Danny Brière talks Rasmus Ristolainen injury, Bobby Brink, and more ahead of Flyers opener

When the Flyers announced their 23-man roster Monday night, there was a bit of news: Rasmus Ristolainen was placed on injured reserve.

The placement on IR is backdated to last week, general manager Daniel Brière revealed Tuesday morning at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. And since Ristolainen was on the ice Tuesday during practice, though he didn’t participate fully, the possibility remains that the Finnish defenseman will play Thursday night in Columbus, where the Flyers open their 2023-24 season.

Flyers coach John Tortorella later said he was “encouraged” that Ristolainen would play Thursday.

Ristolainen’s injury — the Flyers haven’t disclosed the nature of it — bought the team more time to figure out which players it will carry through the first weekend of the season.

If Ristolainen returns, the Flyers will need to make another roster move before the puck drops in Columbus. If he doesn’t, they likely will carry the roster they announced Monday into the opener. That means the anomaly of keeping three goalies on the 23-man roster.

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Tortorella previously said that Sam Ersson had won the battle to back up Carter Hart. But Felix Sandström curiously remained on the roster on Monday. Will the Flyers carry three into the regular season?

“At this point, yeah, we have the luxury to do it,” Brière said.

The Flyers are one of five teams with three goalies on the roster as of Monday. After Andrei Vasilevskiy went down with an injury in Tampa Bay, the speculation was that teams were reluctant to try to get goalies through waivers with the Lightning looking for help. Brière wouldn’t say whether the team was fearful it would lose Sandström, a 26-year-old who has yet to make a strong NHL impression.

Brière pointed to Hart’s illness that kept him off the ice Saturday, when the team last practiced. But Hart was back on the ice Tuesday and appears ready to start the opener. Brière said he had no update regarding the ongoing investigations into the alleged 2018 sexual assault involving members of Canada’s World Juniors hockey team, which Hart played on. Keeping three goalies appears to be unrelated.

Ristolainen’s status is the domino that will tip the roster scales. Now it’s a matter of if that happens ahead of Thursday, over the weekend, or beyond.

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The goal going into this training camp was for some of the younger players in the organization to make pushes. Bobby Brink made sure that happened. The 22-year-old winger made the Flyers make some tough decisions when it came time to cut the roster down.

“Bobby, we didn’t expect him to be as good as he was,” Brière said. “He’s been probably our best forward in training camp.”

It appears he’s being rewarded for that. Brink skated on a line with Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee on Tuesday in practice and was on the top power-play unit. Tyson Foerster, 21, appeared to be the odd man out of the forward group.

One of the predicaments facing the Flyers in keeping both Brink and Foerster up with the big club is making sure they get enough playing time. Brière indicated it was unlikely one of the veteran forwards would be sitting Thursday night.

“Their play will dictate who plays,” Brière said of the veterans. “You all know Torts by now. He’s not afraid. If someone is not performing, he’s not going to hold back. He’s going to play the young guys.”

Brière said the Flyers will continue to evaluate Brink and Foerster and make sure they’re getting proper ice time. That means a trip to Lehigh Valley is not out of the question if their performance deems it necessary.

While the young guys have been the talk of camp, Brière was asked Tuesday if there were any veterans who stood out to him over the last few weeks. He pointed to defenseman Travis Sanheim.

“Really impressed with his fitness, his mindset coming into camp,” Brière said. “It feels like he’s got something to prove, and that’s been probably the most exciting part for me watching training camp.”

Brière said he had productive talks with Sanheim after the almost-trade to St. Louis during the summer fell through. He said he challenged Sanheim to take a step forward, and that it looks like Sanheim took it to heart.

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Brink’s locker stall might still have the number “46″ next to his name, but that will soon be changed. Brink will wear No. 10 with the Flyers.

Why? “There weren’t a lot of options left,” Brink initially said.

But why 10? Brink is a big fan of soccer star Lionel Messi. Brink said he didn’t play much soccer himself, but the FIFA video game got him into it.