Oskar Lindblom’s courageous journey back to the Flyers

It was exactly a year ago for Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom when his season came to a screeching halt.

The hockey world was rocked when the Flyers announced that Oskar Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. Everything became much bigger than hockey that fateful December day.

The entire league rallied around Lindblom as the fight for his life began. It was months of chemotherapy and surgery that brought him to that day in early-July. He rang the bell at the University of Pennsylvania. He was deemed to be without evidence of cancer at that time.

His journey back to the Flyers officially came after that moment. He had been spotted with the team before and had even managed to make it onto the ice briefly. But he was able to ramp it up afterwards.

He surprised everyone when he headed to the Toronto bubble and joined the team for the playoffs. But it was a complete unknown if he would be able to play again that season. The goal was to make it to Edmonton for the Conference Final. By then, there was a good chance Lindblom would be able to play again.

He once again surprised everyone when the Flyers announced he would play during Game Six of the second round. Taking part in warmups previously, he was welcomed back immediately with a lengthy opening shift. But none of that mattered. No one was paying attention to what he did on the ice. It was the fact that he was there.

On December 13th, 2019 the Flyers said that Lindblom was not expected to return to the ice again that season. Boy were they ecstatic to be wrong about that.

Lindblom defied a lot of odds with his return in the playoffs. He brought the entire hockey world to its feet when he stepped on the ice for the first time. And after re-signing with the team, he is expected to be a full-time part of the Flyers lineup next season.