With the news made official today that the Flyers have placed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury, and his timeline for return remaining a bit murky, the decision was made to bring up some reinforcements from the AHL, as their current mix on defense hasn’t really been cutting it. In the corresponding move to Ristolainen’s IR placement, the Flyers announced Saturday evening that they’ve recalled Hunter McDonald from the Phantoms.
And the choice to recall McDonald is, on the surface, a bit of a surprising one. McDonald has been playing well recently, but this is coming on the other side of a performance back on December 19 that was so off that it bought him a benching for the final period of the game and two games scratched after that. His response to that has been a notable uptick in his level of play, but he’s still not quite at the level of dominating at the AHL level. What’s more, there are others in the Phantoms’ lineup who have more experience at both the AHL and NHL levels in Adam Ginning and Helge Grans (while Grans also has the benefit of ticking the right handedness box as a replacement for Ristolainen as well).
But, at the same time, despite some time spent up on the roster already this year, the Flyers have shown some reticence to actually get Ginning into the lineup, and Grans has already been passed over for a recall this year in favor of getting Ty Murchison up to make his NHL debut last month. So, with Murchison out indefinitely with his injury, and Ginning and Grans both seemingly on the outside looking in on the organization’s favor — Grans also certainly didn’t do himself any favors, delivering a particularly poor showing last night against Bridgeport with Flyers management in the house — McDonald does seem a natural next choice to receive the call up.
In McDonald, though, the Flyers will get the closest stylistic approximation to Ristolainen, with his frame and mobility, his more grounded defensive game, and his heavy, eager physical presence. And while McDonald might not be the sure-thing to settle down their defense group as a whole — this would certainly be a lot to ask of any player coming up to make their debut into the league — his presence might still offer them a different tone, and what’s more, the Flyers will have a chance to see what another one of their prospects is able to do at this next level, with a new challenge in front of them.