Emery to be sidelined 3 more weeks, season in jeopardy
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
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 sure am glad that this emery signing worked out so well for the flyers.....why can't they ever seem to get the goaltending situation right? it has been too long since the flyers had a top-rated goalie.....pelle lingbergh in 1985 is the only one for the last 25 years— Frank_Drebin- why is everyone saying contract contract for emery. until he proves he can stay healthy we shouldnt give him the big bucks fman no chance we get tim thomas. he'd never fit with the cap, but thatd be a godsend.— Stanley Cup
- odds are, we're not winning the Cup with emery, biron or Leighton in net. don't do anything stupid here, holmer (or is it homer?).
- Please don't waste money renting Turco- need it for a D. Souray said Philly's on his radar... who would you trade for him, or would you? He'd look real nice on the PP with Prongs or Kimmo... FREAKIN SALARY CAP!!! By the way, where's Ville Leino, buried in the snow?— frankiex
- Michael Leighton is all we need!— rob611
- eagle1971.. you are a true idiot. "Leighton has given up three terrible goals in his last three games". Considering the man has only given up 6 goals total in his last three games, I will tolerate whether or not three of them were "terrible". Why dont you give us all a break and shut up for about a week.— LongestYard
- Longest yard, three undeniably bad goals in three games is fine with you? An average of one a game (if you can handle that much math) is not a problem? You're obviously one of those clowns who enjoys being mindlessly abusive in forums. You're sad, little man.— eagle1971
- Melrose suggested on ESPN today that there is better than a 50% chance Turco comes to Philly. He is making close to $5M so I could only imagine who we would deal to make that salary work. He is not going to bring us the cup so let's ride it out with Leighton and Boucher.— left coast flyer fan
- ok seriously where is the hate on boucher coming from essentially the guy was about as close to a 2.00 this season as you could get, the only reason his W-L record was so bad was because he was in during a time that you had a better chance of having an alien from mars drop by for a new years party then you did of seeing the flyers put up at least 3 goals. So there is no need to put another goalie in front of him. He's a good backup in case Leighton is in need. By the way if emery is back next season I think he's gonna need to play from a hospital bed— Phillyaddicted
- I would only trade for a goalie if it meant getting rid of either Briere, Hartnell or Gagne. It would be a monumental feat if Emery/Leighton/Boucher manage to win a playoff series.— Snap Crackle Propp
Comment removed.- Maybe its time for the Flyers staff to reconsider it's medical help and rehab people(sorry Jim,gotta'tell it like it is)). Injury wise,the Flyers just get worse and worse.Whats next? Blood letting!!Amputation?Head Transplant,how about a GM transplant.Gees!— quigly46
- One more I recommend Carchidi,To not leave his day job,I repeat!— quigly46
- another year of not good enough..what else is new— mibrze
- First of all, leighton will be collapsing any day now - he's not this good. He's had extraordinary defense in front of him and has yet to be really tested. He is good positionally, but is SO SLOW - he WILL get exposed eventually. Second, the solution is simple, bring back Biron. The guys single handedly stole the playoff series against the Canadians 2 years ago, and has never cost us a playoff game. He's a PROVEN performer. Is he Ryan Miller? LOL, no, but there are only 3 or 4 of those guys in the league, and you don't need a Miller or a Broduer to win a cup. You just need a guy who can make the saves he's supposed to and steal the occassional game - Biron has proven he can do both in the playoffs. Third, here's the best part, what's Biron making this year, $1mil??? We should be able to get him for a song and would only need to free up what, $300k at this point in cap space? It's a no brainer. Bring back Biron and let Leighton or Boucher back him up.— dollarland
