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.
Leighton is not a playoff caliber goalie, but we should continue to ride his hot streak and hope boucher can pick up the slack. While leighton has been paying reasonably well, he is starting to let in too many soft goals. They have been able to recover in most instances right now, but come playoff time, those will be killer goals they will have no hope of coming back from. You know, the types of goals our players ALWAYS let in that lead to early playoff exits. Don't go hoping for a cup this year unless san jose, pitt and wash get swallowed up in an earthquake.— kodi69- Leighton is not a playoff caliber goalie, but we should continue to ride his hot streak and hope boucher can pick up the slack. While leighton has been paying reasonably well, he is starting to let in too many soft goals. They have been able to recover in most instances right now, but come playoff time, those will be killer goals they will have no hope of coming back from. You know, the types of goals our players ALWAYS let in that lead to early playoff exits. Don't go hoping for a cup this year unless san jose, pitt and wash get swallowed up in an earthquake.— kodi69
- cmon guys, Leighton is playing great hockey for sometime now. So what he let in 1 soft goal, he has made some really good saves! He is big and athletic! He should be given the chance. Boucher played great until he was taken out of net so let him be the backup. Lets give them a chance. Hell we have a 10 million dollar defensemen in front of him!— PEFF
