Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale lands on injured reserve; Travis Konecny and Bobby Brink are day-to-day

The injury bug has officially bitten the Flyers.

On Friday, defenseman Jamie Drysdale was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury retroactive to Jan. 6, and announced forwards Bobby Brink and Travis Konecny are day-to-day with upper-body injuries. In a corresponding move, defenseman Adam Ginning has been recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

Drysdale was injured in Tuesday’s win against his former team, the Anaheim Ducks, by a hit well away from the puck by forward Ross Johnston in the second period. There was no supplemental discipline or fine handed out by the NHL’s department of player safety.

Brink also suffered his injury in the game on a blindsided hit in the first period by forward Jansen Harkins. He did not play on Thursday.

“Still getting evaluated, type of thing,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Wednesday, adding he didn’t have an update after the team’s morning skate on Thursday. “I don’t want to say it’s a day-to-day. I don’t know yet. So it’s kind of one of those things. … I really don’t know. I talked to them today; they’re in a half-decent mood. Still being evaluated, so we’ll see.”

Drysdale was curling in the offensive zone and did not see Johnston, who was skating into the zone, as the puck was deep in the Ducks’ end. They collided, and Johnston appeared to claim to officials that it was incidental contact or just a collision between two players who didn’t see one another.

However, the video indicates that Johnston not only had enough time to avoid Drysdale but also stuck out an arm and threw it into the defenseless blueliner. Drysdale lay on the ice and did not move for a considerable amount of time before doctors and a stretcher arrived on the ice. He eventually sat up and skated off with help.

Johnston was given a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

“Yeah, it’s tough. Anytime you see the stretcher come out, for either team, it’s not a good situation,” defenseman Cam York, who is a good friend of Drysdale’s, told The Inquirer on Thursday. “So it’s obviously not an ideal situation, but he’s OK now. So obviously that’s really good. I talked to him after that second intermission.”

Konecny was injured on Thursday in the Flyers’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He scored the team’s lone goal in the second period but did not return for the third period. Konecny was interviewed during the second intermission by NBCSP, but appeared to be uncomfortable and winced as he walked off.

Tocchet said after the game he did not have an update, but that “something was bugging him, I guess, early on. I think he fell or something. I don’t know [all of] the whole details.”

The Flyers have a tough stretch ahead, and without Drysdale, and if Brink and Konecny, who is second on the team in points, cannot play, it will make it a tall task. Philly is home for games Saturday (7 p.m., NBCSP) and Monday, both against a Tampa Bay Lightning team that has won eight straight while outscoring opponents 38-22. The Flyers travel to play the Buffalo Sabres, winners of 12 of their last 13, Wednesday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have won six straight Thursday.

Ginning made the Flyers out of training camp and played in five games in October. Before being assigned to the Phantoms on Dec. 1, after clearing waivers, he was loaned to the Phantoms on a conditioning stint Nov. 18. In 17 games with Lehigh Valley, the defensive defenseman has one goal and three points.

Veteran blueliner Noah Juulsen played with Emil Andare on Thursday. According to Natural Stat Trick, when they were on the ice together at five-on-five, the Flyers had 64.29% of the shot attempts and four scoring chances to one for the Maple Leafs.

The loss of Drysdale, however, is huge as he was having a breakout year. Known for his offensive abilities with questionable acumen on the defensive side of the puck, the 23-year-old has built his game from the ground up to become a blueliner who can play a complete 200-foot game.

This season, he had 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) in 41 games, and before the Anaheim game, he was averaging 21 minutes, 35 seconds, tying his career high and ranking third on the Flyers. He also had a plus-minus of plus-1, the highest of his career.

“One hundred percent,” he told The Inquirer on Monday when asked if he has pride in how his defensive game has grown. “I mean, at the same time, it [stinks] to kind of have the results on the other end from the last few years. Definitely take pride in it.

“And I think that it’s also just coming to me more naturally now; I would say that’s kind of one way to put it. So that feels good. And I think it’s just building my game, and just taking it to another level. I think it can get there, so just going to keep working at it.”

After being acquired in the deal for Cutter Gauthier in January 2024, he played just 24 games for Philly, missing time with a shoulder injury sustained against the Penguins at the end of February. In April 2024, he underwent surgery to repair a core injury he suffered while playing for the Ducks. And he missed time last season with an upper-body injury.

Entering 2024-25, he had played in just 147 games across four NHL seasons, missing significant time with shoulder injuries, including a torn labrum that required an operation in 2022. Since playing 81 games in his first full NHL season in 2021-22, he has never played more than the 70 he skated in last year.