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Injury shelves Flyers' Giroux for rest of camp

As star center Claude Giroux took a long, slow walk to the locker room Friday morning, you couldn't blame the Flyers if their season passed in front of their eyes.

The Flyers' Claude Giroux skates during the first day of training camp at
the SkateZone in Voorhees, New Jersey. (Yong Kin/Staff Photographer)
The Flyers' Claude Giroux skates during the first day of training camp at the SkateZone in Voorhees, New Jersey. (Yong Kin/Staff Photographer)Read more

As star center Claude Giroux took a long, slow walk to the locker room Friday morning, you couldn't blame the Flyers if their season passed in front of their eyes.

Fifteen minutes into their first day of camp in Voorhees, Giroux, the team's high-scoring captain, left the ice because of what the team later called a lower-body injury.

New general manager Ron Hextall said Giroux would be sidelined for about two weeks. Giroux missed most of last year's camp after a bizarre golf injury in which he splintered his right index finger, requiring tendon surgery.

Giroux, 26, is expected to miss all eight preseason games this year.

"You don't want to start camp like that, but what are you going to do? We're going to battle through and be the best we can be," Hextall said. "That's all you can do. You can't predict what's going to happen, who's going to go down, who's going to get hurt, who's going to get sick. . . . Other guys will get opportunities. We'll get through it."

If Giroux misses two weeks, he would return Oct. 3; the Flyers start the regular season Oct. 8 in Boston.

Like Hextall, coach Craig Berube downplayed the injury.

"We've all been through this before, and I'm not going to make it a big deal," Berube said. ". . . You've got guys who fill in and play. I mean, it's one guy."

One guy who finished third in the league's MVP race last season.

Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald said Giroux looked to be in discomfort as he left the ice, but no one saw how the injury occurred.

"It's the first day of camp and guys go 100 miles per hour and things happen," Hextall said.

"It's part of the game," said defenseman Braydon Coburn, who was paired with MacDonald at practice. "Honestly, you can go to every single team throughout this league and I'm sure you're going to see somebody that's not in the lineup."

Giroux, who was unavailable for comment, was bothered by his hand injury last year and didn't score a goal until his 16th game. Despite the slow start, he finished third in the NHL with 86 points.

Before suffering Friday's injury, Giroux was centering a line with his new left winger, Brayden Schenn, and slimmed-down right winger Jake Voracek.

With Giroux out, Berube said he was undecided about whether he would move Schenn to center - his primary position last season - or keep him at left wing.

The other lines Friday: Sean Couturier centering Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds; Vinny Lecavalier centering R.J. Umberger and Michael Raffl; and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare centering Zac Rinaldo and Jason Akeson.

Darroll Powe replaced Giroux.

In addition to Coburn-MacDonald, the other pairs had Nick Grossmann with Mark Streit, and Luke Schenn with Michael Del Zotto.

Breakaways. Berube said the Flyers came to camp in better shape than last season. Voracek came to camp nine pounds lighter. . . . Berube praised newcomer Bellemare's speed and shot. . . . Scott Laughton worked out with the prospects in the afternoon session. . . . The Flyers have split-squad games Monday - at the Wells Fargo Center against Washington, and against Toronto in London, Ontario.