His leg damaged by a puck early in Saturday's 5-2 loss in Colorado, James van Riemsdyk will be unable to help his team until at least mid-November. On the ice for that game in Colorado, journeyman depth defenseman Christian Folin would have been the most unlikely of saviors Tuesday night, replaced in the lineup by much-maligned Radko Gudas, now in his fourth season with the Flyers.
That Gudas was not on the ice for any of San Jose's four first-period goals is either a cause for cautious optimism, or it adds to the dark possibility that hovers around this team's rebuild: that not all youth movements result in the ultimate success that this franchise appears to have assumed since it promoted Ron Hextall to general manager and began an ambitious rebuild four seasons ago.