Truthfully, it is a bit strange to see that former Philadelphia Flyers standout James van Riemsdyk is still a free agent this late into the NHL offseason.

The Flyers and many other NHL teams will begin their respective training camps in only a matter of weeks, with preseason action to follow shortly thereafter. If van Riemsdyk doesn’t catch on somewhere soon, it’s fair to wonder whether his playing career in the NHL might be over.

It would be a shame, too, after the 35-year-old had a highly productive one-season cameo with the Boston Bruins last year, scoring 11 goals, 27 assists, and 38 points in 71 games while receiving the second-lowest average amount of ice time in his 15-year NHL career.

For van Riemsdyk, the 2023-24 season was also his first with a shooting percentage below 10% since the 2011-12 season–the last of his first stint with the Flyers before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Sure, Philadelphia’s former No. 2 overall pick from 2007 isn’t the player he was at the peak of his powers, but it would also be unwise to argue that van Riemsdyk isn’t still a useful player, even at his advanced age.

Potential Flyers Reunion?

So, why would the Flyers want to host van Riemsdyk for a third stint? The answer is simple: iron sharpens iron.

We know that van Riemsdyk hasn’t been totally stripped of all the tread on his tires yet, and picking him up, be it on a one-year deal or a PTO, gives the Flyers another experienced veteran to help insulate the glut of young players they have on their NHL roster.

After all, van Riemsdyk still follows the Flyers and a number of his former teammates on Instagram; he knows this group well and might be more receptive to a leadership role if interest around the league doesn’t pick up soon.

And speaking of around the league, perhaps van Riemsdyk would also be receptive to a potential NHL trade deadline move to a contender in order to pursue that elusive Stanley Cup. The 6-foot-3 power forward made his NHL debut on the Flyers team that made the magical run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, only to come up short and lose in six games to Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks.

It was on that Flyers team that van Riemsdyk got to be teammates with current Flyers general manager Danny Briere and Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere.

The connections are still there for ‘JVR’, and should he move onto a more competitive team, the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils–both local to his hometown of Middletown, New Jersey–make sense as suitors. Each club could use a big, veteran forward capable of playing middle-six minutes on an affordable contract.

As for the Flyers, they were fortunate to not have dealt with too many injuries at the forward position last year. There’s no guarantee that this remains the case in 2024-25, and after swapping Cam Atkinson for Matvei Michkov and letting Marc Staal walk, the locker room got quite a bit younger.

van Riemsdyk offers an element on the ice that’s different from what Noah Cates and Nick Deslauriers provide, and it’s not impossible to see a fit for a potential reunion here. Whether there’s thoughts of a potential reunion? That’s up to the two parties to decide.