Jamie Drysdale’s return yields new defensive pairs; Denver Barkey to get ‘a break’

BUFFALO ― Jamie Drysdale is back.

The Flyers defenseman was activated off injured reserve after morning skate Wednesday and is expected to return to the lineup.

Drysdale suffered an upper-body injury in the Flyers’ win on Jan. 6 against his former team, the Anaheim Ducks, after absorbing a high hit well away from the puck by forward Ross Johnston.

Without him in the lineup, the Flyers lost three straight, including two in a row to the Tampa Bay Lightning, in which they were outscored by 12-3. Getting the fleet-of-foot defenseman, who is having a breakout year on the defensive side of the puck, back in the lineup is a big lift.

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“Oh, man, he has such an impact on our back end. He plays with speed. He helps our offense, so it’ll be good to have him back,” said forward Travis Konecny, who added he is good to go after dealing with his own ailments, including an upper-body injury, a lower-body injury, and a good slash to the leg on Monday.

But while Drysdale was playing with Emil Andrae before the injury — according to Natural Stat Trick, the duo were on the ice for 18 goals by the Flyers and just nine against — he’ll be alongside Cam York on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max).

“I think during the season maybe things get stale [so] you want to move it around stuff,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “Both can move the puck. Both are really good at wheeling pucks and stuff like that. So maybe they can supply some puck-possession offense for us.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, before this season, York and Drysdale played together for 243 minutes, 10 seconds at five-on-five. They had the worst Corsi For percentage (43.97%), which measures shot attempt differential, among Flyers pairs to play at least 60 minutes. They were also on the ice for more scoring chances against and high-danger chances against, and were outscored by 15-7.

That was under former coach John Tortorella.

Under Tocchet’s new structure — and before the two-game outburst by the Lightning — the Flyers had the ninth-best goals against average (2.79) in the league. So it’s no surprise that this season, in just over 25 minutes together, they have an expected goal share of 64.93% at five-on-five. They also have the third-best Corsi For percentage (55.26%) among Flyers pairs who have played at least 25 minutes together this season.

“Glad he’s healthy, and he’s obviously a big part of our D corps, so getting him back is great,” York said of Drysdale. “And super excited to play with him. Played a little bit with him last year, so familiar with each other obviously, and really good friends off the ice, and I think sometimes that helps just talking things out on the ice.”

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York and Drysdale paired up isn’t the only “fresh” look from Tocchet. Based on rushes during morning skate, Travis Sanheim is now with Rasmus Ristolainen, and Nick Seeler is with Andrae. Seeler and Andrae have played 25 minutes together and have an impressive 59.09% Corsi For and 63.28 expected goal share, with the Flyers putting 16 shots on goal and allowing just four, with one going in.

“You build chemistry with partners and that’s what we’re looking to do,” Seeler said. “So it’s me and Emil tonight and obviously I haven’t played a ton with him, maybe a game or two, but, yeah, look to find that connection. Obviously, he’s good mobile defenseman, and he’s able to move the puck up the ice. So, yeah, it’ll be good.”

Although Bobby Brink was not on the ice for morning skate and is expected to miss his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, Denver Barkey will be a healthy scratch on Wednesday.

“He just played junior last year, so I think it’s important that he gets a little bit of a break,” Tocchet said. “I told him work out this morning, and go watch the game up top [in the press box]. I think that’s important for young guys to go watch, it slows the game down up top.”

“I think it’s important that even the young guys go up there and just take a look at it. Well, it looks easy up top. It looks a lot slower,” Tocchet said.

“Obviously, on the ice, it’s different. But you can learn from up top. I think it’s important that he does that. I’ll go the next day [and say], ‘What did you see?’ It’s almost like a homework assignment. … He’s a pretty smart kid. … That’s why he was drafted, for his hockey IQ.”

Barkey has one goal and three points across 11 games since being called up and recording two assists in his NHL debut on Dec. 20. He has struggled the last two games and had the puck stolen by Brayden Point ahead of Nikita Kucherov’s first goal on Saturday and Nick Paul’s goal later in the game.

Dan Vladař (16-7-4, 907 save percentage) will start in goal. He is 2-1-1 with a .902 save percentage in four career games against Buffalo.

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