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Pronger misses second straight game, now wearing cast

Edmonton Oilers v Philadelphia Flyers

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 08: Chris Pronger #20 of the Philadelphia Flyers stretches during warmups before an NHL hockey game against the Edmonton Oilers at the Wells Fargo Center on March 8, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

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The Flyers say Chris Pronger’s injury is nothing serious. They won last game against Edmonton. But whenever a superstar defenseman shows up in the GM’s box for the first time all season and is wearing a soft cast to protect his hand, it’s going to raise some eyebrows. Whenever a team gives up 4 goals (and a 3 goal lead) in the 3rd period, AND lose in overtime, a few more eyebrows will be raised.

Holmgren and the Flyers held their own version of Meet The Press on Saturday to explain the situation in more detail. They’ve said since he missed Thursday’s game against the Oilers that he was day-to-day. They say he should be good to go against the Panthers on Tuesday night; but it’s now been almost three weeks since the February 24th game against the Islanders when a Ty Wishart shot made contact with Pronger’s hand.

For the record, GM Paul Holmgren doesn’t sound overly concerned:

“It’s to facilitate the healing and make it more comfortable,” Holmgren said. “He’s the same as yesterday: day-to-day. … He’s gotten better the last few days by not taking part in anything with a puck.”

Here’s the bottom line: the most irreplaceable player for the best team in the Eastern Conference has questions about his health. They have more centers than they know what to do with and have three lines that would make any GM in the league happy. The defense has six capable defensemen to spread the minutes out. But if they take Pronger out of the line-up, the team goes from “elite Cup contender” to “good playoff team.”

The Flyers took measures at the trade deadline to add depth as an insurance policy in case one of their top 6 went down—but Nick Boynton is never going to be Chris Pronger. And thankfully for Boynton, they will never ask him to be the minute eating, penalty killing machine that they depend on Pronger to be on a nightly basis.

Hopefully for Flyers fans, Pronger is back on Tuesday and ready to make a final push for the Presidents’ Trophy without any lingering effects.