Meszaros could miss season
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Meszaros could miss season
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers' summer of discontent has gotten worse.
The team announced defenseman Andrej Meszaros had surgery Tuesday to repair a torn right Achilles tendon and would be sidelined indefinitely. The surgery was performed by Steve Raikin at Jefferson Hospital.
Last month, the Flyers signed Shea Weber to an offer sheet and envisioned having the league's best defense.
Now their defense is in disarray.
General manager Paul Holmgren, whose team lost Weber when Nashville matched the Flyers' $110 million offer for the restricted free agent, said he would have a better idea of Meszaros' status in six weeks.
It's not a stretch to think he could be sidelined for the entire regular season.
Last year, the Devils' Travis Zajac tore his Achilles in mid-August and missed the first 30 games. He returned to the lineup in December, then re-aggravated the injury and missed 37 more games.
The Phillies' Ryan Howard took eight months before returning to the lineup from a similar injury last October.
Meszaros, who will turn 27 on Oct. 13, was expected to be a key member of the Flyers' defense. He had back surgery last season, but was named the Flyers' top D-man in 2010-11. The latest injury occurred during a training session in Slovakia last week.
The injury means free-agent signee Bruno Gervais will likely be one of the Flyers' top-six defensemen, and that the club will be in the market for another blue-liner.
With Meszaros out, recently acquired Luke Schenn will probably move to the second pairing. If the Flyers don't make any moves, here is how the D may look:
Braydon Coburn and Nick Grossmann; Kimmo Timonen and Schenn; Gervais and one of three other candidates: Marc-Andre Bourdon, Erik Gustafsson or Andreas Lilja.
"We have a lot of young guys we like," Holmgren said, "and we have four who have a lot of experience, so we'll see how it goes."
Holmgren added that Bourdon, Gustafsson and Brandon Manning "got their feet wet last year" and that he liked what he saw.
The best unrestricted free agent available is probably 6-foot-1, 205-pound Carlo Colaiacovo, who had 19 points and was plus-7 in 64 games with St. Louis last season. Montreal's P.K. Subban is among the available RFA defensemen.
Subban has reportedly said he will not sign an offer sheet with another team, but his negotiations with Montreal have hit a roadblock.
Washington's 6-3, 212-pound John Carlson is also an intriguing RFA defenseman. His production dipped as a sophomore last season (37 points to 32, plus-21 to minus-15). But he is only 22 and has loads of potential.
"We'll see what the rest of the summer brings," Holmgren said.
The Flyers were unsuccessful earlier this summer in trying to land free-agent D-men Ryan Suter and Weber. They also lost defenseman Matt Carle, who signed as a free agent with Tampa Bay.
Meszaros had seven goals and 18 assists in 62 games last season. The rugged 6-2, 218-pounder underwent March 21 surgery to remove a disc fragment from his back. He returned and played one playoff game against New Jersey, though he wasn't nearly 100 percent.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
I wonder if the Flyers knew this going into the Weber offer sheet and why they were that aggressive and trying to land him and why they knew they would have the cap space to be able to add him without having to shake up the rest of the roster.
Just speculation on my part....— cheeseheadflyer- Here's another way to look at it...
If the season gets locked out/cancelled he'll have plenty of time to heal before next season...Just sayin.— cheeseheadflyer - Will be just as good as last year. Its August and you fools are already jumping ship. Sad bunch of losers. You really think mezaros, who wasnt around vs pittsburgh who has the 2 best players in the world is going to crush our season.— fman727
- This team wasnt winning anyway?? oh yea everyone picked the 8th seed Kings to win. idiots beyond idiots in here crying— fman727
- You inspired me to go back through the archives to find my post after the Richards trade.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/frequentflyers/Carter-traded-to-Blue-Jackets.html?viewAll=Y&#comments
We'll split the difference, I had the Kings going "deep" and the Flyers out in 1st round.
Even more fun was seeing the posts by dimwits who thought the Flyers were a lock, the best in the East, etc. Those posts were priceless. Gotta save that link and dig up some more fortune telling from Summer 2011.
Paul Holmgren isn't even fit to polish Dean Lombardi's championship ring. Holmgren takes a Cup finalist back to the middle of the pack, while Lombardi turns a 1st round exit into a Cup in one season. Well done Mr. Holmgren. Well done indeed sir. - fman 727.....Their is one little difference between the Kings finishing 8th winning a cup and the Flyers.....its called goaltending....The Kings wouldnt have evn made the playoffs no less win the cup with BRYZ in net.....thats a ridiculous comparison...and you were one of those saying how much stronger the Flyers would be this year with Mez back....now you say its no big deal....Reality check this team is going nowhere and are worse off then last years team that overachieved in spite of BRYZ during the regular season.— flyers1000
What...is it going to take...
...to get that (expletive) score vs Devils off of the top of the page?- Seriously, how lame is it to have a score up for that long? This site needs a complete makeover, it sucks.
- F*&K........ All is not lost. Tons of cap room....Maybe the Flyers can pull of two midseason deals...High risk, high reward guys....the flyers have had bad luck in that department but maybe that changes. All is not lost. On the bright side, it looks like Mez could be ready for the playoffs.....— feudal_nobility09
- Achilles tendons are the Achilles heel of Philly sport teams— 2ndNlong
- Relax everyone, the season hasn't even started yet !!! Also remember there is a trading deadline during the season and when teams like Nashville have come apart financially and they have to trade some high priced players just to survive maybe the Flyers get lucky and find a midseason gem !!! The Flyers have enough talent to stay competitive all season, barring major injuries. Relax !!!— Delaware Doc
- It's an old story but you can never keep enough defensemen in the stable.— schultz08
- I agree get the GD Devils score off the top of this page. We all thought they couldn't score enough last year and the young guys stepped up now we need the D to do the same. And maybe we get the March version of Bryz a lot more.— denisob
- Holmgren should dismantle the team more, that seems to satisfy Flyers fans regardless of the outcome.
- Simple solution: Scott Hannan played last year for Calgary for $1 million and is currently unsigned. Hannan is not exactly a speedster nor an offensive threat but he's serviceable and more important durable.— schultz08
