After suffering a season-ending triceps injury on Feb. 10 against the Seattle Kraken, it appears veteran Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is rested, rehabbed, and ready to play for the start of the 2024-25 season.
Ristolainen, 29, underwent surgery to repair a ruptured triceps tendon on April 18, but it is worth noting that the surgery took place two months after the initial injury occurred. Dr. Keith Meister, the head orthopedic surgeon for the Texas Rangers of the MLB, performed the operation, which had a three-month recovery timeline.
A Livebarn video from Sept. 3, originally posted by X user Greg10540718213, shows an eight-second clip of Flyers rookie sensation Matvei Michkov feeding Travis Konecny for a goal at the far post during an informal skate session, and with much of the discussion centered around those two, it appears fans missed Ristolainen skating around with them.
Sam Ersson, Egor Zamula, Erik Johnson, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Sean Couturier were among the players skating with Ristolainen, Michkov, and Konecny in the short video.
Additionally, based on the Flyers practice jersey reveal on Wednesday, we also know that Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Cam York, and Tyson Foerster are or have been in town skating with each other and getting some light practices in before training camp.
Before he went down with his injury, the Flyers were an impressive 17-9-5 with Ristolainen in the lineup. Without Ristolainen, the Flyers were a paltry 21-24-6 – far below .500.
For more context, the Flyers allowed 3.33 goals per game in the 51 games without Ristolainen last season. With the hulking Finn in the lineup, that figure drops 0.5 goals per game all the way down to 2.83.
This number is important for the Flyers and Ristolainen; 2.83 goals against per game would have ranked T-8th in the NHL last season, equal with the Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken. The Kraken were the only team in the top 10 of goals against per game to not qualify for the playoffs.
The Flyers suffered a great loss on defense when Ristolainen was put on the shelf, but now that he appears to be healthy, he and the team can start the 2024-25 season off on the right foot.
