For the first time in six games, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae will step back into the lineup, ending a prolonged stretch as a healthy scratch that, while difficult, may ultimately serve as one of the more important developmental checkpoints of his young NHL career.
For both Andrae and the Flyers, his return represents a recalibration of sorts—of expectations, responsibilities, and trust.
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And maybe most importantly, it’s another test of whether Andrae can consistently differentiate himself from a promising call-up into a dependable, everyday NHL defenseman.
A Necessary Pause in a Promising Trajectory
When Andrae was first recalled earlier this season, he impressed straightaway.
He moved the puck decisively, drove offense, and played with the kind of assertiveness that belied his size. At 5-foot-9, Andrae will never overwhelm opponents physically, but he compensates with anticipation, mobility, and pure fearlessness. He closes gaps aggressively and can escape pressure cleanly. And when he does get the puck, he sees the ice like a player who has always been accustomed to controlling it.
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That early success confirmed the already favorable opinions he had garnered from previous NHL stints—at 24 years old, he’s obviously not a finished product, but he does possess a heap of desirable qualities in a blueliner, and has oodles of potential for his coaches to work with as he continues developing.
But as the season wore on, the natural inconsistencies of a young defenseman began to surface. The reads that came easily in his first stretch required quicker processing, and the risks became more costly.
Head coach Rick Tocchet was candid in his assessment of where Andrae’s game had slipped before the Flyers’ game against the New York Rangers on Feb. 26.
“I think he played his best hockey when he was first called up,” Tocchet said. “I think he was obviously good on the breakouts, good on wheeling the puck… It’s just stuff he tries too much—making passes in the middle of the ice or being out of position, things like that. But that’s growing as a young defenseman.”
Roles, Trust, and Lineup Balance
Andrae’s absence wasn’t solely about performance. It was also about his fit in the overall lineup.
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Tocchet pointed to penalty killing responsibilities multiple times, along with the importance of balanced right-left defensive pairings, as key factors in Andrae’s temporary removal from the lineup.
Defensemen must earn that trust incrementally. It comes through consistency, through reliability, and through proving that risk-reward decisions consistently favor the team.
Now, Andrae has a prime chance to make a case for his usefulness not just in 5-on-5 play, but on special teams as well.
“He might get some PK time tonight [against the Rangers],” Tocchet said. “So hopefully if he’s out there that he can help us out on the PK, too.”
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Even limited penalty-killing usage would be an important step in signaling growing confidence from the coaching staff in both Andrae’s offensive instincts and his defensive discipline.
What Andrae Brings That the Flyers Need
Despite his recent absence, Andrae offers something the Flyers’ blue line doesn’t have in abundance: natural puck-moving fluidity.
They have offensive-minded in defensemen in players like Cam York and Jamie Drysdale, but Andrae adds a layer of relentlessness to that core of smaller offensive defensemen.
His skating allows him to escape pressure without defaulting to glass-and-out clears. His vision allows him to identify transition opportunities early, and his willingness to attack open ice forces opposing forechecks to hesitate.
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Those traits are especially valuable for a Flyers team that relies heavily on structure and pace to generate offense. A clean breakout is often the first offensive play, and Andrae has shown he can initiate those sequences.
What he’s learning now is when to be aggressive and when to be simple—a crucial and delicate balance that separates promising young defensemen from reliable NHL regulars.
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae (36). (Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News)
A Critical Stage in His Long-Term Development
The six games Andrae spent out of the lineup may ultimately, in a twisted sort of way, benefit him in the long run.
From the press box, the game slows down. Patterns become clearer, making mistakes easier to recognize without the immediacy of competition. As frustrating as it is not to be on the ice, for young defensemen dealing with stagnation, those observational stretches can accelerate growth, allowing Andrae to return with both perspective and motivation.
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He knows what earned him his initial opportunity. He also knows what cost him his place, and no doubt he understands what’s required to keep it.
The good thing is that Andrae doesn’t have to scrap his whole game and start over. As Tocchet pointed out, the expectation is not for Andrae to completely reinvent his game, but to refine it and stay consistent with it. Keep the mobility; keep the confidence; keep the creativity. But going along with that, pair those clear strengths with restraint, positional awareness, and situational judgment.
A Meaningful Opportunity for Player and Team
For the Flyers, reinserting Andrae is more than just switching up the lineup in the hopes of taking three points away from New York. The team is simultaneously evaluating his nightly performance and his trajectory.
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Can Andrae become a reliable puck-moving presence in their top six? Can he handle defensive responsibility in critical moments? Can he grow into a player they can trust in all situations?
Those answers won’t come after one game, but they’ll begin to emerge now, as he steps back onto the ice—not as the wide-eyed up-and-down kid from his first stints with the big club, but as a more mature and experienced young defenseman who has felt both the momentum of early success and the humility of stepping back.
