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Briere out, Laliberte in; Gagne update

Danny Briere will miss Saturday's game against Carolina. David Laliberte has been called up from Adirondack. Also included is an update on Simon Gagne's conflicting doctor reports.

Very quietly, Danny Briere has missed practice in each of the last three days since Wednesday.

Briere apparently injured himself in the first period of Tuesday night's game against Washington but finished the game.

"He's got a lower body injury," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said on Friday at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees. "He hasn't skated in the last few days. We're getting him checked out right now."

That makes for a ghastly Halloween for Briere; Holmgren said it is "highly unlikely" Briere will play on Saturday afternoon against Carolina because he has not skated.

"Pending what we find out [Friday], we'll just list him day-to-day from there," Holmgren said.

Holmgren is not sure if this injury is related to Briere's groin and abdominal nightmare that caused him to miss 53 games last season. Briere started to skate at practice on Friday but was forced off the ice because of discomfort.

"It's a tough break for Danny," Holmgren said. "He was playing well.

"We thought we'd give him one day off and it would get better, and it's kind of gone from there."

In his absence, the Flyers have called up David Laliberte from Adirondack. He has only 1 goal in 8 games with the Phantoms this year but is one of the few healthy players on a team that is ravaged by the flu.

Riley Cote would likely be in the lineup instead of Laliberte, with Blair Betts ready to return, but if Laliberte does play it would be his NHL debut.

"He was a guy that was highly recommended by the coaches," Holmgren said.

Another guy that was mentioned was Stefan Legein, who was acquired from a trade with Columbus last week. Legein has 1 goal in 2 games with the Phantoms. He was once a can't-miss prospect before he decided to quit hockey for 4 months when he was 19-years-old.

Gagne update
Holmgren said that Simon Gagne has received conflicting reports from Dr. Rea Brown (in Montreal) and doctor Peter DeLuca (in Philadelphia) regarding the two small hernias that were found in an ultrasound on Monday.

"He's getting a couple more tests [Friday]," Holmgren said. "We're gathering all of the information [we can].

"We're going to have some kind of a meeting of the minds to decide what to do. There are different issues here."

Besides surgery to repair the hernias, Gagne could play through the injury with cortisone shots and other injections to ease the pain.

"These are just different things we've tried over the years with different players," Holmgren said. "I really don't know the answer."

Lines
Here are the lines from practice today:

Hartnell - Richards - Giroux
Van Riemsdyk - Carter - Briere (before he was hurt)
Pyorala - Powe - Asham
Carcillo - Betts - Laperriere

Read Saturday's Daily News for a full update on the Flyers' roster, injuries and movements among defensive pairs.

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