Flyers Activate Rasmus Ristolainen, Loan McDonald back to AHL

The Philadelphia Flyers have officially activated defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen from injured reserve on Monday.

Ristolainen has been out since the Flyers’ January 14th meeting with the Buffalo Sabres, where it was announced that the defenseman was a late scratch with an upper-body injury.

The Finnish defenseman and Olympian last played on January 12th in the team’s 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

He was officially placed on injured reserve on the 17th, after head coach Rick Tocchet announced that Ristolainen would not be going on the road trip, meaning he would be out for at least another week.

In his absence, defenseman Hunter McDonald was called up, but never played in a game. McDonald was loaned back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) in a corresponding move.

Ristolainen was being used on both the power play and penalty kill before the injury. It’s expected that he at least rejoins the PK, but maybe not the man-advantage unit. The power play has been improving steadily over the past few games.

This season, Ristolainen has 3 assists in 13 games played. He has been a big, physical presence on the Flyers’ backend. I am sure they will be happy to have him back.

Ristolainen skated on the third pair, to the right of Emil Andrae at Monday’s morning skate, which is where he is expected to play on Monday night vs. the New York Islanders.

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