PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers will be without All-Star defenseman and team captain Chris Pronger for at least 2-3 weeks following an injury to his right eye suffered in Monday's 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
At 8:02 of the first period, Pronger was defending against Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski. As Grabovski followed through with his shot, his stick hit Pronger in the right eye. Pronger immediately left the ice and went up the tunnel leading to the locker room.
Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren said Pronger was examined at the Wells Fargo Center by team opthamologist Dr. Stephen Goldman, and after initially suffering from blurred vision in the eye, Holmgren said Pronger's vision did return to normal before he was sent home.
Holmgren said Pronger will be on bed rest for the next four days, with planned trips to the eye doctor each day.
"He's going to see the eye doctor every day for the next four days," said Holmgren. "We think after that he'll be … I don't want to say out of danger, but if everything goes OK and the swelling goes down, he should start on an exercise program sometime after that and we're hoping he could rejoin the team in 10 days to two weeks -- skating-wise, not necessarily playing."
Holmgren said the bed rest order is to make sure there's no build-up of blood behind the eye, which could create more issues.
Holmgren did add that when Pronger returned, the 18-year veteran will be wearing a visor.
"I don't think our doctors would clear him to play if he didn't wear a visor," said Holmgren. "I think Chris was really scared. I would like to believe he'll want to wear one."
Monday night Q and A with Holmgren, following the game vs. Toronto:
Here's Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren on the injury:
Q: (Inaudible)
“… very scary incident, in particular watching him come off the ice like that. Right now, he had a little bit of a cut just on the outside of his right eye here. The eye doctor checked him out thoroughly, and he’s got a little bit of an issue right now with his eye. We think max, three or four days… no real concern, other than what might happen over the next three or four days, whether it’s swelling or something behind the eye. So he’s basically going to be on bedrest for three days, and hopefully he’ll be fine within a couple weeks.
Q: Did he go to the hospital?
“No, our eye doctor came here. He’s going to see the eye doctor every day for the next four days. We think after that time that he’ll be out of, we don’t want to say danger, but if everything goes ok and if the swelling goes down, he should start on some kind of an exercise program shortly after that, and we’re hoping he’ll be able to rejoin the team within ten days to two weeks. And skating-wise, not necessarily playing wise.”
Q: Is there a prognosis on it?
“Well, not really. The prognosis is that he was hit on the side here and there’s a lot of swelling around his eye and the hope is that the blood doesn’t build up there and create issues. That’s why he’s going to be on bedrest here for the next four days.”
Rumor has it that he's okay; nothing debilitating in terms of vision. That doesn't mean that he won't miss some games, but there's apparently nothing wrong with his eyes.
Lets hope its not serious and pronger makes a quick recovery i still can't believe some posters in gm thread were making jokes about the injury all i can say about that is SICK. Hopefully that poster or posters don't get a injury and are made fun of.......
Looks like pronger is going to be alright based on the news given tonight..... now when he returns healthy(cross your fingers everything goes smoothly and quickly for the big guy) do you think he starts wearing a visor?
Man, just got home from the game and that was a scary sight. I was sitting behind the Leafs net at the other end and we could hear him screaming. Seeing that, like others have said, scarily reminded me of Bernie back in the day. Thank god it's not too serious and he should be ok.
3 days bed rest for swelling to go down. Vision loss initially but came back...worried about blood now accumulating..hence the rest and then assess the severity. A week until on the ice skating at best....then a few weeks after that until possibly he can play...
Pronger was scared though initially and not in the mood to talk.....kind of goes without saying..
He has been so unlucky with injuries lately.... such a shame especially since he was having an awesome start to the year, looking quicker, making the best breakout passes in the league and clipping at a ppg.
First thing that came to mind when I saw this was Bryan Berard.
So relieved to hear that his eye is fine and he should be ok.
Phew.
Next 3 days when the swelling goes down and they can assess the severity better can we totally breathe a sigh of relief but so far cautiously optimistic
Hopefully that poster or posters don't get a injury and are made fun of.......
