Chris Pronger is done for the season

If the Flyers want to win a Cup this season, they are going to have to do it without Chris Pronger.  The Flyers have announced that their captain, who has been out since November 19th, will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs due to severe concussion symptoms.

This is a huge blow to the Flyers, who lose one of their biggest advantages they have over opponents: their depth on defense.  Since Pronger is on LTIR, the Flyers will have some cap space to acquire someone of significance but he surely won't have the same impact as Pronger has in the back end.

The bigger question could be if Pronger will ever play hockey again.  It's likely too early to tell but if he has already been ruled out for the next 5-6 months, he must be dealing with some very serious issues.  Here's hoping the Flyers get their captain back next season if for no other reason than they are paying him big money for 5 more years.

Flyers lose Schenn for 4-6 weeks

Blink and you might have missed Brayden Schenn in the Flyers lineup so far this season.  The key piece to the Mike Richards deal, who just joined the Flyers 4 games ago, suffered a broken foot against the Canadiens on Wednesday and will miss 4-6 weeks.  The Flyers placed him on LTIR and called up forward Zac Rinaldo and defenseman Erik Gustafsson.

It is the second injury of the season for Schenn, who had to start the season with the Phantoms because he was recovering from an injured shoulder.  He played in only 4 games for the Flyers and didn't register a point and was a -5.  While this is certainly a rocky start to his Flyers career, Schenn is just 20 and there is no reason to expect that he won't develop into a tremendous two-way threat.

The Flyers were awful last night against the Canadiens so a little shake-up of the roster might be in order.  Putting Schenn on LTIR allows the Flyers to keep Matt Walker on the roster for now, though I would expect him to be dumped to the minors the moment Gustafsson shows that he can hang in the NHL.

Flyers lose Pronger for the rest of the regular season

Just a few days removed from Paul Holmgren telling us not to worry about Chris Pronger's injury, the Flyers dropped this news on us today: Pronger will have surgery on his right hand and will miss 3-4 weeks, which covers the rest of the regular season. Fortunately, Pronger should be fine to return in the playoffs and, if anything, he will be plenty refreshed for a long playoff run.

While many Flyers fans thought to panic initially, it's important to remember that Pronger has already missed time this season and the team did pretty well without him. Of course the Flyers would prefer to have their defensive anchor on the ice as they try to hold on to the number one seed in the East but they have plenty of defensive depth, with the newly acquired Nick Boynton stepping in to play on a regular basis. Jumping into the 7th defenseman spot will be Erik Gustafsson, who was called up from the Phantoms. You may remember Gustafsson from his one game stint back in February.

The loss of Pronger does somewhat diminish the Flyers chances at getting the top seed in the East but it should have no affect on how far they get in the playoffs this season. As we have seen time and time again, seeding in hockey means very little, with tops seeds getting knocked off on a regular basis. The Flyers are going to be too busy worrying about turning around their play on the ice to worry about not having Pronger. Perhaps not having him out there will even help the team play good hockey again as they step their game up to replace their best defensive player.

Flyers' Walker to have surgery, miss 10 to 12 weeks

This won't make the people that hated the Simon Gagne trade any happier. The Flyers announced that Matt Walker, who was acquired in the offseason from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Gagne, will be out 10 to 12 weeks after he has hip surgery on Wednesday. Walker, who has yet to play a game for the Flyers this season, suffered the injury in a preseason game.

If the Flyers were going to lose a player for two months, it might as well be their 7th defenseman. Given the depth at the defense position, where the Flyers have six steady contributors and Oskars Bartulis as an extra, they probably won't miss Walker much, if at all. The fact that Walker makes 1.7 million and was the "key" piece in the Gagne deal is somewhat depressing but the Flyers should be just fine without him.

Leighton to have surgery, miss 6-8 weeks

Get ready for a whole lot more Sergei Bobrvosky in net, Flyers fans. Michael Leighton, who was previously thought to miss "about a month", will have surgery on his back in the coming days and will miss 6-8 weeks of the season. While he is out, expect the Flyers to stick with Bobrovsky as the starter with Brian Boucher also getting a few starts in net.

Back injuries are tricky things, so it would be a stretch to expect Leighton to come back in December and be the starting goaltender right away. By that time in the season, it's hard to say what the Flyers goaltending situation will look like, as Bobrovksy might established himself as the starting goaltender in Philly or he might fizzle out and need to go the minors. Given the injury situation and the way he looked last night, it's not to difficult to assume that Bob is going to be the man this season.

Flyers roster taking shape as preseason winds down

With just one game remaining, the most successful Flyers preseason in recent memory is just about to wrap up. While, just like any sport, you can't put much stock in preseason hockey results, the Flyers have looked tremendous while winning 5 of their 7 games. With just one game left, the Flyers are now faced with some tough roster decisions as they prepare for their season opener on Thursday against the Penguins.

Here's a look at how their 23 man roster is shaping up:

Forwards:

Locks (10): Daniel Briere, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell, Nikolay Zherdev, James van Riemsdyk, Jody Shelley, Claude Giroux, Ville Leino, Blair Betts

Bubble (3-4 spots): Daniel Carcillo, Bill Guerin, Darroll Powe, Andreas Nodl, Ben Holmstrom

Injured: Ian Laperriere (LTIR)

The list above assumes that Blair Betts will be ready to play from the start of the season. The injury to Lappy has left the door wide open for Guerin to get a contract and Carcillo to keep his spot. At this point, I bet that both stay and that Powe and Nodl are both kept as extra forwards in case Betts isn't 100%.

Defensemen:

Locks (6): Kimmo Timonen, Chris Pronger, Andrej Meszaros, Matt Carle, Braydon Coburn, Sean O'Donnell

Bubble (1-2 spots): Matt Walker, Oskars Bartulis, Erik Gustafsson, Marc-Andre Bourdon

It isn't known right now if Chris Pronger will be ready to skate on opening night, which means one of the extra defensemen might get some ice time. I'm still scratching my head as to why the Flyers bothered to acquire Matt Walker, they have plenty of kids that can do what he does for much less salary. While I would be all for demoting him, the smart money says that Walker stays and Bartulis is shipped to the AHL.

Goalies:

Lock (1): Brian Boucher

Bubble (1 spot): Sergei Bobrovsky, Johan Backlund

Injured: Michael Leighton (LTIR)

The Leighton injury has opened the door for preseason sensation Sergei Bobrovsky to make the team. While I still would prefer that he get more familiar with the North American game this season and get a ton of minutes in the AHL, he has made a strong case to stick around. The biggest drawback to keeping him will be his salary, which at 1.75 million, will be even more than Leighton will make. With Backlund banged up, however, "Bob" might be given a shot.

It's hard to believe we are less than a week away from the Eastern Conference Champs return to the ice for some real games!

Flyers lose Leighton, Laperriere to injury

It must be hockey season because the Flyers have problems in net! In a conference call today, Paul Holmgren announced that Flyers starting goaltender Michael Leighton will miss about a month of the season with a bulging disc in his back. In his absence, the Flyers will likely go with Brian Boucher as the starter and either Johan Backlund or preseason sensation Sergei Bobrovsky as the backup.

In even worse news, the Flyers also announced that Ian Laperriere will be out indefinitely due to post-concussion issues that are still bothering him from the playoffs last season. There was no announced timetable for a return for Lappy, but given that he's still hurting from an injury from last season, expect him to be placed on the long-term injured reserve and miss a significant chunk of the season. With Lappy out, a roster spot is all but guaranteed for training camp invite Bill Guerin. While Guerin won't replace Lappy's toughness, he will certainly provide more offensive punch.

With the season just over a week away, this wasn't exactly the news we all were hoping to hear. Then again, it wouldn't be Flyers hockey without a goalie issue.