Photo Credit: @rasmrist55 (Risto’s Twitter)
It’s the dead think of Summer, and Flyers Training Camp will begin in about a month. Where did the time go? Before you know it the pounding of the sticks on the ice will ensure, players will be crunching against the boards, and of course there will be some goal celebrations. With that being said some Flyers have returned early for camp, and it appears most are preparing for what John Tortorella’s grueling camp will be.
Rasmus Ristolainen and Nic Deslauriers returned yesterday, as they have something to prove to Tortorella. Here are the list of returnees thus far, remember Flyers training camp begins on September 22 (On-Ice that is, September 21 are physicals):
Rasmus Ristolainen, Nic Deslauriers #44, Joel Farabee, Wyatte Wylie, Egor Zamula, Cam York, Zayde Wisdom, Tony DeAngelo #77, Tyson Foerster (Will return from the WJC shortly)
New Year, New Number for Ristolainen
Ristolainen has switched his jersey number back to #55 with the Flyers. Ristolainen previously wore #55 with the Buffalo Sabres, as last season he wore #70. This was confirmed on the Flyers website as he prepares for the new season.
“Risto” has offered the Flyers another dimension, and that has been made evident this season as Ristolainen hits and gives the Flyers an element that they were missing for years. He really lived up to his billing of smashing people into the boards, and it led to some odd-man rushes the other way at times. For the season, he registered 135 hits in 39 games played for an average of 3.46 hits per game. Holy moly, the Flyers have not seen this in years.
Moreover, Ristolainen also played solid defensively last season while being paired with Travis Sanheim, and he even earned a call to the top pairing with Ivan Provorov at times. His gap control was effective for the most part, and he did not blow as many coverages as some originally thought. Contrary to popular belief, Ristolainen was quite comfortable out there for the orange and black, “You always want to play against those top teams to see where you are at,” Ristolainen said last season.
Let’s see what #55 can do this season
Farabee hits the ice
On a brighter note, Farabee hit the ice this past weekend which has to be a sign in terms of his recovery from successful disc replacement surgery in his cervical region earlier this offseason. For those that forget, the surgery was performed at Penn Medicine, and he was expected to make a full recovery in 3-4 months.
What Farabee brings is skating. Farabee can skate at top speed to push the play up the ice. He’s proven time and time again, he is an excellent skater with the agility and edge work to get by defenders in one-on-one situations, due in large part to his great first step. Farabee is also an outstanding playmaker off the wing, who possesses great vision of the ice. He is also a good defender, and Farabee remains focused and poised at killing penalties.
This picture shown above is great news for Flyers fans, so hopefully he can take part in some sort of training camp under first year Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella. He is a big part to the overall success of the Flyers. Farabee is not easy to replace in the lineup, so here’s hoping this is a sign of good things to come for him.
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