Nick Seeler will miss season opener vs. Canucks; Flyers call up Emil Andrae

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — As the Flyers practiced Thursday at the Father Bauer rink on the campus of the University of British Columbia ahead of their season opener, Nick Seeler was on the outside looking in.

The defenseman was standing with his arms crossed, watching in an orange sweatshirt, with Philadelphia Flyers on the front and No. 24 on the right shoulder, and wearing a backward black cap with an orange bill. Ask any body language expert and they’d say the vibes weren’t great.

Coach John Tortorella said following practice he is still day-to-day and responded “no” when asked if there was any concern.

On Friday, it was confirmed those days may be long. Already out for the season opener against the Vancouver Canucks (10 p.m., NBCSP), Seeler was put on injured reserve, retroactive to Oct. 1.

A team source had confirmed to The Inquirer on Thursday that Emil Andrae would be recalled from Lehigh Valley and the team made it official 24 hours later. He will join the team in Calgary for their game on Saturday against the Flames (10 p.m., NBCSP).

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Thursday marked the fifth practice Seeler has missed since he blocked a pass late in the second period of the Flyers preseason game against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 1. He skated hunched over to the bench, signaling to his right leg. Seeler, 31, skated one more shift early in the third period and did not return.

Seeler did practice the next day and told reporters afterward he was dealing with numbness in his leg from blocking the puck. He has not practiced since but did test things out last Friday. The return was short-lived as he left so quickly that some of his teammates were still filtering onto the ice. Seeler did appear to be limping as he made his way back to the locker room.

At that time, Tortorella also said “It’s nothing real serious.” Keeping Seeler off the ice has been a precautionary move.

“Yeah, it sure has taken a lot longer than we thought,” associate coach Brad Shaw said Tuesday before the team headed west. “Most of those you get the sensation back and you get your feeling back in minutes or hours at the most, and it’s been a few days now. So we’re just playing it [as] sort of a day-to-day thing, and we’ll see. It’s just tough.

“We don’t want to put him on the ice when he can’t control [or] doesn’t have a real good sense of where that edge is, and so it becomes dangerous. So we’ll be smart about it. Hopefully he’s ready to go. But you know, we’ll deal with it day to day.”

Losing Seeler leaves a big hole in the lineup. He’s not an offensive threat but is one of the most reliable blueliners for the Flyers in their own end. And he lives to block shots. Known as a puck-eating machine, Seeler had the fifth-most blocked shots in the NHL last season with 205.

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Based on pairings at practice in Vancouver, Jamie Drysdale, who was Seeler’s planned defensive partner, will skate with Egor Zamula. Erik Johnson will slot into the lineup on the left of Rasmus Ristolainen. The top pairing of Cam York and Travis Sanheim will remain intact.

Whether or not Andrae does get into the lineup Saturday, he had an impressive training camp for the Flyers. The defenseman played in four preseason games and registered five points (one goal, four assists) with a plus-minus of plus-3.

Listed at 5-foot-9, the undersized defenseman is known for his speed, quickness, and vision in creating offense. He also has an edge and likes to throw the body around. Last Wednesday, Tortorella said the defenseman “has quietly gone about his business and has had a good camp” but he was a casualty of space and was sent back to Lehigh Valley.

Last season, Andrae did break camp with the Flyers but was sent down to the Phantoms after four NHL games. He wasn’t happy with the decision and believed he could show more than he did in the 13 minutes of ice time he averaged. But he also felt it was a “great situation” because he would get more playing time and an uptick in responsibilities with the Phantoms.

“I think I have another step to take,” Andrae told The Inquirer at the end of September. “I need to take another step this year, and, obviously, I want to do it as fast as I can and prove to the coaches that I’ve learned from last year, and I’m a better player.”

Now it looks like he will get a chance.