Rasmus Ristolainen disappeared from the Flyers' lineup with an upper-body injury in March, and it took until the team's cleanout day last weekend in Voorhees for general manager Danny Brière to offer an explanation on what happened.
The defenseman re-tore his right triceps and needed to undergo surgery again, Brière said, and added that he expected him to miss the start of the season.
On Thursday, the Flyers put out an official release with a clearer timeline, confirming that Ristolainen's tricep ruptured, that Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed a successful surgery on March 26 in Los Angeles, and that Ristolainen is expected to be out six months, which will keep him out of training camp.
Injury update: Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen underwent successful surgery on his right triceps tendon rupture on March 26.
He is expected to miss 2025 training camp and be out about six months. He is expected to make a full recovery. https://t.co/THgVH8FQKp— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 24, 2025
Ristolainen was originally on the docket to speak with the media during the Flyers' cleanout, but never did. The 30-year-old's 2023-24 season the year prior was also cut short from the same injury.
Under the watch of former head coach John Tortorella and defensive specialist turned interim coach Brad Shaw, Ristolianen's defensive game improved dramatically over the past two seasons. He used his size, physicality, and reach to his better advantage in breaking up plays, and found an increasingly comfortable role as a big middle-pairing blueliner.
He finished this past season averaging 20:31 of ice time and with a plus-3 rating. For a while, and before the triceps injury sidelined him again, he was one of the very few Flyers skaters who carried a plus-minus rating that went above and was a name who was frequently highlighted as a potential trade chip approaching the deadline.
He remained in Philadelphia, though, and now his priority is once again on rehabbing his way back.
Here are a couple of other odds and ends on the Flyers…
Clearing the deck
The Flyers have a coaching search ahead of them, and on Wednesday, the organization made a wave of changes to clear the path for whoever the next head coach will be, along with their next staff.
Assistant coaches Rocky Thompson and Darryl Williams were let go, and so was skills coach Angelo Ricci.
"I would like to thank Darryl, Rocky and Angelo for their dedication and all of their efforts over the last several years to the Flyers organization," Brière said in a statement. "After careful evaluation, I felt that this was best for the future direction of the team."
Thompson will be the immediate name to stand out to most fans, as he was the assistant coach who oversaw the power play, which ranked out in the NHL's basement for the past several years with little improvement.
A lack of high-end skill, a constant among the league's most effective power plays, was a core problem for why, but the structure always seemed to struggle, too, which at a certain point, does fall on the staff.
Of note, Brad Shaw, who was an assistant coach until being handed the interim reins, wasn't among the shortlist of releases, but that's because Brière confirmed during cleanout that he will be in the running for the team's coaching search.
MORE: It's time for Flyers to shift from subtracting to adding, Brière says
A playoff Bump
Rising prospect Alex Bump joined the Lehigh Valley Phantoms just in time for their playoff run in the AHL, and it didn't take all that long for the 21-year-old forward to make an impact.
Bump scored twice, at even strength in the second period and then on the power play in the third, to help the Phantoms seal Game 1 of their first-round series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 5-2, on Wednesday.
And on that first goal, fellow top prospect Jett Luchanko set him up for it with the assist.
🚨 Alex Bump from Jett Luchanko… yeah, we can get used to that 👀@TheAHL | @LVPhantoms | @NHLFlyers@WMUHockey | @Storm_City #AHL #CalderCup #RallyTheValley #LVPhantoms #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/YH219w7h44
— FloHockey (@FloHockey) April 24, 2025
Bump wasn't done there, though. Here was the big soundbite from his postgame media scrum afterward:
"They [Wilkes-Barre/Scranton] don't like to defend. Soft defenders, I think, in my opinion. So just working them down low. They don't like to do that at all. So keep them below the hashmarks, and then things will open up from there."
That's cold.
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