The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Tuesday that defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen of Turku, Finland will miss the beginning of the 2025-26 National Hockey League regular season because of a triceps injury. According to Tyler Kuehl of Daily Faceoff, Ristolainen is expected to miss in the neighbourhood of one to two months. Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere confirmed the time frame in a statement. Ristolainen had the surgery to repair a ruptured right triceps tendon.
When did Ristolainen suffer the injury?
Ristolainen last played for the Flyers on March 11 in a 5-2 Flyers loss to the Ottawa Senators. He then had triceps surgery for the second time in his career two weeks later. This was the second time in his career that Ristolainen had a triceps injury. The first time that Ristolainen suffered the injury he was able to recover for the 2024-25 season without missing time.
Ristolainen’s 2024-25 NHL statistics
This past season Ristolainen had four goals and 15 assists for 19 points in 63 games. He was a +3 with 14 penalty minutes, three power-play points, two game-winning goals, 100 shots on goal, 94 blocked shots, 97 hits, 25 takeaways and 52 giveaways. Ristolainen is joining his fifth season with the Flyers after eight seasons with the Buffalo Sabres.
Ristolainen’s first game-winning goal of the season came on October 26 in a 7-5 Flyers win over the Minnesota Wild. He scored from Travis Konecny of London, Ontario and Sean Couturier with two minutes and 24 seconds left in the third period. Ristolainen’s second game-winning goal came on January 21 in a 2-1 Flyers overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings. He scored from Owen Tippett of Peterborough, Ontario and Joel Farabee of Syracuse, New York with 26 seconds left in the extra period.
Who are the Flyers’s starting six defensemen to start the season?
At this time it appears the Flyers top defensive pairing will be Cam York of Anaheim, California and Travis Sanheim of Elkhorn, Manitoba. They will be followed by a second pairing of Nick Seeler of Eden Prairie, Minnesota and Jamie Drysdale of Toronto, Ontario, and a third pairing of Egor Zamula of Chelyabinsk, Russia and Noah Juulsen of Surrey, British Columbia.
Flyers don’t have Carter Hart in their plans
Briere also spoke about Hart, the team’s goaltender found not guilty for sexual assault. Hart will not be back with the Flyers, and it appears the Edmonton native will be with another team.
