With perpetuated struggles on defense, the Philadelphia Flyers must keep an open mind towards their options, internally and externally, at the position.
On Friday, the Boston Bruins placed former No. 11 overall pick Victor Soderstrom, a right-hand shot, on waivers, making him available to the Flyers if the team deems him worthy.
At this point, the Flyers may as well be open to anything and everything.
Head coach Rick Tocchet subtly but bluntly called out the struggling Egor Zamula after Thursday night's 4-3 preseason loss to the New York Islanders, whereas Adam Ginning did nothing to cede his spot as the de facto No. 5 defenseman.
Other options, like veterans Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert, have been less than stellar in their preseason action. Gilbert has a team-worst 20.69% Corsi percentage (out-shot 23-6 at 5-on-5) in two games this preseason, according to Natural Stat Trick.
As for Zamula, he's just barely ahead of Gilbert, getting out-shot 42-18 (30%) at 5-on-5 and out-chanced 14-8.
Soderstrom, 24, is a 6-foot puck-mover returning to North America after spending a year with Brynäs IF of the SHL, with whom he scored nine goals, 28 assists, and 37 points in 49 games last season.
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The Swede has 170 games of AHL experience and 53 games of NHL experience, and he's still fairly young relative to his playing experience.
Additionally, Soderstrom did make his NHL debut for Tocchet and Flyers assistant coach Jay Varady when the trio were with the Arizona Coyotes in the 2020-21 season; Soderstrom scored one goal and one assist in four games.
In three games of preseason action with the Bruins, Soderstrom has been narrowly out-shot 51-48 at 5-on-5 and out-chanced 31-18, though he hasn't necessarily been equipped to succeed with the lumbering Nikita Zadorov and a likely career AHLer in Michael Callahan as his defense partners.
With the Flyers, Soderstrom could benefit from a more mobile and equally experienced Nick Seeler, who is accustomed to playing as Jamie Drysdale's safety valve, or a confident and surging Adam Ginning, who has seemingly found a new lease on life at the NHL level with a strong training camp thus far.
The 2019 No. 11 overall pick would also give the Flyers some semblance of offense from that third defense pair, which would have otherwise been comprised entirely of bruisers and stay-at-home defenders.
Soderstrom is at his best with the puck on his stick and when he's moving his feet, which, in theory, should also work well in Tocchet's passive-aggressive Box +1 defensive system. He should be hounding down pucks and them making plays with them after.
And, if it doesn't work out, no harm, no foul. Rasmus Ristolainen should return for the Flyers by some point in November, but until then, Philadelphia needs to exhaust all options necessary to keep themselves afloat.
