Philadelphia Flyers
Rasmus Ristolainen is about 4-6 weeks away from making his season debut, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said Monday. The defenseman had surgery March 26 to repair a ruptured tendon in his right triceps and was expected to need six months to recover. “It’s pretty soon we’re hoping he starts practicing with the team,” Briere said. “Not sure how far away that is, but he’s progressing well and everything is going well. We’re hoping next month, in about the 4-6 week range, he’s back with the team.” … Defenseman Travis Sanheim missed practice for “kind of” a maintenance day, Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “He’s dealing with a little tweak; better to keep him off the ice. He’s playing a lot of minutes.” Sanheim entered Monday second in the NHL in average time on ice per game (26:28). He has four points (one goal, three assists) in eight games. The Flyers host the Penguins on Tuesday (6 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN1, TVAS). … Defenseman prospect Oliver Bonk, the No. 22 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, is still working his way back from an upper-body injury that has kept him off the ice since rookie camp in June. “We didn’t know how serious it was at first,” Briere said. “We kept him out of rookie camp and it lingered. We kept him out of main [training] camp thinking it would get better, [but] it’s been a slow process. But it’s going well now. We’re just hoping there’s no setbacks. We’re just trying to give him the time and proper space between skates for him to feel good enough to come back and play. It’s a little tougher on the timeline for him. We’re waiting on the progression and making sure there’s no setback on him.”