Flyers GM: 'Not too concerned' about Leighton's injury
Flyers goalie Michael Leighton is expected to resume on-ice activities by "the earliest would be Thursday," general manager Paul Holmgren said on Monday at the Flyers Skate Zone.
Flyers GM: 'Not too concerned' about Leighton's injury
Flyers goalie Michael Leighton is expected to resume on-ice activities by "the earliest would be Thursday," general manager Paul Holmgren said on Monday at the Flyers Skate Zone.
Holmgren said Leighton's lower back strain is not something he is "too concerned about" and that he did not think Leighton was overly concerned, either.
"We're going to hold him off the ice, until the earliest would be Thursday," Holmgren said. "[It will] give him a few days to settle down."
Leighton had an MRI on Sunday after leaving Friday night's preseason game in Toronto. Holmgren said the results were not immediately available.
Coach Peter Laviolette received an injury update earlier in the day but declined to disclose it. He seemed much more grim about the information than Holmgren's announcement.
"He's not available to us," Laviolette said. "So we'll play the goaltenders we think we need to get ready for the regular season. So we've got two goalies and those are the two goaltenders you'll see on the ice tomorrow."
Laviolette did go on to say the he thinks newcomer Sergei Bobrovsky has "surprised everybody," and that he's "played well enough to earn another start." Bobrovsky could play the entire 60 minutes on Tuesday night in New Jersey.
On Monday, Holmgren initially told reporters that he had "no update" and then later made the seemingly benign announcement.
All of which leads to wondering... if the MRI was taken on Sunday, and the results were negative, why wasn't it announced then?
Other injury updates: Goaltender Johan Backlund, who has missed all of training camp thus far recovering from offseason hip surgery, said he is hoping to get into game action this week. He said he feels "close to 100-percent." Monday was his first full practice with the team ... Blair Betts and Ville Leino also skated for the first time without yellow jerseys. They have both been cleared for practice. Holmgren said he thinks both could see a game or two later in the week ... Holmgren also said he "still believes" that Chris Pronger will be ready for the start of the regular season next Thursday night in Pittsburgh, when the Flyers open up the new Consol Energy Center.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.
yea bc BOBROVSKY is our starter!— fman727
Comment removed.- That's the upside of not having a number one goalie.— bobk
- Cannot rush Bobo into that spot, he needs at least half a season to adjust to North American hockey and rink size. Need to see if Backlund will be back soon, and the severity of our AHL(Leighton) goalies injury. If it were me i'd LTIR his arse now, Theodore and Toskala are still available. But Boooooosh can handle the load especially with this D.— JohnnyN
- Bob the Goalie!!!— BrdStBully37
- Bobrovsky has looked very good, but he's very raw and hasn't played in North America before now. It's a smaller ice surface and different style of game. Very few goalies come over and immediately have sustained NHL success.— JSaq
- Since when are the flyers ever "concerned" about goaltending???— TheCaptain18
- Leighton deserves much more credit than many have given him. We never would have gotten all the way to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals without the Boucher/Leighton tandem. If you think otherwise, maybe you should start watching Flyers hockey and have your vision checked.— TheSpectularGirouX
- Ok "spectacular", let me break it down for you. most goalies would look good behind our defense. Give me a break. The guy is a career backup/AHL goalie. I'm sure all of a sudden at his age he figured out how to be good. Have you ever heard of catching fire in a bottle?? He will come back down to earth. I have been watching Flyers hockey a LONG time. Which is why i stated, since when have they been concerned about goaltending.— TheCaptain18
- Anyone else thinking like me that Pronger should have one of those mysterious injuries that keep him out for the first 25-40 games? would be nice to have him fresh in December and in full hockey mode for the playoffs. Just sayin...— trashman
- If Bob gets a design on his helmet, then you'll know he's the starter.— brianveitz
- We have a very good defensive corps-----let them protect Bobrov.— Romus
- Comment removed.
- trashmam: NO. They BARELY won enough games to make the playoffs last year. In fact, they didn't win enough games. They had to "win the game" on a shootout. Not playing Pronger would be suicide. We just need a 3rd pairing that can log 15 mins a game to balance things out.— MichaelZoe
If Leighton is gonna be sidelined for only a little bit, I'm okay with Bob as backup for a short while. We can send him back down when Leights gets better. If Leighton struggles, at least we will have some idea of what Bob's got in the tank.— flyler
