Sean Couturier stops rehab skating, no plan for him or Cam Atkinson to return ‘in the near future’

Roughly three weeks ago, the Flyers welcomed back an unfamiliar presence to the ice, as injured top-line center Sean Couturier resumed skating for the first time since reinjuring his back in mid-September. His skating sessions started out slowly, then gradually ramped up to incorporate some shooting as he tried to avoid yet another setback.

But just as quickly as Couturier re-entered the Flyers’ realm, he disappeared yet again. Coach John Tortorella said Thursday that Couturier has stopped skating and is no longer trending in a direction toward an imminent return.

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“He’s just not ready to skate right now,” Tortorella said. “That’s a ways away. Him, Cam [Atkinson], I’m not thinking about them right now as far as lineups in the near future here. So we’ve just got to wait to see what happens.”

Couturier, 29, underwent season-ending back surgery in February, limiting him to 29 games last season with the Flyers. Finally healthy coming out of the offseason, he was eager for a fresh start under a new coaching staff. However, his hopes quickly were dashed before the start of training camp in late September when general manager Chuck Fletcher announced his setback. Fletcher added a week later that Couturier would not need to undergo a second back surgery in eight months.

Meanwhile, Atkinson has been listed as “day to day” with an upper-body injury since Sept. 25. He did not appear in any preseason games, but before opening night on Oct. 13 against the New Jersey Devils, Tortorella was optimistic that Atkinson would return for the start of the season. “Things just changed” with Atkinson’s injury, according to Tortorella.

“That’s one frustrated young man right there,” Tortorella said. “He wants to be a big part of this. He was probably one of the better players last year when he came here. It’s very frustrating, but his body’s just not allowing him to get to the spot where he can start conditioning again and start getting ready to play.”

With Couturier and Atkinson out of the picture for now, Tortorella is focusing his attention on developing the younger, less experienced players in the lineup. Four skaters on the roster have played fewer than 23 NHL games heading into Thursday’s game, including forward Tanner Laczynski (12), defenseman Egor Zamula (18), winger Wade Allison (21), and winger Noah Cates (22).

“They’re here, and we have them, it gives us a chance to forecast the organization quicker for the future,” Tortorella said. “... Again, I’m not optimistic that’s going to happen right away, but when people do get healthy, you become a better organization, because these guys have played minutes that they didn’t expect to play.”

Winger Owen Tippett will return to the Flyers’ lineup Thursday night against the Florida Panthers after sustaining an upper-body injury on Oct. 13 (a likely concussion, after Tortorella said Tippett still needed to clear protocols on Tuesday).

Since he was drafted by the Panthers in the first round (No. 10 overall) of the 2017 draft, Tippett has struggled to carve out a full-time role at the NHL level. He was a dominant scorer at the junior level, racking up 128 goals and 116 assists in 213 career games. He has yet to establish a similar identity in the NHL, finding a fresh start in Philadelphia when he was part of the trade package that sent Claude Giroux to Florida in March.

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Now, as Tippett immerses himself in the game once again, Tortorella is calling on him to solidify his identity as a “big, strong forward.”

“I just want him to play,” Tortorella said. “I don’t want him to be in-between as a player. A goal scorer, a checker. I want him to be strong in everything he does, because I think he has the ability and the willingness to do that. And then I think his game follows right through that.”

Tippett said he got a good understanding of how Tortorella wants him to play in the Flyers’ final preseason game against the New York Islanders on Oct. 4. Tortorella had a conversation with him on the bench, encouraging him to stop trying to do too much and to focus on playing to his strengths.

Now, Tippett is focused less on getting the perfect shot off and more on getting to the crease. He’s looking to use his 6-foot-1, 207-pound frame to protect the puck as he attacks the more dangerous areas of the ice.

“You’re not always going to be necessarily the goal scorer, but when the puck’s in there, it’s going to create chaos, and you never know what’s going to happen,” Tippett said.

Goalie Carter Hart (.949 save percentage, 1.75 goals-against average) will start in net on Thursday against the Panthers. He is looking to maintain his undefeated start to the season (4-0-0).