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Flyers injury updates: Michael Leighton to miss a month, Ian Laperriere out ‘indefinitely’

Trent Whitfield, Michael Leighton

Philadelphia Flyers goalie Michael Leighton stops Boston Bruins center Trent Whitfield’s one-on rush in the first period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL playoff hockey series Wednesday, May 12, 2010, in Philadelphia.(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

AP

There are two bits of very bad injury news for the Flyers today, although one might have a more obvious impact than the other.

The first news passed along by GM Paul Holmgren is that top goalie Michael Leighton will be sidelined for a month because of his back injury. The second bit of negative news is that last year’s leading fighter and lovable lug Ian Laperriere will be “out indefinitely” because of post-concussion symptoms likely suffered from that nasty injury he dealt with during the playoffs.

Holmgren provided those details, which can be found on the Flyers’ PR blog On the Fly.

“Michael saw another doctor last night and a doctor this morning as well,” said Holmgren. “It was discovered through those visits that right now we’re dealing with a bulging disk in his lower back and we’re going to put him on the shelf for about a month.

“The second is Ian Laperriere. He’ll be out indefinitely because of some post-concussion symptoms that he’s dealing with, probably from last year. Over the next period of time... he’s getting an MRI today and Friday he’ll be going to see the doctor he saw in Pittsburgh last year when he had the injury in the playoffs. We won’t have any information on Ian until sometime next week. But he’s going to be out indefinitely with post-concussion symptoms.”

Ouch, a bulging disk certainly doesn’t sound like a minor injury to me. Could a month even be a conservative estimate from Holmgren and the team?

Judging by Marc Savard’s concussion-related struggles - and the fact that Laperriere gets even deeper into the fray considering his rugged style - Lappy could be out a very, very long time. When you read about a player’s brain bleeding you know the news cannot be very good anytime soon.

Could the Flyers look either inside or outside the organization for goalie help? That much is unclear at this point, but we’ll keep you abreast of any news on that front as the Flyers seem banged up even before the season begins.