:
Sanheim - Bonk
York - Ristolainen
Seeler - Drysdale
The right side could be shuffled around in several different ways, and any of those combinations would be workable.
Still, Tocchet suggested after Friday’s practice that Bonk may move down the lineup once the veterans are back. The encouraging part for the Flyers is that it does not sound like he’s headed back to the AHL.
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