Jakob Pelletier knocks off rust in Flyers debut

After nearly a month of inactivity, Jakob Pelletier finally made his Flyers debut Saturday afternoon.

Jakob Pelletier had to wait longer than expected to make his Philadelphia Flyers debut. Thanks to flight cancellations, visa issues, and the 4 Nations break, it took nearly a month for the 23-year-old winger to take the ice with his new club since being acquired from the Calgary Flames on January 30.

He finally got to shake off the cobwebs Saturday afternoon in the Flyers’ matinee against Connor McDavid and the Pacific Division-leading Edmonton Oilers, and while he showed some noticeable rust, simply being back on the ice for a game was an achievement on its own.

Pelletier wasn’t tasked with taking on a substantial workload — understandable given his long stretch of inactivity. He only saw the ice for 11:48 as he was eased back into action. In fact, he was one of just three players to accumulate 12 minutes or fewer of ice time.

Ryan Poehling, making his first appearance since suffering a concussion against the New York Islanders on January 16, and Owen Tippett, who missed the Flyers’ final five games before the 4 Nations break, were the other two players.

That wasn’t a coincidence.

“I played him with [Poehling] today. Poehls hasn’t played in a month, [Tippett] hasn’t played in a month. So there’s a lot of rust on some of these guys,” said Flyers head coach John Tortorella after the game. “Hopefully today’s game helps them get along the way and keep on inching along to their game.”

Tippett wasted no time kicking his game back into gear. He scored a pair of goals, including a filthy top-shelf backhander that left Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak eating his dust, and finished the game with an impressive plus-5 rating.

Pelletier and Poehling, meanwhile, didn’t flash nearly as much. They were both on the ice for a goal against (even if it was more of an excellent individual effort by Leon Draisaitl than anything else) and struggled to generate much of any offense. The line of Pelletier, Poehling, and Garnet Hathaway finished with poor 5-on-5 play-driving numbers, including a 37.50 Corsi For percentage and a 26.56 Expected Goals For percentage.

Still, the Flyers dominated Edmonton anyway, earning a convincing 6-3 victory on home ice.

Tortorella is known not to tinker with his team’s lineup too much after a victory, so Pelletier will very likely be back in action when the Flyers host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Wells Fargo Center Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, he isn’t being handed playing time on a silver platter. That still needs to be earned.

“He’s a guy that has to do a lot of things right to continue to get the ice time,” said Tortorella. “I think he has the energy. He read the lineup tonight before the game. You can see what he brings.”

“I’ve talked to the coach out there in Calgary. [Pelletier] never has a bad day. He’s gonna be full of energy. I think we need that. So we’ll see where he sits in the lines.”

Pelletier began the season playing in the AHL for the Calgary Wranglers, the Flames’ minor-league affiliate. After logging 19 points in 20 games, the Quebec native finally earned a call-up to the NHL in December. He posted a respectable four goals and 11 points in 24 games before being dealt to the Flyers along with Andrei Kuzmenko.

With 24 games remaining in the Flyers’ season — barring a Herculean effort to clinch a playoff spot — Pelletier will be an intriguing player to watch in the homestretch. Given his age and status as a pending restricted free agent, he is likely to stick with the Flyers beyond the 2024-25 season. But with a strong finish to the campaign, he may carve out a bigger role for himself in the fall.