Rasmus Ristolainen to Miss Two Weeks with Upper-Body Injury After Just One Game Back
Apr 7, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) takes a break during a stoppage in play against the New Jersey Devils during the second period at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Luther Schlaifer-Imagn Images
There has never been any question about Rasmus Ristolainen‘s talent. He is very talented; the question surrounding Ristolainen has always been his durability. This return to the roster lasted only one game.
The Flyers defenseman is out another two weeks with an upper body injury, which means he will not play again until early November at the earliest. He returned from injured reserve on Saturday after missing nine games with a hand injury, logged 14:34 in a 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, and is now back on the injured list.
For the Flyers, this is par for the course with Ristolainen. Since he arrived from the Buffalo Sabres in 2021, he has missed 141 regular-season games, about a third of the schedule, and has reached 70 games in a season only once. He missed the first 20 games of 2023-24, then lost the final 29 to a ruptured triceps tendon. He ruptured it again in March 2025 and missed the start of last season.
The timing isn’t as detrimental as it would have been in the past because the defense is finally taking shape without him. Travis Sanheim has averaged 25:44 per game this season, and Oliver Bonk, a 21-year-old rookie who did not make the team out of training camp, has played his way onto the top pair beside him.
Bonk’s minutes were always going to shrink once Ristolainen and Cam York returned. Head coach Rick Tocchet made that clear before the Anaheim game: the rookie’s spot was safe.
“Obviously he’s not going to be playing 22 minutes,” Tocchet said Oct. 23 after practice.
Ristolainen’s injury puts that plan on hold. Hunter McDonald, a 6-foot-4, 238-pound 24-year-old, played next to Ristolainen on the third pair against Anaheim and landed a clean hit on Sam Colangelo that irritated the Ducks, who took three penalties in retaliation. He now has a chance to make that pairing more of a permanent thing. Simon Benoit and David Jiricek, both healthy scratches against the Ducks, are the other options.
That is where chatter from the trade deadline last season starts getting louder. Ristolainen is 31, carries a $5.1 million cap hit, and is in the final year of his contract. The Flyers have listened to trade interest in him for years without an offer they liked, and he has already been named as a coveted trade piece this season. Every game he misses adds to the case for moving him, but the lack of playing time also makes it harder for the Flyers to showcase him to potential buyers.
The counterargument is real. Ristolainen and Sanheim were on the ice 488 minutes together at five-on-five last season and grew into a legitimate top pair late in the year. But once York gets healthy, Jiricek keeps improving, and Bonk and McDonald hold their spots, the defensive pairings get crowded fast. Bonk, Jamie Drysdale and Jiricek all shoot right, and there may be no obvious home left for a $5.1 million defenseman who cannot stay on the ice.
By the time Ristolainen is healthy again, the roster may have already answered the question of what to do without him.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible; we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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