Flyers Notes: Pronger expected to start using a visor

Chris Pronger's eye injury, suffered when he was hit by the inadvertent stick of Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski on Monday, has started the Great Visor Debate.

Pronger is one of six Flyers who don't wear a visor. The others: Matt Walker, Andreas Lilja, Max Talbot, Wayne Simmonds, and Jody Shelley.

The NHL does not make visors mandatory, though there has been an increased use in recent years.

Even if Pronger wore a visor, there were no guarantees he wouldn't have been severely injured, Walker said.

"The stick's coming straight up; it's not coming horizontal at you, so it's not hard for a stick to come under your visor and get you," Walker said after Tuesday's practice in Voorhees.

When he briefly wore a visor in the minors, Walker said, a stick got caught in it and hit him "two or three times, rather than going through and smacking you once."

But, Walker said, his injury wasn't nearly as serious as the one that is expected to sideline Pronger for two or three weeks.

Walker said he has visibility issues with a visor. Ditto Lilja, who said he tried wearing a visor a "bunch of times, but I can't see in it."

Simmonds wore a visor in his first three seasons, all with the Los Angeles Kings. He stopped using it this season, his first with the Flyers.

"I never got used to it," he said. "I think it's a comfort thing. I'm always involved in scrums, obviously, and people are always grabbing your visor and it's always hitting your nose. I'd have a few cuts. I've had sticks hit me in the eye even with it on."

Simmonds conceded that, because of what happened to Pronger, "It makes you think twice [about wearing one]. It's a scary thing. You want your eyes . . . I'm kind of torn here, but at this point, no."

Simmonds said his mother was so upset when he stopped wearing a visor that she called his agent, hoping he could convince her son to put it back on.

"That didn't work," Simmonds said.

Most of the Flyers wear visors, including rookie winger Matt Read. Despite wearing the protection, Read was struck just above his mouth by Joffrey Lupul's stick on Monday.

From the stands, it appeared that Read spit out some of his teeth, but he said Tuesday it was actually his mouthguard that he launched.

"The visor is going to protect [just] the upper part of your face," Read said.

Like many of the NHL's younger players, Read, 25, got used to wearing protective gear in his early years.

"It's part of the safety of the player," he said. "I wore a full cage in college and a visor in juniors. It's pretty easy adjusting to the visor from the cage."

General manager Paul Holmgren was adamant Monday that, when Pronger returns, he must wear a visor. He said Stephen Goldman, the Flyers' eye doctor, will not clear Pronger to play unless he uses one.

- Sam Carchidi