Shot-blocking ace Nick Seeler activated from IR, to debut Tuesday vs. Caps: He ‘plays like a true Flyer’

It has not been an easy start to October for Nick Seeler. But things may be changing just like the leaves this time of year.

The defenseman was activated from injured reserve Tuesday, in time to make his season debut against the Washington Capitals.

“Needed to get through today and have a full practice,” he said Monday. “So should be good to go.”

With Seeler sitting in his stall at the Flyers Training Center sporting a backward team hat, it was easy to see how happy he was to participate fully in the team’s practice that day. It was something he had not been able to do for weeks.

In the Flyers' preseason game against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 1, the rugged defenseman did what he does best and blocked a puck. It wasn’t the prototypical slap shot he‘s used to stopping; it was a pass with some zing that was targeted to to go across the crease. As he went down, it caught him where there wasn’t any padding — and “that nerve got hit perfect.”

“The numbness was the whole outside of my right leg and into my foot,” he said as he pointed toward the back of his leg. “That took a week-and-a-half, two weeks to start feeling normal.“

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Seeler practiced the day after he missed most of the third period against the Bruins, telling reporters he was dealing with some numbness but thought it would be a short-term thing.

But it kept lingering. He didn’t skate Thursday that week and tried to go that Friday, but left the ice quickly while his teammates were still filtering out. The nerve damage gave him a drop foot, which according to the Mayo Clinic is defined as difficulty lifting the front part of the foot.

“We did, obviously, treatment, and different treatments every single day. But at the end of the day, I think it just has to come back on its own,“ Seeler said. “And, they said it could have come back right away and ended up being a lot longer than we all expected. It’s something that I’ve never experienced, something like that, and like just kind of shut off for a while, but if it feels a lot better.”

The good thing about nerve damage is it does heal. Seeler worked on healing the nerve damage, doing stimulation therapy and rebuilding his stability and strength in the leg.

“Yeah, it’s amazing, actually,” forward Joel Farabee told The Inquirer about having the 6-foot-2, 201-pound Seeler back. “Just what he does on a night-to-night basis, whether it’s blocking shots or, honestly for his weight class, I think he’s probably one of the toughest guys in the league, so having a guy like that on the ice, the other team definitely knows.”

Farabee said Seeler “plays like a true Flyer” and, while the Minnesota native may be nice off the ice, he does have some snarl and grit on it. He dropped the gloves four times last season and finished fifth in puck-eating by blocking 205 shots, despite playing fewer games than his closest competition. Before he suffered an ankle injury last March and missed 11 games, Seeler was on pace to lead the league in blocked shots.

The blueliner is expected to be slotted in alongside Jamie Drysdale, whom he skated with during training camp and last season after Sean Walker was traded. Since the start of last season, without Seeler in the lineup, including the time he missed with an ankle injury last year, the Flyers have gone 5-8-3 and allowed more than four goals a game. Yikes.

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“I think you get locked into just who he is, the emotion he brings, blocking shots and all that, but he’s a good player,” coach John Tortorella said following practice Monday. “I think a lot of people forget he plays against a lot of good people on the opposing teams. He’s a good partner for his other guy because he bails a lot of people out. He’s a good player. I hope the day proceeds well, and hopefully, we can get him back in.”

Tortorella will lean on Seeler to stabilize a blue line that has struggled out of the gate and assist a transition-based game that succeeded for the Flyers last season. Thus far, it has been lacking and, as the bench boss said, Seeler is good at moving the puck up the ice and he “bangs it around sometimes, but it gets up the ice quickly and everything‘s done quick with him.”

Yes, the season is young with just five games gone, but the Flyers have allowed an average of 30 shots per game, 4.20 goals against, and are ranked 14th in blocked shots; they finished last season second in blocking rubber.

“Obviously, you want to be out there competing, and, you know, especially at the start of the season, you want to be with the guys,” Seeler said. “You got through a tough camp together, and you want to come out strong. But it’s something that you can’t control, and just happy to be back.”

The question now is not if, but when Seeler will block his first shot of the season.

“He could be out there with a broken leg, he’s probably still going to try to block shots. Like that’s just kind of who he is,” Farabee said. “But I think with how he plays, it really brings other guys into the fight and makes other guys want to block shots and sell out and things like that. So having his presence out there, you really feel it, and we all know how much he’s been wanting to play.”

Although Seeler said, this time, he’ll have a bit more padding.

Sam Erssson started Tuesday night in net against the Capitals. Tortorella would not commit to Ivan Fedotov playing the second half of the back-to-back Wednesday in Washington (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, MAX). ... The Flyers made several lineup changes Tuesday as Noah Cates, Nick Deslauriers, and Seeler entered the lineup while Tyson Foerster, Jett Luchanko, and Erik Johnson were healthy scratches. It’s worth noting that Tortorella previously said that the team will manage Luchanko on back-to-backs.