Player Preview: Flyers depth defensemen fighting for different roles

Earlier this week, we went over some of the veteran forwards on the roster and their expectations as we move along through the preseason player preview series. Similarly, there’s lots of variety among the three players listed here, but they’ll all be instrumental if the Flyers are going to return to the playoffs again in a highly competitive Metropolitan division.

Nick Seeler

What did we see from Seeler last season?

Nick Seeler is the perfect third-pair defenseman. The locker room loves him, he’s a maximum effort player at all times, and he knows exactly what he’s expected to do out on the ice.

Not much has changed about Seeler’s game during his time in Philadelphia. When he was brought here on the doorstep of retirement having been out of a job for two years, nobody could’ve envisioned that he’d be safely on the NHL roster going into his sixth season as a Flyer. He’s perfected the art of blocking shots, and is a no-nonsense physical guy who’s given a decent 17 minutes of ice time per game to this club for years.

It was good to see Seeler have a special moment in the playoffs for his hard work. His role isn’t flashy or appreciated by everyone, but there’s a place for him on any roster in the league. By MoneyPuck’s numbers, of Flyers defensive pairings to play 200 or more minutes together, Seeler and Jamie Drysdale combined for the best Expected Goals percentage on the team with a very respectable 56.2 percent.

What type of role do we expect Seeler to play this season?

While he’s been a solid presence on the third pair, he’s not exactly irreplaceable from a results standpoint. With several highly touted prospects knocking at the door– Oliver Bonk and David Jiricek, to name a couple– Seeler’s job is not as secure as it may have been the past year or two.

As a guy who doesn’t often get asked to play up in the lineup, Seeler’s spot is the best opportunity to insulate a young defenseman in the NHL. With someone like Ristolainen being a pretty important piece of the blue line at the moment, Seeler could find himself in more of a timeshare with Jiricek, who is no longer waiver exempt and needs to play. The Flyers are less committed to Seeler than any of the other defensemen on the roster, and so it seems logical that he could find his role significantly reduced.

Rasmus Ristolainen

What did we see from Ristolainen last season?

We saw everything.

Ristolainen played perhaps his best season as a Flyer and one of the best in his suddenly long career. We did get the full Rasmus Ristolainen experience: there were injuries, months of trade speculation, and the end of one of the longest playoff droughts we’ve ever seen for an individual.

After a shocking trade deadline in which nothing materialized for their Finnish Olympian, the Flyers had Ristolainen playing top-pairing minutes for a team that advanced to the final eight of the tournament. He played a crucial role for the Flyers, and while it isn’t his ideal role in a perfect world, he was up to the task, playing alongside Travis Sanheim for 25 minutes a night in the biggest 10 games of his career.

On the downside, Ristolainen was a big part of the most frustrating power play in hockey. Again, he’s probably there for a lack of better options, which isn’t his fault, but he does have to take some of the blame for the ineffectiveness of the unit. Per Hockey-Reference, Ristolainen managed just one assist on the man advantage. His two assists short-handed in a comparable amount of ice time is a funny indictment of the unit as a whole.

What type of role do we expect Ristolainen to play this season?

We keep waiting for the trade that never comes, so it’s just going to have to be assumed that he’s here to stay. Ristolainen is probably going to slide back into his top-pairing role with Sanheim, given the overall success the duo had with a 51.1 percent Expected Goals share in 488 minutes together during the regular season.

He is the most expendable of the top four or five names on the Flyer blue line, however. If there needs to be a roster move to accommodate a young player making the team, Ristolainen should hold the most value in a trade, theoretically. If a move isn’t made, Ristolainen should be a really important player in the final year of his five year contract with the team, and it seems like the front office wants him to eat some of the tougher matchups for the younger guys.

As for special teams, there really needs to be a conversation about his power play time. It’s pretty clear he’s not the solution there and someone (anyone) else should get an extended look, or at least, a tryout in the role.

Simon Benoit

What did we see from Benoit last season?

Benoit was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2025-26 season, coming over in the June trade with Joseph Woll. The soon-to-be 28-year-old was fourth in overall minutes for defensemen there, and the team ended up with the first overall pick in the ensuing draft. Aside from that, Benoit provides a physical presence– he’s the artist behind the “superman punch” on poor Michael Kesselring in 2025– and should be an upgrade depth-wise for the Flyers.

Benoit’s most common defensive partners were a pretty even split of Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Troy Stecher. None of them posted particularly exciting results, with the McCabe pair offering the highest Expected Goals share at 46 percent. Benoit played just over 17 minutes a night for 73 games on the whole, and won’t be expected to provide much offense when he’s out there in Philadelphia either.

Per NHL Edge stats, Benoit has an above-average shot velocity and has reached well over 23 miles per hour on skates. This top-end speed puts him in the top 10th or 11th percentiles among all NHL players, including a 98th percentile burst in the 2025 playoffs, so he can cover some ground if he needs to. The big left-hander should be a fine addition on the back-end.

What type of role do we expect Benoit to play this season?

With the defensemen currently on the roster, it would be surprising to see Benoit be a regular in the lineup. There’s a time and place for him for sure, but the organization isn’t nearly as invested in him as they are with some of the players pushing for a spot on the blue line.

We’ll get more answers in the pre-season and training camp, but it’s unlikely that he’ll be a 70-plus game player. Ideally, Benoit is the seventh defenseman who can slide in as needed and give you passable defense. The Flyers could do worse there, but it’s not like he’s going to be relied on to do much barring disaster, in which case, there are bigger issues. He could be a pretty popular guy with the willingness to drop the gloves and be physical.

Benoit has been a pretty regular penalty killer over the last four years, so he brings some level of experience in the special teams regard if he’s needed. Coaches usually love a guy who can go out there short-handed, so hopefully, this alone doesn’t give him the leg-up on a younger player for a lineup spot.

Another former Anaheim Duck joins the ranks. If we remember the Radko Gudas incident with Sean Couturier from a 2018 practice, this is less funny, but it seems like he’ll fit in just fine.

Espace publicitaire · 300×250