John Tortorella praised Nick Seeler and said the Flyers are “not looking to trade” the 30-year-old defenseman.
VOORHEES, N.J. — Nick Seeler was placed on injured reserve Wednesday after being banged up two days ago from a blocked shot.
The 30-year-old defenseman will have to miss a minimum of seven days. The Flyers can backdate his IR stint to Monday, when he suffered the injury, but he'll be out for at least two games (Thursday and Saturday).
In a corresponding roster move, the Flyers called up Adam Ginning from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. They also have Ronnie Attard, who was called up last week. Both are 24-year-old rookies.
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Seeler exited the Flyers' 2-1 shootout loss to the Blues with 2:38 minutes left in the second period after taking a puck to the area of his left ankle and foot.
After limping up the tunnel with some assistance from a team staffer, Seeler was able to return for the start of the third period. But he was unable to finish the game, exiting again with around nine minutes left in the third period.
"Seels is kind of a locker room guy," head coach John Tortorella said Wednesday after practice. "Not by his mouth, but by how he plays. You know how I feel about him, I've talked about him in the past couple of weeks. It's a big one for us there.
"But you've got some young kids on the back end now getting some time maybe in our next game here. That's the way we've got to look at it. You just fill it in and hopefully Seels gets back as quickly as possible."
NHL
Seeler's name was a popular one leading up to Friday's 3 p.m. ET NHL trade deadline. Contending clubs covet team-first, cost-effective players like Seeler, who is on an expiring contract.
But the Flyers valued him highly, signing Seeler to a four-year contract extension Wednesday.
"We have said that from the get-go, we're not looking to trade Seels," Tortorella said four days ago. "He's a huge part of the competitiveness of the room, that brings that room together. He's one of the true competitors that I've ever coached as far as how he handles himself."
Seeler is the Flyers' truest defender. He leads the NHL with 184 blocked shots and is tied for first on the team with a plus-15 rating. After entering the season playing 13:24 minutes per game in his NHL career, Seeler has played 16:58 this season. He has been a staple on the Flyers' second defensive pair alongside Sean Walker, who was traded Wednesday to the Avalanche.
"When it comes to the deadline, we're going to listen," Tortorella said last month. "If we feel it's the right thing to do for the future of the organization, we'll do it. Those guys on expiring contracts, everybody's always kind of checking around, so we'll see where it goes. We're not out there shopping Sean Walker, but we'd be dopes if we didn't listen."
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