Nick Seeler should provide boost for struggling Flyers

It's not often that a depth defenseman has a big enough impact on a team to where his return could help a struggling team. But for the Flyers, Nick Seeler provides a spark on the backend that they have been missing.

Seeler will make his season debut as the Flyers host the Capitals. The defenseman has missed the team's first five games after taking a puck off his leg during a preseason game. The puck hit a nerve and caused Seeler to lose sensation in his foot and leg, which is not something he had dealt with before.

"I've never experienced something like that — leg just kind of shut off for a while," Seeler said to NBCSP's Jordan Hall after practice on Monday. "But it feels a lot better."

Suffering the injury on Oct. 1, it took quite a while for the sensations to return. Sliding to cut off a pass in the defensive zone, Seeler admitted the puck hit his peroneal nerve. That nerve controls the movement and sensation in the lower leg, toes, and foot. Seeler did return to practice the next day, but wouldn't return after.

"We're just playing it as sort of a day-to-day thing and we'll see," Assistant coach Brad Shaw had said earlier this month. "It's just tough, we don't want to put him on the ice when he can't control... just doesn't have a real good sense of where that edge is, so it becomes dangerous. We'll be smart about it."

Shaw mentioned that it took longer than the team was expecting as most tend to get the feeling back in minutes or hours as most. Seeler was sidelined for three weeks.

Seeler making season debut against Capitals

With Seeler returning, the Flyers get back a defenseman who isn't afraid to take the body and adds energy to the backend. Something John Tortorella believes the team has been missing.

"Oh sure, he’s a really good player for us. Energy-wise, penalty killing, just the emotion on the bench. He’s a really good player for us. We miss him," Tortorella said after the Flyers loss to the Canucks.

Seeler was fifth in the league last year with 205 blocked shots. That was the most by anyone on the Flyers. The closest teammate was Cam York with 174. He averaged over 10 blocks per 60 minutes, by far the most among regular NHLers. Seeler also had 132 hits as well.

"He's a good player. I think you get locked into just who he is, the emotion he brings, blocking shots and all that," Tortorella said after Monday's practice. "I think a lot of people forget he plays against a lot of good people on the opposing teams. [He's] a good partner for his other guy because he bails a lot of people out."

Seeler is expected to play on the second pair with Jamie Drysdale. That shuffles the pairs back to what the Flyers likely expected to run this season. It also moves Erik Johnson to the press box as he had appeared in all five games to start the season.

Philadelphia has lost four straight after winning their season-opener against the Canucks. Seeler may not solve all of their problems, but even his emotion on the bench should help bring some fire into this team.