On the heels of some sad anecdotes from Chris Pronger’s wife Lauren, CSNPhilly.com’s Tim Panaccio caught up with Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Holmgren to pick his brain on the subject.
To start things off, Holmgren said that he “holds no hope” that Pronger will return any time during this season or the playoffs. He didn’t exactly provide a promising answer if this could be a career-ending injury, either, only saying “I don’t know” when asked.
“We hope for the best for Chris,” Holmgren said. “Over time here, maybe we need to look to prepare for the worst. I don’t think we’re at that point right now.”
Panaccio reports that Pronger is looking into new therapies and even wearing prescription glasses to try to improve his situation. He’ll meet with doctors again on Feb. 1.
So with another confirmation that Pronger won’t be available for the Flyers in the foreseeable future, will Holmgren make a move (*cough* Ryan Suter *cough*) to try to fill the void?
“We’re not going to make any rash decisions,” Holmgren said. “We’ll continue to look at the team for the present and the future and if something comes up that makes sense, we’ll see what we can do.”
In other concussion-related news for the Flyers, Panaccio reports that James van Riemsdyk hasn’t skated yet but hasn’t experienced any issues while working out.
The Flyers have shown some aptitude in rolling with the injury punches, but surely they’d be glad to get their hot-and-cold power forward back - especially since their menacing defenseman won’t be in the lineup again this season.