Pronger Out 4-6 Weeks

Added on Dec 17, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his right foot, the team announced Friday. Pronger had surgery Friday afternoon to repair a broken first metatarsal in his right foot. The 36-year-old blocked a shot during the second period of Wednesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens and did not return. In 31 games this season, Pronger has 4 goals and 15 points while playing an average of 22:20 per game, second on the team. Last season, his first in Philadelphia, Pronger was named team MVP after finishing with 10 goals and 55 points in 82 games.

Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren put is simply, he said “It’s disappointing. It is what it is. Other guys will pick up the slack.” One of those guys is going to be Oskars Bartulis. He has been around all season, but has only played in a few games. The 23 year old was paired with Sean O’Donnell at Fridays practice. He continued “Oskars gets a chance to go in the lineup and play for an extended period of time. I’m looking forward to that for him.”

Coach Peter Laviolette told the media “It’s an opportunity for Oskars to get in there and play some games and get back in the lineup. It’s tough sitting out game after game. We’ve been healthy on the back end for a while now. When you come in every day and you’re not part of it, you’re sitting out, you’re waiting for that opportunity to get back in. I’m sure he’s excited and motivated to get back in there and get out and play some games.”

Holmgren also said that he won’t be calling anyone up, because he already has enough guys. He concluded “Because of the depth of our group, the six guys that are in the lineup, all their minutes were down from last year. Matt Carle’s have been down, Braydon Coburn’s have been down Andrej Meszaros is used to playing more than 18 minutes a game during his NHL career. Kimmo has played less minutes. Those guys are just going to have to play more minutes. When you take a guy out of your lineup that’s averaging 22 or 23 minutes, everybody else gets the chance to play more. When you’re a hockey player, that’s a good thing, you want to play more minutes.”

The Philidelphia Flyers (21-7-5,47pts), who are 1st in Atlantic Division, face the New York Rangers (20-13-1, 41pts) on Saturday.