VOORHEES, N.J. – Most NHL defense pairings usually have one guy who’s a bit offense-minded and one who’s more of a stay-at-home type.
Which is why the Flyers’ new backline unit of Jamie Drysdale and Emil Andrae has created a bit of a buzz the past couple days.
Neither of these guys is reluctant to get a rush started up ice.
Coach Rick Tocchet made a switch midway through Thursday night’s game against St. Louis, moving Andrae up onto the second unit in place of Nick Seeler.
After Friday’s practice, Tocchet disclosed he plans to stay with the Drysdale-Andrae tandem for at least Saturday night’s home game against the New Jersey Devils.
There’s a lot of upside to this alignment. Both players are excellent skaters, have some offensive instincts and can disrupt opponent’s charges with strong stickwork.
Then again, they aren’t the biggest guys on the ice and that can present problems against physical teams.
“It’s a good debate, it’s a good question,” Tocchet said in response to questions about those aspects. He used one of his former players on the Vancouver Canucks, Quinn Hughes, as a reference point.
“You take one of the best players, Quinn Hughes, not the biggest guy, won the Norris (Trophy for best NHL defenseman) with his brain, his quickness, his puck ability and his breakouts. So they (Drysdale, Andrae) can defend that way. If they’re going against bigger guys, cycle in corners to squash plays, might be a little difficult but I think with your brain and your quickness and your patience with the puck, you can work around that.”
Tocchet went on to say it’s something that a coach has to try.
Andrae, who’s been mostly paired with Noah Juulsen, looks forward to the challenge.
“I think we’re both pretty skilled with the puck,” Andrae said of playing with Drysdale. “We’re both searching for plays out there and when we play like that it’s a lot of fun.
“Obviously you have to take care of the defensive part of it. But we’re both similar as players so it’s been fun.”
Drysdale has developed into an offensive force, which includes running the power-play show from the point with the first unit.
He’s been with a steady defender in Seeler. This will be a much different look.
“I think that’s a good thing about our back end, we’re pretty versatile across the board,” Drysdale said. “Got a little bit of everything. Throughout the course of the time I’ve been here I played with everybody at some point.
“There’s an adjustment period but I’m familiar with everyone. Emil likes to hang onto the puck and make plays. It’s a smooth transition and should be good.”
>Demanding schedule
The Flyers will reach the unofficial quarter mark of their schedule when they play the New Jersey Devils on Saturday in game No. 20.
The schedule has been favorable so far. They’ve played 12 home games and only seven on the road.
Things will start to change next week. The Flyers will play four games – all on the road — in six nights, including tough tests against Tampa Bay on Monday, Florida on Wednesday and then a back-to-back grinder against division powerhouses New York Islanders on Friday and the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
This might be the kind of measuring stick series the Flyers want to sort of see what they’re made of.
“It’s the old cliché ‘it’s a long season’ but it’s true,” Drysdale said. “I think it’s the teams that handle these stretches, these back-to-backs, that usually find themselves in a better spot.”
Cam York said this week could say a lot about what the Flyers are made of.
“We got to be ready for it,” he said. “A few guys are banged up but every team is banged up. We’ll be ready to go when the challenge presents itself.”
As a former NHL player, Tocchet knows it takes a lot of preparation to get ready for these demanding stretches.
“It’s the mental toughness,” Tocchet said. “The second half of back-to-backs (1-12-2 since the start of the 2024-25 season) is an eyesore. It’s no different with four-in-six. You might not have your good stuff, you might have your ‘B’ game but can you play a good ‘B’ game? Good angles? Shorter shifts? Doing things consistently.”
The Flyers are 7-3-2 at home and just 3-3-2 on the road. Tocchet must be hoping that road record improves.
“When you’re playing your third game in four nights and can break out clean, make some good plays, it’s not as taxing,” Tocchet said. “If you’re in your end all night, the puck’s bouncing around and we’re not doing good wallwork, you’re going to be hemmed in. What happens? You’re going to be tired.
“So we have to build a mental toughness here. Every team has to go through it. Some teams have played 22 games. We’ve played 19. So it’s our turn to get in the muck.”
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