Goalie Sam Ersson, defenseman Jamie Drysdale will return to the Flyers’ lineup against Utah
Ersson (lower-body injury) has not played since earning a shootout win against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 11. Drysdale (upper body) has not played since Nov. 9.
John Tortorella said Friday there is a method to the madness.
“There is an absolute plan for what we’re going to do with Sam [Ersson]. What that is you’ll find out as we go through it,” the Flyers coach said.
The waiting was not the hardest part in this case as the plan reached its final destination 48 hours later. Ersson will return to the Flyers crease on Sunday night. Defenseman Jamie Drysdale will also return to the lineup when the Flyers host the Utah Hockey Club (7:30 p.m., NBCSP) at the Wells Fargo Center. The duo was activated off injured reserve earlier in the day. Egor Zamula will not dress.
Ersson has not played since earning a shootout win against the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 11. He appeared to aggravate a lower-body injury sustained Nov. 2 against the Boston Bruins and left practice early on Nov. 13.
“Just been a long road for him to get back here,” Tortorella said Sunday. “So looking forward to seeing him play.”
The Swedish goaltender, who traveled with the team to St. Louis, had been skating “for a little bit,” and ramping things up before participating in the team’s practice on Monday. The Flyers’ No. 1 goalie, Ersson is 5-2-2 with a 2.70 goals-against average, a .902 save percentage, and one shutout this season.
“Feeling good, just nice to get back into it,” Ersson said Friday. “Some full practices under the belt. I think it’s good, just for the confidence and the body as well. But it’s just fun to be back.”
Since Ersson went down in mid-November, Aleksei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov have started five games and six games respectively and have gone a combined 6-3-2.
Fedotov started against the Florida Panthers on Thursday but was pulled after the first period after allowing two goals on seven shots. Kolosov relieved him and also struggled before bouncing back Saturday afternoon in a 4-3 overtime loss in Boston.
“Outstanding,” Tortorella said of his rookie netminder on Saturday. “I didn’t think he was that good the last game. I didn’t think either of our goalies were. Outstanding to come into this building here against that club and play the way he did. It’s really good.”
As for Drysdale, the defenseman was placed on injured reserve Nov. 11 with an upper-body injury and has not played since. He did not play the last 4 minutes, 57 seconds of regulation and overtime in the Flyers’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Panthers on Nov. 9.
“[Associate coach Brad Shaw] has done some tape with him. I put together a little bit of a tape for what we’re looking for him to turn into,” Tortorella said. “There’ll be some rust. He hasn’t played a lot; that position, you need to get the looks, and so put him in there and see where he goes.”
The blueliner has one goal, three points, and is a minus-10 in 15 games this season while averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time. He had been averaging more than 24 minutes in the three games before the matchup with the Panthers, skating primarily on the top pair with Travis Sanheim.
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Tortorella would not confirm whether Drysdale would play with Sanheim or skate with another defenseman like Nick Seeler, whom he was paired with at the start of the season. The coach did suggest Drysdale will be back on the power play against Utah.
“He’s received so much information sitting out,” Tortorella said. “Shawsy’s done his due diligence with tape work because he’s been out for a while [and the] past couple of weeks I think Shawsy sat down with him. But we’re not going to over-coach him. You need to let him play, especially at that position.”
Drysdale, 22, has dealt with several injuries in his young career. In April he underwent surgery to repair a core injury he suffered while playing for the Anaheim Ducks. Acquired from Anaheim in January in the Cutter Gauthier trade, he played just 24 games the rest of the way for the Flyers due to a shoulder injury sustained against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the end of February.
Entering 2024-25, he had played in just 147 games in four NHL seasons, missing significant time with shoulder injuries, including a torn labrum that required an operation in 2022.