Tyson Foerster out for 2-3 months after suffering upper-body injury on Monday

Tyson Foerster’s apparent arm injury certainly didn’t look good on Monday night.

It wasn’t.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Tuesday that Foerster’s upper-body injury would keep him out for two-to-three months, removing him from the Flyers’ lineup at least through December and January and very possibly through the mid-February Olympic break as well.

It’s a devastating loss for the Flyers. Foerster was off to his best season-start of his NHL career, scoring 10 goals and 13 points in 21 games. He had reached double-digits in goals only minutes before suffering the injury while trying to blast another shot past Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry. Instead, he immediately fell to the ice in pain, holding his arm, before rushing down the tunnel to the Flyers’ locker room. He did not return, and now will not be returning for quite some time.

Foerster was a key cog on the team’s shutdown line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink, though that line had been broken up in recent weeks, with Brink moving to a line with Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov. Now, however, the line loses its play-driving heart on the wing — Foerster has long graded out as an exceptional defensive player at even strength, ranking as the fifth-best suppressor of expected goals by Evolving-Hockey’s RAPM model (which isolates play-driving talent) among NHL forwards over the past three seasons, just behind three-time Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov.

Despite the strong start, Foerster has been battling injuries since the summer. His status for the start of the year was actually in question due to an elbow infection resulting from a minor injury suffered at World Championships in May while playing for Team Canada. Foerster was able to resolve that issue in time to be cleared for contact midway through camp, and was good to go for Game 1 in early October. But a blocked shot on November 1 knocked Foerster out of action for four games due to the resulting foot injury. This new issue, however, will keep him out for far longer.

With Foerster out of commission for at least 29 games — an exact two-month recovery timeline — the Flyers will be hard-pressed to replace him in their top-nine. Nikita Grebenkin stands as an internal option already on the NHL roster, as he has been largely used in a fourth line role but has the raw talent for increased usage.

Top prospect Alex Bump is another option, especially given his stylistic similarities to Foerster — Bump also possesses a plus shot and natural goal scoring ability. Bump was an option to replace Foerster in the lineup to start the season when the latter’s status was in question, but the combination of Foerster’s rapid recovery and Bump’s own underwhelming showing at training camp resulted in a demotion to the AHL.

After a slow start, however, Bump has emerged in recent weeks for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, scoring 13 points (three goals, ten assists) in his last 12 games for the Flyers’ AHL affiliate. His overall play still could use further refinement, but 16 points in 20 games as a first-year professional will justifiably get him serious consideration to step in for Foerster — if not now, then perhaps a few weeks down the road, assuming he keeps up his current production.

NHL veteran Carl Grundström (15 points in 19 AHL games) could also be a call-up option, especially if the Flyers choose to bump Grebenkin up into top-nine duties and then are in need of a fourth liner to replace him. Phantoms leading scorer Anthony Richard — who appeared in 15 games for the Flyers last season — also could get a look, as could Devin Kaplan, whose early play this season has impressed the Flyers brass. 20-year old first-year pro Denver Barkey is a longshot despite his strong play with the Phantoms (14 points in 20 games), given his perceived need for further physical development.

It’s not a season-ending injury for Foerster, and even an early March return to action would still leave him 23 more games to build off his strong start. But in the interim, the Flyers will be without one of their most important forwards, and will have to continue their push for their first playoff berth since 2020 without him.

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