The Flyers’ bad luck with injuries continues to roll along.
According a report from Swedish newspaper Helsinborgs Dagblad, defenseman Andreas Lilja will miss the next four months after having hip surgery. Matias Strozyk translates the story with these quotes via Twitter.
“I’ve had problems for a couple of years but usually the pain eased over summer,” Lilja said. “Not this year, so I needed surgery.”
“Now I have a new hip and the difference will be big when I return. Not least mentally, since I can now move without pain.”
Lilja tells the Swedish paper that the procedure he had done could extend his career by five years. Meanwhile, CSNPhilly’s Tim Panaccio could not reach Flyers GM Paul Holmgren for comment on the injury, but a source with the team confirmed to him Lilja’s status. With how labor talks are going, Lilja might not miss any games.
Lilja now joins Andrej Meszaros (Achilles’ tendon) and Chris Pronger (concussion) on the shelf with injuries.
The Flyers will now look to start the season with Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Nick Grossmann, Erik Gustafsson, Luke Schenn, Marc-Andre Bourdon, and Bruno Gervais on their back line. They’d better hope Ilya Bryzgalov has a big bounce-back season.