Flyers hope Bartulis is ready
Daily News Flyers blog
Flyers hope Bartulis is ready
Hope your skates are sharpened, Oskars Bartulis.
Because he's going to be needing them over the next few weeks, now that Chris Pronger will miss the next 4-to-6 weeks with foot surgery, the Flyers announced on Friday.
TSN's Darren Dreger in Canada first broke the news.
Dr. Steven Raikin, the same doctor who repaired Jeff Carter's left and right feet last season, will repair Pronger's first metatarsal, which was broken on Wednesday night after blocking a shot in the second period.
The surgery will be performed this afternoon.
The silver lining, if there is any for a team that is about to miss their MVP defenseman, is that the Flyers are about to have an 8-day layoff starting after Monday's game with the Panthers.
The Flyers play just 11 games over the next 30 days - and Pronger could miss up to 16 games if he is out for the full 6 weeks.
Bartulis, who practiced with Braydon Coburn and Sean O'Donnell on Friday, will likely see his first action since Nov. 1.
Bartulis, who saw a little time in the Stanley Cup Final last season, has spent most of the season as the Flyers' extra defenseman. He played the first two games of the season with Pronger missing time due to a knee injury and then sat a month before playing his next game.
The Flyers signed Bartulis to a 3-year, 1-way contract extension last season, just 10 days after making his NHL debut last November.
At the minimum, Pronger would be added to the injured reserve, which would clear at least a roster space for the Flyers to recall a player from the Phantoms - perhaps defenseman Danny Syvret - to help out in case Bartulis is a bit rusty.
Syvret played 6 games with the Anaheim Ducks this season, after signing with them as a free agent in July. The Flyers re-acquired Syvret in November from Anaheim. Syvret scored the Flyers' only goal in the Winter Classic last year. He has played more than 50 NHL games in his pro career.
More coming...
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
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This is not catastrophic. It's not good news, but he'll miss a couple weeks and life will go on. It would have been nice to plug Walker in, but that's not happening.— Hame of Famer
The timing of this could have been much worse. Better to take care of it now and give that knee some time to heal.— UncleEddie- it hurts, but not a huge deal. All teams have injuries at some point. We've been pretty lucky (knock on wood). This is why we have our depth at defense...good planning by Homer.
- Even if he misses 16 games, he'll be back for the final 30-plus. Could be worse.— hunsinator
- He was worn out at the end of last year. 16 games off will go a long way towards keeping him fresh for the playoffs.— misto7
- The timing actually can't be better for something like this to happen. You never want injuries to your big-time players - but it looks like 14 games (give or take). Most are on their annual holiday road trip and about half looks like teams that are playoff contenders (Rangers, Thrashers, Bruins) or Stanley Cup contenders (Red Wings, Kings, Caps, Canucks). They should be able to manage - if they play .500 hockey, they should be fine and find alot out about either Bartulis or Syvret or both.— rock12
Oscars will end up on a D line with O'Donnel and benefit from his experience. Sean will keep him in line— Inchon- Steven Raikin, the doc doing the surgery, is awesome. He repaired my ankle as good as new last year after I destroyed it. Pronger should be back pretty quickly, I doubt he'll need six weeks.
- I don't recall the timing... But will Walker (possibly) be back before Pronger? Lots of people thought Holmgren loaded up on too many defensemen over the summer - but now 2 of them are injured at the same time... No such thing as too much defense or too many goalies.— CAFlyers
- pronger goes down which will make him more rested for the playoffs and his knee may get to 100%. perfect timing for this sort of thing to happen. they're the best in the nhl. missing him may give the team even more to rally around and continue with plenty of intensity despite their success thus far.
- When will they make a boot that lessens the impact of a puck hitting players feet?— phoreverphilly
- Ya gotta give "Homey" credit for bringing back Syvret. Looks like their going to need him.— flyerdup
- Bartulis is Latvian, therefore, awesome.
- Syvret is a better D-Man— DrM
- Peter Foresberg?— NYPHILLYPHAN
