Time off has allowed JVR to get healthy

Whenever the NHL resumes, and it still plans to resume this season, James van Riemsdyk will be available to play.

That will be him with nine healthy fingers and a tenth that is, well, strong enough.

The 31-year-old Flyers’ left wing has not played since leaving a March 4 in Washington after fracturing his right index finger. He missed the next three games then wound up with two bonus months of recovery time when the NHL locked itself down to help slow the spread of a virus.

That left him close enough to full strength for a return.

“For sure,” he said. “I’ve been able to play for a couple weeks, maybe a little more now, and things are feeling pretty good. I wouldn’t say it’s back to feeling like it was before, but it is certainly well enough to play.”

As the Flyers have enjoyed a mostly satisfying 69 regularseason games, van Riemsdyk has been inconsistent but occasionally vital. He has played in 66 games, the exact number he did all of the previous season, with his goal production dipping from 27 to 19.

He did not score a goal until the eighth game of the season and has one goal in his last seven games. But as a player with a $35 million contract in the prime of his career, van Riemsdyk remains critical to the Flyers’ success. That, he showed by scoring six goals in one five-game December spurt.

During the hiatus, van Riemsdyk has been a player’ representative on the NHL’s Return to Play Committee, the existence of which is clear in its title.

“We’re trying to take one day at a time and go from there,” he said. “But things can be a little flexible with the timing of things. We want to see what works best when things are safe and appropriate.”

The injury to van Riemsdyk was originally characterized by Alain Vigneault as similar to the one sustained by Scott Laughton, who missed 13 games over 28 days in October and November.