After missing multiple practices, even after some days off, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler is in danger of missing Friday’s season-opening matchup against the Vancouver Canucks.
Seeler, 31, has been dealing with numbness in his leg after taking a puck to the knee in a preseason game against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 1.
Flyers associate head coach Brad Shaw shared some concerns on Tuesday, namely because Seeler’s recovery is taking longer than anticipated.
“It’s sure taking a lot longer than we thought. Most of those, you get the sensation back and you get your feeling back in minutes or hours at the most,” Shaw said of Seeler before the Flyers left for Vancouver on Tuesday. “It has been a few days now.
“Hopefully he’s ready to go, but we’ll deal with it day-to-day.”
If Seeler is unable to play against the Canucks on Friday, it means that veteran defenseman Erik Johnson will draw into the bottom of the lineup.
The one caveat to the situation, though, is that the defense pairings may become mixed and matched.
For example, Cam York and Travis Sanheim are two left-shot defensemen who play on the same pairing. Playing two right-shot defensemen on the same pairing is taboo in the NHL, and the Flyers may have to do that with Johnson.
If the Flyers want to avoid this, York and Sanheim may have to split up to give the team an adequate number of left-shot defenders to replace Seeler.
Seeler will have one more chance to return to practice on Thursday before the Flyers face the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday night.
The Orange and Black begin the 2024-25 season on a four-game road trip that starts in Canada with Vancouver on Friday, followed by games against Calgary and Edmonton and a trip to the West Coast to face Seattle.
