Emery to be sidelined 3 more weeks, season in jeopardy
Ten nights ago, the Flyers' Ray Emery blanked Calgary, 3-0, and was starting to look like the goalie who led Ottawa to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007.
Emery to be sidelined 3 more weeks, season in jeopardy
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Ten nights ago, the Flyers' Ray Emery blanked Calgary, 3-0, and was starting to look like the goalie who led Ottawa to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007.
Now his season is in jeopardy.
Emery will be shut down for at least three more weeks and, based on medical information provided by the Flyers Thursday, no one is certain if he will return this season.
That means Michael Leighton will be the No. 1 goalie for the foreseeable future.
Emery has an injured left hip that is almost definitely going to need surgery; the Flyers are hoping three weeks of rest enables him to return to action next month. If that happened, surgery is likely after the season.
Because of the two-week Olympic break, Emery would miss only five games if he was able to return after three weeks.
General manager Paul Holmgren would not say what an MRI on Emery's hip revealed. He said tests showed "issues there" and added, "I'm not going to get into specifics because we're still working through some stuff."
Based on hints the general manager has been dropping, it appears that Emery has a torn labrum.
"Is he going to need surgery at some point? I would probably say, 'Yeah,' " Holmgren said. "Right now, we're trying to take that out of the equation. After three weeks, we're fairly confident that he'll be OK to play."
Holmgren paused.
"Let me rephrase that," he said. "We don't know about surgery down the road. He's got hip issues. What we're trying to do" is help him get better "through rehabilitation and keeping him off the ice."
Holmgren said he had no interest in acquiring Dallas' Marty Turco or the New York Islanders' Marty Biron, a former Flyer.
The Flyers have little salary-cap space and figure to use the blossoming Leighton and Brian Boucher the rest of the way if Emery cannot return.
Leighton, 28, has been brilliant since the Flyers claimed him off re-enrty waivers from Carolina, compiling a 2.21 GAA and .925 save percentage.
Emery, 27, had a 2.17 GAA in the eight straight starts he made after returning from abdominal surgery. His last start was the shutout win in Calgary on Feb. 1. Four days later, he injured his hip during practice in Minnesota.
i may be a flyers fan through and through but i am also a realist. this team is not going to beat pittsburgh or washington or san jose or chicago for the cup this year. shut ray down for the year, ride leighton and boucher as far as you can and address the goaltending in the off season once they clear out the overpaid deadwood like briere, gange and hartnell.— canflyfan- Agree with most. Keep Leights in net and let Boosh back him up. Sit Emery until next year. It's not like Razor was gonna carry us through the playoffs. No matter who is in there, if our offense is stagnant, we will get an early exit.— USAFruss
- Boucher and Leighton can get it done as long as the rest of the team contributes a little more scoring.— bobby16
- Good. This seems to be the only way they'll play the best guy.— bobbyd24
- Put him on the IR and use the $ to go get someone that can score.— hey buddy
- The Capitals are one of the more dominating teams I have seen in a long time, maybe since the mid 80 Oilers. Their single game goal differentials have not been seen in a long time, they are just blowing teams out, not just beating them. They can put up 4 or 5 on goods teams (see Pitt game) without even blinking. They have arguably the best forward (ovechkin, i spell that right) and defenseman (Green, what was he the first 30 goal defenseman since K. Hatcher?) in the league. Plus they have an excellent supporting cast, minus a stand-out goalie which personally, I don't think they NEED to win the conference. I don't think it matters much, which goalie is in net for the Flyers this year. -not bob levy— remyy
- I like Biron too but come on, he is no better than what we have now and cannot win you a cup, so why trade for him? Same for Turco. Unless you get Halak, don't make any moves.— srf466
- Again…the goalie position isn't our problem. Leighton will probably give up 2 goals a game, so will Emery or anyone else for that matter. We need to SCORE! Gagne's luck shot (notice how he wasn't even looking at the net when he pulled the trigger) won't get things done for us. 2 upcoming games against a team we MUST beat. If we can't pull off these next 2 wins, we're as good as finished.— springfish
- Shut him down. Unless you live in a cave or only watch Flyers games, who is going to derail the Caps on their way to the Stanley Cup? Certainly not this Flyers team with or without Ray Emery. Think Knuble was looking ahead when he signed in our nation's capital. Get Razor healthy and let Leighton get some more experience and see if we have a keeper in this upstart keeper and let's look ahead to next year.— rockinrob
- Leighton has been solid, no denying that, but is he a playoff goalie? I know now he will get a chance but it would be nice to get a Halak, Price, or even Biron?— Fabulous
- Love ArtieLange's comment. But really, unless they can get some STUD goalkeeper, stay with Leighton. He's been solid in net, and most importantly, the team plays well in front of him. Please, Homer, don't go making a move just to make a move and get a better name.— hunsinator
- With Leighton in goal, I think psychologically the defense is thinking that they have to bring their A game every night. Leighton is playing well, and the defense has been stellar. I like what I'm seeing.— oldhat
- There is no one to trade for a goalie without completely ruining team chemistry. Why did Brierre and Hartnell get NTC's to begin with? Atleast Gagne earned his with his prior service here before his concussions.— DavidLeeRoth
- Tim Thomas had a fluke season to win the vezina. Halak is not a number 1. Leighton is playing like a top 5 netminder and until he starts giving up goals like Tommy Sodderstrom in 92' there is no reason to go with anyone besides booosh for a night off. Granted, Leighton doesn't have the most solid starts to games but he has quickly regained himself and given solid performances in all but one game recently. There are a lot of quality wingers on the market and judging by the returns for Kovalchump and Jokinen, guys like panikarovsky, paul kariya etc.. there should be some way to get somebody to give a little jolt to an already formidable and gelling roster.— taintaugustine
- Yes, they will rush him back and he will re-injure it. This cycle will continue he retires.— drmonday
