The Philadelphia Flyers are at a crossroads for their playoff hopes. They traded defenseman Sean Walker to the Colorado Avalanche for a first-round draft pick, but that leaves their defense in a bad spot. With him gone, veteran Marc Staal potentially on the way out, plus Nick Seeler, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Jamie Drysdale all on injured reserve, the defense is very weak.
And the news doesn’t get much better. The New York Islanders are within just four points of them for a playoff spot with two games in hand. As for the Flyers, eight of their next nine games are against teams in the playoffs. It’s not looking all that great for Philadelphia, especially with their defensive losses. From here, it is up to the Flyers’ depth defense to guide them to the postseason. Who are the players that can be of help to the Orange and Black?
Ronnie Attard
It’s not 24-year-old Ronnie Attard’s first rodeo in the NHL. From 2021-22 to now, the right-handed defender has played in 18 games for Philadelphia, sitting with two goals and two assists for four points and a minus-2 rating. But all of his prior time with the Flyers was when they were essentially out of the playoff race. This is the first meaningful NHL hockey he has played in his entire career.
Essentially, this is Attard’s last chance to prove he is a worthy NHL defenseman in Philadelphia. Things can obviously change, but if the Flyers are competitive next season, they might not look to someone like him again if he doesn’t play well. For the time being, this is his chance to shine. The 2019 third-round draft pick will turn 25 by the end of the season, so time is fading a bit for him.
Related: Flyers Prospect Ronnie Attard: It’s Now or Never
In the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season, Attard has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 46 games and a plus-2 rating. He’s 6-foot-3, and he’s got some good size. In his first contest against the Florida Panthers on March 7, he looked confident. If he can keep up that play, he might stick as a seventh defender for the rest of the season even when the team starts to get healthier.
Adam Ginning
Adam Ginning is essentially the left-handed version of Attard — he’s 6-foot-3, has good size, and is 24 years of age. He had one game of NHL experience in 2022-23, registering two hits and two blocks on the stat sheet, while he was a minus-1 against the Panthers in his only experience this season.
Ginning spent pretty much his entire career playing professional hockey in Sweden before that season, but has played in the AHL with the Phantoms in each of his last two campaigns, compiling five goals and 27 assists for 32 points and a plus-15 rating in 120 total games.
Like Attard, Ginning can be a useful defender for the Flyers. He didn’t look out of place against the Panthers, so that’s good news. With more experience, they should get a better idea of what he can bring. He’ll be a restricted free agent (RFA) at the end of this season, so his future might not be with the Orange and Black. It will all depend on how he performs.
Egor Zamula
As for the only defenseman who has played more than a single game for the Orange and Black out of this group, Egor Zamula serves as the odd man out. He has played 52 games for the Flyers this season, scoring five goals and 12 assists for 17 points and a plus-9 rating. But the 23-year-old left-handed defender is still a candidate to improve his play a bit.
Zamula’s on-ice stats this season haven’t been the best, with a 48.3 expected goals for percentage which ranks 19th among all 28 Flyers players this season. Still, he’s been a serviceable depth defender for the Flyers. He has definitely had some good stretches this season — if he can step up again, he can be a big asset for the Flyers.
The Flyers’ Defense at Full Health
When the Flyers get healthier, their on-paper defense looks a little bit better than what it is now. If Seeler, Drysdale, and Ristolainen are all able to return this season, their defense could look something like the following:
| Left Defense | Right Defense |
| Cam York | Travis Sanheim |
| Nick Seeler | Jamie Drysdale |
| Egor Zamula | Rasmus Ristolainen |
Seeler was always paired with Walker, but perhaps having extended time with Drysdale could be a benefit to both of their games. It hasn’t been a great one in Drysdale’s short stint with the Flyers, but he just needs time to turn it around. The right partner could help with that, and this group is still good enough to be successful. Even though there isn’t a current star player to be seen, they play terrific as a group.
A new change for the Flyers, even when they’re healthy, might be that they run with six defensemen for each game for the rest of the season. When they had Walker, they liked to have seven out there with 11 forwards. They aren’t the only team that did this and weren’t even the most frequent users of the 11-forward, seven-defenseman system, but it wasn’t really ideal. Now that the Flyers don’t have an excess of defensemen, they can see what they can get out of their traditional 12 forwards.
The Flyers are 33-23-8, but as mentioned before, the Islanders are gaining on them a bit. But they still control their own destiny. Philadelphia is a team that relies heavily on its defense and goaltending to win games, so that will be their X-factor moving forward. Attard, Ginning, and Zamula will be crucial in this (hopefully short) stretch where they are down several bodies.