In somewhat of a surprise announcement before the Flyers game against the Canadiens on Friday afternoon, the team announced that James Van Riemsdyk will be out of action for the next 1-to-2 weeks with an undisclosed upper-body injury, which we will count down from Friday afternoon, placing his worst-case scenario return on December 10th, home to the Lightning.There was no word of when or where Van Riemsdyk was hurt, which is a little discomforting, but they were forthcoming with a timetable, so it isn't all bad, I guess.
The 22-year old forward is on pace to have his best season in the NHL, currently sitting in 85th in pool scoring this year with 8 goals and 8 assists through 20 games. Last season, Van Riemsdyk hit the 40-point mark, right on the nose, ranking him 195th in pool scoring, so if he was to keep his position this season, he would be in great shape. Still, missing two weeks will likely cost him eight games at best, plus a game he has missed earlier, he still has a pace for 58 points, which is a definite plus to his career.
In the draft, Van Riemsdyk belongs to Scott G. in the pool, who goes into Saturday's action in 8th spot with 174 points, now 11 points back of 7th and 23 points back of 2nd and 3rd place, so the loss of Van Riemsdyk could be big over the next couple of weeks. A drop does give him a couple better picks next week, where he can fill some gaps in his line-up, but I'm sure he wishes he was a little closer to the top group for a smaller gap to close up. Nevertheless, there is still lots of hockey left to play.
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