Pronger to have knee surgery; Trade coming?
After missing the last 4 games with a virus, Flyers captain Chris Pronger will have surgery on his left knee on Tuesday afternoon.
Pronger to have knee surgery; Trade coming?
After missing the last 4 games with a virus, Flyers captain Chris Pronger will have surgery on his left knee on Tuesday afternoon.
No, that is not a misprint.
Pronger will have surgery tomorrow afternoon to "clean out some loose particles," according to general manager Paul Holmgren.
"This has been an issue for the last month or so," Holmgren said. "We thought that through his rehabilitation on a daily basis that he would start to feel better. He had another MRI on his knee and we felt that it would be better to get it taken care of now."
Pronger, 37, is expected to miss 4 weeks. That would pinpoint a return just before the Winter Classic on Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park.
"We were hopeful that the time missed with a virus that Chris has been fighting would settle things down in his knee, but after an examination yesterday, it was decided that surgery is the way to go at this time," Holmgren said.
The surgery will be performed by Dr. Peter DeLuca.But what does all of this mean for the Flyers roster in the short-term? Andreas Lilja is out for the next 6 weeks with a high ankle sprain. Pronger will miss a month. Both players will be moved to the long-term injured list "today or tomorrow," according to Holmgren, clearing their salaries off the cap for replacements.
For now, the Flyers are sticking with rookies Marc-Andre Bourdon and Kevin Marshall. That does not rule out a trade on the horizon. Pronger's $4.94 million salary cap hit alone provides plenty of room for a trade without the need to remove salary. A rough estimate has the Flyers' salary cap cushion (without Lilja, Pronger and Andreas Nodl - see below) at $4.28M.
"There are a lot of things going on in here today," Holmgren said when asked about the need for replacements via trade.
And what does this injury mean for Pronger in the long haul? Pronger has already missed 10 games this season. He missed 32 games last season. This will be Pronger's sixth surgery since July, 2010 - less than a year and a half's time. He still has 5 years remaining on his 7-year, $34.5 million deal.
Overall, Holmgren isn't worried about Pronger's future.
"I think any time a player has surgery, you're concerned, whether it's an older player like Chris or a younger player," Holmgren said. "But I think he takes good care of himself with proper rehabilitation and conditioning. The only thing you can go by is what the doctor tells you. This is really more a maintenance procedure than anything else.
"The structure of his knee is just fine. He has good cartilege on both sides of his knee. I think he has a lot of miles left in his body."
When Pronger, who still leads the Flyers in minutes per game this season, has been healthy, he has been a force. His 12 points in 13 games had him on pace for his best offensive season in more than a decade.
SCHENN RE-CALLED: Forward Brayden Schenn, who was sent to Adirondack last week after recovering from a fracture in his foot, was conveniently in Philadelphia today for a follow-up visit with his doctor. He will remain with the team now that they have the salary cap room to hold his $1.76 million salary.
Schenn played another 3 games with the Phantoms, collecting 2 goals and 2 assists. He is still searching for his first NHL goal.
NODL WAIVED: Forward Andreas Nodl was put on waivers on Monday, as Holmgren confirmed a report from TSN's Bob McKenzie.
"Andreas hasn't really played much," Holmgren said, "So this will gauge interest in him from around the league. [Tuesday] we will see what we're going to do, whether we send him down or he stays on the roster."
Nodl, 24, has 1 assist in 12 games this season. He has been both a healthy scratch and has sat out with a myriad of 3 or 4 injuries.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
— mvandei wrote: "I'd also explore different coach option, because if they keep playing soft and being outplayed (lack of effort) it's clearly coaches fault - not being able to motivate them and get from them all that's possible."
My sentiments exactly. Fotget his pedigree, I only know what I've seen the last 2 years.and it's the same issues and problems even with 10 new players. It'c clearly on the coach why no decernable system is being played. Why the PP flat out stinks. Why they fold to the dregs of the league and why they look like they're skating at 45 when the rest of the league is skating at 331/3 (a reference for us older fans)
Bundle Reid, Laviolette and Manuel for a 6 pack of Yuengling.
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else— dedhed- geez, what a bunch of hysterical nancys on this board--relax, he'll be back (why would he be "done", or retire?-its a rough sport so patch him up and get him back out there, pretty routine in the NHL)-and what is all this whining about "injury deception"?--c'mon newbies, just view all injury reports with a wary eye....but thats been the case for years, nothing new--did you guys just start following the league last week??— btmb
- MBFlyerfan: It's true that Flyers owe Pronger his money, even when he does not play, but, correct me if I'm wrong, if he does not play because of the injuries, his salary doesn't count against the salary cup. So even if Flyers must pay him, Flyers will have the money (and we know they have some) to pay onother player. The issue here is not the money but salary cup space.
— mvandei - dedhed: What teams in the NHL do you think are good? Please name 3. Cause all you ever do is come on here and whine about how bad the Flyers are (despite their record), and it will be easy to prove to you that the teams you think are so great are guilty of the same types of things you say make the Flyers so terrible. So, please name your 3. Thanks.
- You're out of your mind phillyfever...there's very few goalies I'd take over Fluery....wow, don't let your hatred of pgh cloud your judgement...he's top 5 easy, and still young— philly thug
- Pronger will be back and will play great. And he will get injured again in the future, have a surgery, come back and play great. He plays hard and gets hurt hard--doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that--these are, in fact, humans that play on the Flyers.
Regarding other players--Snider and management poisoned the well with the way they got rid of Carter and Richards. I'm not arguing that they should have stayed or left, just that the way they were sent packing was stupid and immature. You can't have good team chemistry when you know that the people you work for are complete morons with poor impulse control. If anybody needs to go it's Snider.— stonelamb 
Comment removed.- I don't know why they made him Captain. He's always injured.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- He will be back for the Winter Classic....bet on it.— Romus
- Understand Tim Pannacio accidentally tripped him in the locker room.— Romus
- Bring back Luca Brasi from Anaheim.— Romus
- Please tell me this is a joke, as sbisa has 2 goals in 145 NHL games and has been a minus player every season of his storied career.
- yeah...not bad for a 21-year old with 140 plus NHL games under his belt and a -3 this year. — Romus
- But is Pronger talking to the media? That's all the Flyers needed from a captain. Wonder if he's tired of answering the same ol' questions about his projected return yet?— no_shootouts
- Only on the hook for his salary for what? 6 more years!? hahahahahaa— jbruder02
