From Charlie Sheen’s Facebook Fan Page
…I think Charlie Sheen is a moron and the whole “Winning” phenomenon is even more absurd, but this is pretty funny. Hopefully Pronger can get back into the lineup soon and the Flyers start winning some hockey games.
…I can’t wait till Pronger comes back. Whether it be the Rangers game, before that, or just before the playoffs begin, Pronger’s return will definitely be a jolt for this team.
…Well, obviously this is not good news as Pronger is the player that the Flyers – in my opinion – can least afford to lose, but this is why the team claimed Boynton off waivers. Tonight, he’ll make his debut as the Flyers once again will need to come away with two points to keep their cushion atop the Eastern Conference in tact. The Leafs will likely target him early – I hope he works himself hard in warmups, because the Flyers can ill-afford a let down against another inferior opponent.
“There’s winning, and there’s winning in spite of how you play.”
- Chris Pronger, to reporters after Tuesday’s 4-1 win against Edmonton.
…The Flyers came to play in the first period, outshooting Edmonton 17-1 and taking a 2-0 lead into the break. Where did that energy go in the second and third periods? Sure, the Flyers got the victory, but they didn’t play 60 minutes in the process. They’ll continue to face desperate teams in the coming weeks, who all have been playing a full 60 mins just about every night. It’s a habit the Flyers MUST get into sooner rather than later, and I’m happy Pronger is voicing his concerns over it. He’s a big part of the leadership on this team, and they need to know when something is not working properly.
In the end however, you take the two points and move on. They need a full game’s effort against Toronto Thursday, just to show themselves they can play an entire hockey game at their level.
FLYERS DODGE BULLET WHEN PUCK HITS PRONGER
…Hear that? That’s all of Philadelphia breathing a sigh of relief that Chris Pronger’s injury isn’t too serious and that the future Hall of Famer more than likely won’t even miss a game.
I agree with Seravalli: the way the injuries have come at the Flyers the last week, there is a need for another defenseman, if for nothing else than insurance purposes. However, I’m not so sure Adam Foote is the answer. Sure, as Frank points out, he’s cheap and a proven winner. However, he’s also 39 years old and has scarcely been healthy this entire season. How would he hold up for the playoffs? Would he even be healthy enough to make it to the playoffs? It’s a big risk, but nothing is out of the realm of possibility. Especially if all it costs Homer is a late-round pick.
FLYERS’ CHRIS PRONGER BOILING MAD AFTER QUESTIONABLE HIT
…Yesterday’s game was frustrating all the way around. When Jarret Stoll clearly boarded/hit-from-behind Chris Pronger in the third period, I think basically everyone was shocked that there was no penalty called at all. Pronger, who’s not exactly light on his feet, flew headfirst into the boards, and instead picked up the only penalty on the play when he got back up and threw Stoll like a ragdoll to the ground. Obviously, the retaliation aspect is what killed Pronger, but it’s hard to harp all the blame on him when in reality he was just standing up for himself on the play. I’m sure frustration with the fact that the Flyers couldn’t get a single shot past Jonathan Quick also had something to do with it.
http://bit.ly/foFcW4 <—Click this link to view Whyno's Story for Philly Sports Daily.
…Steve Whyno has quickly become known as one of the hardest working men on the Flyers’ beat, and was ALL OVER both Pronger’s return yesterday, as well as Danny Briere getting named as an All-Star Game replacement.
When it comes to Pronger, obviously this is incredible news for a Flyers team that’s won 2 straight. The old pairings that made the Orange and Black so successful should be reunited tonight, which HOPEFULLY will only spell out positive things for the Flyers both tonight, and moving forward. Pronger is a future HOFer, and the best defenseman the Flyers have. His return is a great, great thing.
The 2010-2011 season had simply been moving along too well for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Through 33 games, the Orange and Black have established themselves as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, going 21-7-5 for an NHL best 47 points. Their goal differential of +32 is also the highest mark – by a long shot – of its kind in the league this season. Recently, they just completed a stretch against three teams that surely will challenge them for the Eastern Conference title this season, in the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Montreal Canadiens. In that three game stretch, the Flyers were 3-0-0, snapping the Penguins’ 12-game winning streak with a win this past Tuesday, and moving into sole possession of the top spot in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference, and, as I said earlier, the National Hockey League.
Pronger will be out for the next month or so
However, the rigors of the 82 game NHL season have finally caught up with the soaring Flyers, who have been hit hard today by news that six-time All-Star defenseman Chris Pronger has a broken right foot that will require surgery. The Stanley Cup winning, Gold Medal winning, future Hall of Fame blue liner will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks. The injury apparently occurred during the Flyers’ Wednesday night victory over the Canadiens, when Pronger left the ice in the second period, and did not return for third period action. An MRI revealed the break, which was made public today, and Pronger, per Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren, was set to have surgery on the foot at 1:00 PM today.
So, to sum up what the situation is here: the Flyers, who are currently the best team record-wise in the National Hockey League, will be without their best defenseman in Pronger for conceivably the next month or more, in a stretch that will include that dreaded West-Coast swing, as well as five divisional games all against either the New York Rangers or New Jersey Devils in the next six weeks. Also included in that stretch are games against the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. In total, the Flyers are slated to play 19 games in that six-week span that Pronger could likely miss in entirety.
Here’s how it breaks down:
Looking at this from a realistic perspective, it’s somewhat safe to assume, barring there are no setbacks, that Pronger will return to the Flyers’ line-up post-NHL All-Star Game, which is the weekend of January 28-30. So, the February 1 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning will more than likely be Pronger’s return. With that being said, that’s an enormous amount of time missed, and some crucial games that will be played in that time frame that Pronger won’t be apart of as well.
So, where to move from here? Well, as the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Sam Carchidi has already reported, the Flyers have established pairings for the time being that obviously are subject to change without the presence of Pronger on the back-end. According to Carchidi, the Flyers will keep Matt Carle as part of the top pairing with Andrej Meszaros taking Pronger’s spot. The second pairing will be Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, with Sean O’Donnell and Oskars Bartulis anchoring the third pairing.
Oskars Bartulis will be Pronger's replacement
If the name Bartulis doesn’t ring a bell, it should. The youngster was a regular on the Flyers’ blue-line during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, as he and Lukas Krajicek made up the Flyers’ third defensive pairing. However, citing a weakness in that pairing as a reason the Flyers lost in the Finals last season, Paul Holmgren went out this off-season and traded for Meszaros and signed O’Donnell, both of whom had been partners on the Flyers’ third defensive pairing until this injury. Now, Bartulis gets to hop back into the action, fresh off a prolonged stay in the press-box as the team’s seventh defenseman, and a regular healthy scratch. This season, Bartulis has played in three games, posting no points, but recording a plus-1 overall rating. His play has been praised in his brief stints in Orange and Black this season, as many have said it looks like the confidence that left him last season has regained shape this time around, and Bartulis has looked much steadier on the blue-line. He won’t be asked to score goals on the powerplay, let alone even appear on it. Instead, he’ll simply be looked at to maintain a steady defensive effort, and not make any mistakes in his own end. If he can successfully do that, there likely won’t be many cries for his head. At least not from me.
One thing that certainly needs to be taken into consideration when looking at this injury is while Pronger was the team’s leading point scorer amongst those that play defense on this club, he also was logging significantly less ice time than he was a year ago. This is due completely to the fact that two of the league’s top plus/minus guys that anchor the Flyers’ third defensive pairing in O’Donnell and Meszaros have given Peter Laviolette the ability to roll all three of his pairings out onto the ice as he pleases. With that being said, there’s no doubting that Pronger is the most important piece to the Flyers’ defensive puzzle, but he hasn’t needed to be as much of a horse as far as ice time is concerned, which bodes well for the Flyers’ prospects of at least finding a temporary solution while he misses time.
Already having a solid year, keep an eye on Meszaros in Pronger's absence
The scariest thing about the injury to Chris Pronger’s foot is this: even with the six defensemen the Flyers will trot out tomorrow afternoon against the New York Rangers, that unit will still be better than the regular six blueliners that more than half the teams in this league field on a given night. Coming into this season, the big talk about the Flyers was their tremendous depth on the blue-line. They acquired Matt Walker in the Simon Gagne deal, and along with Bartulis, and the talented Danny Syvret who is currently a member of the Adirondack Phantoms, the Orange and Black have more than enough depth on their back-end. Well, they did, until Pronger and Walker went down with long-term injuries, so now they are down to the minimum. But, hey, this is why you stockpile at a position as important as defense!
When talking about Chris Pronger, there are two glaring holes that his absence creates on this Flyers roster: first, the inability to have a big cannon at the point on the powerplay, and second, the lack of a presence in front against teams’ top lines to be able to clear the porch. While the Flyers’ powerplay struggles have been well-documented this season, Pronger is one of the reason why the unit has such heavy expectations. The 6’6” behemoth has a laser-beam slapper that he can let loose at any time from the point, making things extremely difficult on penalty killers when he has the puck on his stick with the man advantage. On the defensive end, it’s very rare that teams take liberties with going towards the Flyers’ goalmouth at their own discretion anymore. When Pronger came into the fold, all that changed as far as other teams’ attitudes in the Flyers’ defensive end. Those are two huge gaps that will need to be filled in Pronger’s absence.
So, who fills them? Well, on the powerplay, Matt Carle, Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen, and Andrej Meszaros all have howitzers from the point, but I would go with either Timonen or Meszaros. Timonen has the hockey sense to know when it is a good time to make a move towards the net up the man, and Meszaros is a very offensively gifted defenseman who could potentially show his worth even more than he already has in Pronger’s absence. As far as clearing the porch in front of either Bobrovsky or Boucher, I like the ability in all the Flyers’ defensemen to take up that trait. I like to think that since Pronger joined the Flyers last season, his mentality and approach to the game has been copied by his fellow defensemen. I don’t think I’d find many people who disagree with me.
The bottom line here is this: Chris Pronger is not a guy a team can replace on the ice. He is a helluva defenseman, and an even better asset on both the bench and in the dressing room. His presence will definitely be missed by the Flyers for the duration of his injury. While it’s a tough situation, if any team in the league this year can handle it, it’s the Flyers. They have shown the depth on their team to be the main reason for their success, and it’s hard to believe they won’t find a way to remain at the top of the heap during one of their key leaders’ prolonged absences.
For more reading on the Pronger injury, click here: PRONGER TO HAVE SURGERY, OUT 4-6 WEEKS
Chris Pronger is still a little ways away from officially returning to the Flyers full time after having arthroscopic knee surgery on July 27, but that doesn’t mean the future Hall of Famer isn’t doing everything he possibly can to make sure that he can be prepared to play at the highest level come opening night. The Daily News‘ Frank Seravalli has more on this in today’s edition.
Chris Pronger anchors arguably the NHL's best defense in 2010-'11
Seravalli makes note that Pronger’s time on the ice over the past five days has been his first time skating since the Flyers lost in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final on June 9. The Flyers defenseman also caught a bit of flack from the general public for having the surgery done so late in the off-season, instead of just having it done after the Flyers season came to an end, but Pronger explains to Seravalli, he “wanted to see if it could heal itself. It didn’t get much better – or any better at all. Ultimately, we found some things in [an] MRI and I had surgery the next week. I don’t know if I could have sped up the process at all.”
Later in the article, Pronger also notes how pleased he is with General Manager Paul Holmgren’s re-tooling of the Flyers’ blueline in the off-season. A potent foursome of Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Matt Carle are joined by the likes of Andrej Meszaros, Sean O’Donnell, and Matt Walker to make up what Pronger calls “one of the deepest units” he’s played with over his 16 year NHL career. It’s hard to argue with him – the top six for the Flyers are going to be a talented bunch, and although there are certainly some older legs back there, it’s hard to argue against his opinion of the blueline.
To check out of all of Frank Seravalli’s article, click here:
NAME: Chris Pronger
POSITION: Defenseman
Regular Season Statistics: 82 Games Played – 10 Goals, 45 Assists, 55 Points. +22
Analysis: When the Flyers acquired Chris Pronger last off-season at the NHL Draft, it was undoubtedly the biggest move of the evening, and possibly of the entire summer. Sure, the package that the Flyers gave the Anaheim Ducks to get Pronger was large (Luca Sbisa, Joffrey Lupul, and a 1st rnd pick), but the payout was tremendous. Pronger ended up having his best statistical season in a National Hockey League uniform since the 2006-2007 season and was a huge reason why the Flyers even made the playoffs in the first place. Those who questioned the big man’s durability as he turned 35 this past season were dead wrong, as Prongs played in all 82 regular season contests for the Flyers, and never showed any sign of slowing down. In turn, his presence made the players around him better, as oft-paired partner Matt Carle enjoyed one of his finest NHL seasons in his career as a result of having the great Pronger to learn from. The purpose of bringing in Pronger, Paul Holmgren said at his introductory press conference last summer, was to give the Flyers a strong enough presence on the blueline to be able to combat against the Eastern Conference’s top talents – Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby in particular. While the Flyers didn’t necessarily solve their problems against either of those players by bringing in Pronger, there’s no doubt that having Pronger in front of the net made many top players a little more reluctant to crash the net when playing the Orange and Black.
Postseason Statistics: 23 Games Played – 4 Goals, 14 Assists, 18 Points. +5
Analysis: It’s easy to say that Chris Pronger was one of the main reasons the Flyers were able to make the playoffs. However, it’s hard not to argue that he wasn’t the main reason for their large amount of success once they got there. Pronger, who had won a Stanley Cup a few years earlier as a member of the Anaheim Ducks, brought forth a ton of playoff experience and was really a great antagonist for the Flyers’ opponents to focus on for the duration of the playoffs, something that clearly took a ton of pressure off of the Flyers’ big snipers such as Mike Richards and Danny Briere, and allowed the two of them to have tremendous playoff campaigns. When the team made it to the biggest stage of the Stanley Cup Final, Pronger once again drew the attention to himself, stealing pucks at the end of games and mixing it up with the younger, less disciplined Blackhawks. While the Flyers’ magic eventually ran out in Game Six, and Pronger’s legs seemingly with it, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Flyers fan circles or beyond who honestly believes that the Orange and Black make that dramatic run of this past spring without the future Hall of Fame defenseman. In fact, I’d bet that many of those people would probably say the Flyers don’t even make the playoffs given how their season went if Pronger was not in that dressing room – he is that important to this team.
FINAL GRADE: A
Reasoning: As advertised. Being predominately a Western Conference player his entire career, it was hard to completely fathom just how great of a defenseman Chris Pronger was over here on the East Coast. Sure, we’d heard about him constantly, and it was widely known that he was one of the greatest defenseman not only in the game today, but of all time, as well as a sure-thing for the Hockey Hall of Fame, but it was the type of situation that Philadelphia needed to see for itself. And, man, we weren’t let down in the slightest. Chris Pronger is an absolute treat to watch play the game of hockey. He has thrown his fair share of cheapshots, that has been well documented. However, I’d argue with anyone that Chris Pronger has been the heart and soul of nearly every team he has ever laced up the skates for. He’s been in Philadelphia for one year – one year - and he played so well last season that any chance of the fans turning their backs on him is long gone. He’s signed with the Flyers to play until he’s 42 years old, and if he does make it that far, then, wow – hats off to him. The Flyers are certainly trying to make that a possibility this season as they’ve brought in one of Pronger’s old buddies from Anaheim in Sean O’Donnell as well as Andrej Meszaros from Tampa Bay to play defense and make the Flyers’ front six arguably the best in the entire National Hockey League. That should drop Pronger’s minutes just enough this season to make him fresh for the long run. As for his knee? Sure, it’s a concern. But this is Chris Pronger we’re talking about people. One of the toughest and best the game has ever seen.
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