All teams in every sport face the inevitable injury to players. Good teams can overcome those injuries and remain competitive. Bad teams fall apart. The last few seasons, the Flyers have had a mixed bag regarding injuries.
In some cases, they are down a solid player or two for a week or more and survive. A few seasons ago, the Flyers had the equivalent of two starting lines out with a large chunk of their defense down. You can't win when the injury bug has savaged your team.
Right now, the Flyers are down a couple of players. Rasmus Ristolainen is still recovering from a triceps injury sustained last year and is expected to be coming back to the lineup soon. Tyson Foerster is expected to miss a significant amount of time, not returning until around the Olympic break. They recently saw Cam York return to the lineup after he had been out for a few games.
Despite the setbacks, the Flyers are still performing well and clinging to a playoff spot. This is in part due to the guys who are filling on the roster stepping up. Let's take a look at some of these guys and how they are contributing to the success of the team.
First, there is Carl Grundstrom. The 28-year-old Swede came over as part of the Ryan Ellis salary dump deal with San Jose. Grundstrom has never been a major force or contributor in his career. Since the trade, he has spent most of the season in Lehigh Valley. Since debuting for the Phantoms, he's scored six goals with nine assists in 19 games.
Grundstrom's play earned him a call-up. So far, he's delivered. In four games, he's scored twice, including scoring the game-tying goal that sent the first Carolina game into overtime. He hasn't played a lot, mostly in a fourth-line role. Still, he's played roughly 12 minutes of ice time. That's not bad for a call-up.
On defense, Ty Murchison has stepped into his role quite well. He's appeared in just three games, but has averaged 15 minutes in each one so far. In that time, he's had one shot on goal, dealt five hits, and made two blocks. For a guy who was lower on the defensive depth chart to start the year, behind heralded prospects Helge Grans and Oliver Bonk, he is impressing many with his play and could end up sticking around for a while longer, and could make some veterans expendable (Egor Zamula?).
Having depth like this will help the Flyers as the season goes on. More guys will get hurt. The more experience players like Murchison and Grundstrom get in Tocchet's system will help this team. It would also appear that the Flyers have more assets than was previously thought. Again, that is a bigger boost to the organization than what we've seen in a while.
These call-ups are more than just taking up place on the roster. They are contributing. That will continue to be a key to the success of the franchise. And when the call-ups are contributing and gaining confidence, that will spread to the guys the team normally counts on, too. After all, winning is contagious.