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Doc to Pronger: No visor, no play

prongerap

James

Chris Pronger

Philadelphia Flyers captain Chris Pronger puts his hand over his eyes as he heads for the locker room after being struck in the face with a stick during the first period of an NHL hockey game with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

AP

Tim Panaccio of CSN Philadelphia is reporting that Flyers D Chris Pronger will be wearing a visor when he returns from an eye injury -- a decision that wasn’t made by Pronger, Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette or GM Paul Holmgren.

It was made by the doctor.

Stephen Goldman, the team ophthalmologist, told Pronger he would not give him medical clearance to play again without wearing the visor.

That settled things.

Pronger’s injury could have been much worse than merely a cut, blurred vision and swelling. He will miss at least two weeks (six or seven games) because of the injury.

On Tuesday afternoon, Holmgren said, “Chris Pronger was seen by Dr. Stephen Goldman today and is progressing very well.”


Panaccio also notes that Pronger is one of several Flyers that play without a shield -- Jody Shelley, Matt Walker, Andreas Lilja, Wayne Simmonds and Max Talbot are the others -- and that Laviolette wouldn’t attempt to make any of his players put one on.

As such, there’s a pretty interesting situation developing in Philly. Without reading too much into Dr. Goldman’s diagnosis, it would be fair to suggest the prevailing medical opinion is it’s safer to play hockey with eye protection than without. Yet the arguments against wearing visors -- “it screws up my peripheral vision” and “it’s uncomfortable” and “I don’t want Don Cherry to mock me” -- are still prevalent, especially in the Flyers dressing room.