On Monday, the Flyers made a blockbuster deal when they sent the rights to former fifth overall pick Cutter Gauthier to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Jamie Drysdale and a second round pick.
Drysdale is a 21-year-old right-handed defenseman with 123 games of NHL experience under his belt, who was once a sixth overall pick back in 2020. Despite the high selection, he hasn’t had a perfect transition to the NHL, and a couple injuries have limited him to just 18 games since the start of the 2022-23 season.
When he arrives in Philly to join the Flyers’ blueline, there are going to have to be some decisions made when it comes to the new toy to insert in the lineup.
The Flyers now have eight defenseman on their active roster, with three of them (Staal, Seeler and Walker) pending unrestricted free agents and could very well be trade deadline fodder, but that’s still two months away. And head coach John Tortorella hasn’t exactly had a great track record when it comes to properly integrating the young guys into the lineup. Egor Zamula has been in and out of favor with Torts all season long, Emil Andrae, a fellow smaller defenseman close in stature to Drysdale played four games with the Flyers and spent most of the first month of the season in the press box before getting demoted to the AHL, and Ronnie Attard has been on the outside looking in for the last two seasons, despite having strong stretches of play in Lehigh Valley.
The thing is, given the high profile nature of Drysdale’s acquisition, the coaching staff can’t be quite as dismissive with him as they are fellow young players. They’re going to have to not only work him into the top four, but be ready to deal with the development and transition period that are going to come with the change of scenery, a patience level that Tortorella doesn’t usually have.
Travis Sanheim has been serving as the top RHD all season (despite the fact he’s actually a lefty) with Walker and Ristolainen the other two righties with a various combo of Zamula, Seeler, Staal and York on the left.
Zamula has been very good lately, Walker is their best trade deadline asset, and Ristolainen, Sanheim and York are the main staples in the middle.
The obvious answer is benching Staal and Seeler, moving Sanheim back to the left, and giving Drysdale top billing on the right side.
Sanheim – Drysdale
York – Ristolainen
Zamula – Walker
It’s a plan that can at least get them to the trade deadline where they ditch Walker (and hopefully Seeler and Staal too) then they can consider moving Sanheim back to the right if Drysdale isn’t up to the challenge
York – Sanheim
Zamula – Drysdale
Andrae – Ristolainen
It doesn’t necessarily seem ideal, but when they’ve got an overcrowded hodgepodge of various random interchangeable dudes, there isn’t a perfect situation to unfold, before or after the deadline.
Tortorella was asked after Monday’s game about where Drysdale will fit in.
Tortorella said the first thing he’ll discuss with Drysdale tomorrow is being more aggressive in getting up ice. Very high-end skater, excellent puck skills. Will go on PP right away, although not sure yet which unit. -Tortorella via Bill Meltzer
The Flyers practice at noon tomorrow. Drysdale will be on the ice. Tortorella said they don’t want to throw too much at him too quickly — his system is very different from Anaheim’s. Want Drysdale to focus on offense, “and we’ll teach him defense.” -Tortorella via Bill Meltzer
It sounds like they’re going to utilize him in an all-offense, minimal-defense role out of the gate, but there’s just no way that’s likely to hold under Tortorella’s system.
Will Tortorella’s favoring of veterans and hairpin patience with development continue? Can he refrain from demoting/benching Drysdale if there’s struggle? Will Zamula get the short end of the stick when it comes to playing Staal and Seeler again? There’s a pattern we’ve seen with Tortorella, and this old dog is going to have to learn new tricks to keep the defense afloat as the trade deadline slowly creeps on the horizon until they can reassess during the 2024 offseason.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: latimes.com
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