PHILADELPHIA – Emil Andrae had been on the Philadelphia-Lehigh Valley shuttle a number of times before, so he wasn’t too upset when he was on the last train out to Allentown after the Flyers’ final training camp roster cuts.
Coaches and teammates assured him he would be back at some point.
Well, the point came about on Monday night when the defenseman got the call to rejoin the Flyers for their home opener against the Florida Panthers.
The Flyers are two defensemen short at the moment, with Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York on the shelf.
Not wasting any time, coach Rick Tocchet added Andrae right into the lineup and had Egor Zamula take a seat on the bench.
“It was hard getting sent down,” Andrae admitted after the morning skate at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “Obviously this is where I want to be and I’m happy to get back here.”
It was important to go back to the Phantoms with the proper mindset. If he sulked, it wouldn’t help his cause. As it turned out, he picked up two assists in the Phantoms’ season opener.
“Of course I was disappointed (at first),” Andrae said. “I didn’t play well enough (in training camp) to make the roster. I had the mindset to get back here. Go down to Lehigh and even if it takes one game or two months, I want to get back here.
“That was my goal. So now that I’ve got an opportunity, I’ve just got to take it.”
Like most young players, Andrae’s biggest challenge is to play consistently. Don’t have two good games, then have a bad one.
“That is the challenge of me being the player I am,” he said. “I think all players battle with that all the time. You want to make plays but at the same time you want to be reliable. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just relax, have that swagger. I think that will help more than thinking what I have to do.”
Andrae, 23, came over from Sweden after the Flyers took him in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft (54th overall).
He might be only 5-foot-9, 181 pounds but he plays with the energy and strength of a much bigger man.
This trial could be just a game or two. York could be back as early as Thursday’s game against Winnipeg.
Will Andrae be feeling any pressure to try to stick around?
“Pressure is a privilege,” stated Andrae, who was paired with Noah Juulsen for the Florida game. “It means something for me to stay here. I don’t think about pressure like that. I put the biggest pressure on myself. I’m just trying to focus on what I can control. My goal is to play well enough to stay here.”
Tocchet already has two slightly built defensemen in York and Jamie Drysdale. Does the addition of Andrae make the back line a little too diminutive?
“No, I remember the year we won in Pittsburgh (2009), (Chris) Letang was out, we didn’t have big crushing guys,” Tocchet recalled of his days as an assistant coach with the Penguins. “We used our brains and our speed.
“The same thing here. ‘Yorkie’ is a good mobil defenseman. Same with Drysdale. These are mobile guys who can make players. When they’re out of the lineup, they’re tough to find.”
Andrae can provide speed on the rush.
“We’ve struggled the last couple games with getting the puck up the ice,” Tocchet said. “I think maybe he (Andrae) can add that, fourth man on the rush, mobility on the blue line.”
Tocchet could use some ice-time eaters, too. He knows he can’t have Travis Sanheim playing 30 minutes a night.
“He (Andrae) was giving the puck away a lot in camp,” Tocchet said. “But there were pockets where ‘hey, this guy can play.’ But I think some of the puck decisions. . .he was throwing the puck away in the middle of the ice. But if he gets some reps, why not give him a chance now?”
>Zamula’s issues
Zamula’s play has been uneven in his first two games. That sort of opened the door for Andrae.
“He gets the puck and he’s staring at his options,” Tocchet said. “Instead of 20 feet of empty space. I want him to get going. You don’t have to be the fastest player but if you think faster, you look faster. I think it’s something he has to get better at.”
>Michkov not quite up to speed
Tocchet said Matvei Michkov’s play in the first two games might have been a little off due to an ankle injury he’s been recovering from since last summer.
The Flyers’ penchant for taking penalties in the games against Florida (last Thursday) and Carolina might have cut into Michkov’s ice time.
“He was getting 15 minutes,” Tocchet said. “If we don’t take penalties, he’s probably getting 17. I think the ankle thing limited some of his training. He’s a little bit behind the eight-ball. It’s something we’re going to correct.”
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