Is it blind optimism when you consider that former Flyers Eric Lindros and Keith Primeau were shells of themselves after suffering concussions?

Or can Gagne, who played in just 25 games last season after suffering a concussion, regain his 40-goal form and make the upstart Flyers a formidable Stanley Cup contender?

No one knows for sure.

Not Gagne, a 28-year-old left-winger who has been working out at the Flyers' Skate Zone in Voorhees this week. Not Stevens, whose club desperately needs Gagne to jump-start the Danny Briere line. Not Holmgren, who was strapped by salary-cap restraints and unable to make major off-season moves.

Not even Scott Greenberg, a Cherry Hill doctor who has been treating Gagne since April.

But Greenberg has more knowledge of Gagne's medical condition - the wear and tear on his cervical spine - than anyone in the Flyers' organization.

"I think Simon will be more effective than he was before he was injured," Greenberg said, "because his body is much stronger than it had been."

Greenberg treated Gagne with a series of injections that he believes speeded up the healing process. "I'm not saying he's invincible, but he's much better off than he was," he said. "The body will be much more resistant to impact, because we've reinforced all his joints with injections."

If Gagne returns to health, he would be the club's biggest off-season "addition."

"It's like getting a free agent who already knows the system and knows the guys," said veteran Flyers right-winger Mike Knuble, whose team made a postseason run last season and reached the Eastern Conference finals before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games. "It's like getting a 40-goal scorer back."

Getting started already

"There's great chemistry here," Stevens said.

Gagne is part of that chemistry. And if he returns to form and leads the Flyers to the NHL title, perhaps the club should engrave Lisa Thomas-Laury's name on the Stanley Cup.

In late February, Thomas-Laury, a veteran 6ABC reporter, did a story on a doctor who used an old but little-known treatment called prolotherapy to cure headaches. Gagne, who was having severe post-concussion headaches at the time, watched the report. After conferring with Flyers trainer Jim McCrossin, the player contacted the doctor, Greenberg.

"When I watched the news that night, it seemed like I was going through the same things they were talking about," Gagne said. "And it turned out Dr. Greenberg was a big hockey fan and a hockey player, and a long time ago he was in a car accident and he couldn't play anymore because of headaches. He went through the same therapy, and now he's back playing."

When he first conferred with Greenberg, "all my [concussion] symptoms were pretty much gone, but I was waking up with headaches once in a while and I couldn't start working out until they were gone," Gagne said.

Gagne, who suffered from dizziness and whiplash-like symptoms, has been getting injections composed mostly of lidocaine and dextrose to speed healing. He has had injections in his neck, head, shoulders, pelvis and lower back.

"It stimulates cell regeneration . . . and results in a regrowth of ligament and tendon tissues," Greenberg said.

"It helped me pretty much right away, and the headaches went away, and at that point, I was able to get back on the [exercise] bike and able to put myself back in shape," Gagne said.