One of the after effects of the Philadelphia Flyers making it to the Stanley Cup finals is often having to deal with injuries suffered during the playoff run. Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger wasn’t immune to such perils and now is likely to miss training camp thanks to a knee injury initially suffered in the second round of the playoffs against the Bruins.
The Flyers said about a week ago Pronger underwent an outpatient surgical procedure on his knee, to remove some loose bodies from the area. The arthroscopic surgery showed there was no further damage to his knee, but the Flyers’ 35-year-old defenseman said he will not be completely healed by the time training camp begins, Sept. 17.
That contradicts general manager Paul Holmgren’s statement last week, that Pronger will, indeed, be completely healed by the time camp begins.
“No, I can tell you that much,” Pronger said, when asked whether he would be 100 percent when camp arrives. “With the amount of atrophy it is going to take a lot of hard work to build the leg muscles back up. Obviously, I will be spending a lot of hours in the gym trying to strengthen my knee and the rest of my body.
“A lot of times when you hurt your knee you walk different and you hurt your back or you hurt your other knee because you are loading that up more. It is really about your body becoming symmetrical again and you’re not over taxing any one part of your body.”
“I hope to be in the lineup on October 7, but it is still very early on in the process to begin guessing on a timeframe,” Pronger said. “A lot can happen over the next few weeks and months, but absolutely that is one of the goals.”
Pronger said the injury impacted his play throughout the remainder of the playoffs. He cited his range of motion as am issue, saying it was “restricted,” and that his knee felt “tighter.”