Those looking for a single moment when the Philadelphia Flyers’ status as a contending team came crashing down couldn't do a lot worse than October 24, 2011. That was the night where Flyers’ captain Chris Pronger attempted to knock a puck off the stick of Mikhail Grabovski as the then-Leafs centre took a shot; the result was Grabovski’s stick catching Pronger in the eye on the follow-through to the shot.
Pronger missed two weeks due to the injury before coming back and playing five more games. Then he was hurt again–this time it was a knee injury–and during that time off it was discovered that Pronger had concussion symptoms. He has not played since; according to NHL.com, the concussion issues have subsided but the eye injury remains a problem. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren told The Hockey News' Ken Campbell in a recent interview that Pronger would never play again.
The Flyers have tried–most notably in the form of a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet to then-restricted free agent Shea Weber–and failed to replace Pronger. They simply are not the same team without h ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
The Chris Pronger Effect: Examining the Impact of Flyers’ Captain’s Absence
October 19th, 2013 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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