Flyers Would Have To Move Ristolainen If Carlson Lands In Philly

The Flyers are staring at a familiar kind of roster squeeze, and John Carlson’s name is enough to make the whole blue line get a little tighter. Rasmus Ristolainen has become the obvious contract-and-role headache in a setup like this, because NHL front offices do not add a big-ticket defenseman without asking who gets nudged out of the picture. This is the sort of move that tells you Philadelphia is not just shopping for talent, but trying to redraw the pecking order on the back end.