In the wake of a 5-0 beatdown Wednesday at the hands of the New Jersey Devils, the Flyers decided to make a change on the blue line.
Not for the first time this season, the Flyers will turn to a young Swedish defenseman from Lehigh Valley for a shot in the arm. No, not Emil Andrae. Not Helge Grans, either. This time, the Flyers called up Adam Ginning from the Phantoms.
“He’s been playing well,” coach John Tortorella said of the report he got on Ginning. “We’ve been wanting to take a look at him. I don’t want to play [Erik Johnson] back-to-back.”
Ginning, 25, is not a complete unknown to Flyers fans, as he skated in nine games last season and one game in 2022-23. Primarily known as a stay-at-home defenseman, Ginning had one goal and five points in 42 games at Lehigh Valley before his recall. In his 10 career NHL games, Ginning has one goal (no assists) and has averaged 14 minutes, 9 seconds of ice time.
Phantoms coach Ian Laperrière told the Swede on Wednesday morning in Bridgeport, Conn., before they were to face the Bridgeport Islanders. Ginning drove to Voorhees that night and is happy to get another chance in the NHL.
“Maybe in the beginning of the season, I felt like I got away from what I usually do, and I’m just trying to get back to that, and play hard defensively and play physically like I did last year,” he said. “[I’m] trying to come back to that. I think I have been doing that lately.”
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The Flyers signed Ginning to a two-year contract extension with a $787,500 average annual value over the summer. The first year of the deal is two-way, and it converts to one-way in the second year.
With the Flyers not holding a morning skate on Thursday ahead of their home game against the New York Islanders (7:30 p.m., NBCSP), it remains to be seen exactly where Ginning will fit in.
But with Travis Sanheim struggling since he and Cam York were broken up as a pairing, bringing in another left-handed shot like Ginning could allow Tortorella to reunite his top grouping with York on the left and Sanheim back on his preferred off-side. Tortorella confirmed that Sanheim would be back on the right side Thursday night.
“Inconsistent, trying like [heck] … probably trying too hard,” Tortorella said of Sanheim’s play this season. “I think it puts him in spots where it’s just not right. It’s definitely not a lack of effort. We’d just like to see him just stay on his toes, but slow down a little bit.”
That scenario likely would see Ginning pair with Jamie Drysdale or Rasmus Ristolainen, with the other lined up with Nick Seeler. The Flyers’ pairs have been jumbled with Egor Zamula, another left shot, having missed the last three games with an upper-body injury.
That Ginning got the call over fellow lefty Andrae won’t be popular among Flyers fans, as Andrae played quite well during his spell with the team earlier this season. Andrae, who recently returned from injury for Lehigh Valley, had one goal and five points in 20 games for the Flyers and has two goals and nine points in 15 games at Lehigh Valley.
Ginning’s size — 6-foot-4 compared to Andrae’s 5-9 — also likely was a factor, while the Flyers were prioritizing defense first with York and Drysdale already in the lineup.
The Flyers do not have to make a corresponding move to accommodate Ginning’s recall, as he makes 23 active players with Nick Deslauriers and Ryan Poehling on injured reserve and Ryan Ellis on long-term injured reserve.
Tortorella did not have an injury update on top-six winger Owen Tippett, who left Wednesday’s game after taking a heavy check from Brenden Dillon and did not return.