Meszaros could miss season
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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.
OH BUBBA NO— mikeyo27
Comment removed.- screwed— chase26TJ
- This comment has been deleted.— GrindHouse
- Except the Phillies have a ginormous payroll and a horrible farm system, while the Flyers are under the cap and have a chance to give many promising youngsters a chance. — philly57
- Hehehe. Too bad you were spurned by Suter and matched on Weber.— ItsNotThe70sAnymore
- Still hoping for a lockout...Preds fold...we get Weber after all— th
- well this sucks, but lets not jump off the bridge yet. Maybe Gus, Bourdon, or Gervais can fill a bigger role, plus Holmgren's had an itchy trigger finger all summer, so you know hes gonna try and pull something off.— The Pink Floyd
- Irrelevant. Until this team acquires a goaltender, nothing else matters.
— CosmoK - 1000% right on....our only hope is an amnesty clause or Bryz retires and goes back to Russia...we are doomed as long as he is in net — flyers1000
- all of these people are flyers fans?? H3ll no, just cause meszaros went doesnt mean the season is over.. Go to new york and route for the islanders if you think that.. Flyers offense is gonna be unstoppable.. bryz will be solid in net this year, hes a proffesional. it stinks are defense might not be the best in the league, but they are definatley far from the worst — trimski1
- Its going to be a very looooong season as I have been saying all along...Our defense which was average at best to start is now average minus....pretty weak....our goaltending just plain out stinks.....we are counting on the young kids to carry the load and produce when last year we had career yeras from Talbot..Hartnell..Read..Simmonds and have lost Jagr's offense....I woudnt be surprised to see the offense take a step back..now is not the time to panic dont make any crazy trades its not going to matter..we wre winning nothing this year especially with BRYZ in net...hopefully when he implodes again this year under the pressure he moves back to Russia and retires...we can then start all over again....— flyers1000
- Let's be patient. Even with Mez, this team wasn't going to win the cup. Give the youngsters a shot, hope to make the playoffs, get a decent draft pick, and sign a marque agent or two next year (and don't forget to resign Hartnell!).— philly57
