Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

On crutches, Philly’s Meszaros says Achilles was “completely torn”

Washington Capitals v Philadelphia Flyers

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 22: Andrej Meszaros #41 of the Philadelphia Flyers shoots during warmups before an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center on March 22, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Getty Images

In dealing with his torn Achilles tendon, Andrej Meszaros is looking at another prominent Philadelphia athlete as a benchmark for recovery -- Ryan Howard.

The Phillies slugger tore his Achilles during his final at-bat of 2011. It was nearly nine months before he played again, a timeframe Meszaros is hoping to beat after tearing his Achilles in early August.

“It’s scary that he was out for that long, but I don’t believe that I will miss that much time,” Meszaros told the Courier Post. “Everybody heals differently.”

The 26-year-old blueliner is still on crutches and expects to remain on them for another 2-3 weeks (he had surgery on Aug. 7). He described the Achilles as “completely torn.” That said, he’s hoping to follow in the footsteps of a fellow NHLer who went through a similar situation.

More, from the Courier Post:

Meszaros prefers comparing his situation to a previous hockey injury: While with Carolina, one-time Flyer and current Los Angeles Kings winger Justin Williams missed just 11 weeks after having Achilles surgery in September 2008.

If Meszaros matches Williams, he’d be ready to play by Oct. 23 ... and potentially miss just four regular-season games.

Without Meszaros in the lineup, the Philly blueline looks awfully thin. The top six would project to be Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Luke Schenn, Nicklas Grossmann, Bruno Gervais and one of Erik Gustafsson/Marc-Andre Bourdon/Brandon Manning -- this assuming Chris Pronger won’t return anytime soon and Andreas Lilja is out ‘til November, as speculated by GM Paul Holmgren.