Per The Athletic‘s Kevin Kurz – who is with the team in Vancouver, while I am not – injured forward Noah Cates has resumed skating with the Philadelphia Flyers. Cates is not practicing yet, but is traveling with the team and skating on his own.
Cates, 24, originally broke his foot on Nov. 25 after blocking a shot in the second period against the New York Islanders. After finishing the game, Cates’ injury was obviously worse than originally anticipated, and the Flyers subsequently put him on injured reserve with a recovery timeline of 6-to-8 weeks. We’re coming up on Week 5 now, so it seems that Cates’ return to the Flyers lineup is on the horizon.
“The frustrating thing for me with Catesy was, we put him on wing, we leaned into him a little bit about trying to create some offense and I thought he probably had his best offensive game,” Head coach John Tortorella had said. “Breaks his foot at the beginning of the second period [against the Islanders], plays through it. A little frustrating we couldn’t see him more after playing a pretty good offensive game, but it’s gonna give people opportunities.”
Since then, Bobby Brink and Morgan Frost have been the beneficiaries of additional ice time. Each has had their flashes, though it’s unclear who survives the purge once Cates returns for the Flyers. Philadelphia had also called up Olle Lycksell at one point, though they needed to turn to journeyman Rhett Gardner in the face of a need for center depth. That’s one area that Cates will address upon his impending return in a few weeks time.
The main takeaway here is that the Flyers are now getting healthy at the right time, with the playoff push officially on and the trade deadline just two months away.
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