Flyers Activate Marc Staal, Rasmus Ristolainen Cleared for Contact

The Philadelphia Flyers announced Tuesday that they had activated Marc Staal off of injured reserve, with Felix Sandstrom officially clearing waivers and heading to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Staal, 36, has been out since Oct. 19 with an upper-body injury – one he described more accurately as to the “ribs”.

The Flyers saw Staal shed his non-contact jersey last week, but was never activated from IR. The veteran did say that the weekend was a possibility, but with a back-to-back against the Vegas Golden Knights and Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia likely decided that rushing Staal back was not necessary.

Ristolainen, meanwhile, was still practicing with a yellow non-contact jersey last week. However, the 29-year-old told media that he hoped to return “sooner than later”.

The Philadelphia Flyers welcomed him back to practice in a full capacity Tuesday morning, with Ristolainen joining Staal in the black practice jersey. If Ristolainen is activated from LTIR at some point this week, it’s likely that Louie Belpedio would be the player who makes way for him.

Ristolainen has not played a game for the Flyers this season, as his lower-body injury dates back to the preseason.

On the heels of a season-long five-game win streak, it seems that the Philadelphia Flyers are only approaching the peak of their powers. The Flyers have not achieved such a feat since the 2019-20 season.