Oh, here we go. The Philadelphia Flyers that cannot catch a break and deal with an unrelenting cycle of injuries is here to show their ugly head.
Before the season even started, Rasmus Ristolainen was dealing with an injury that has now kept him out of the first two games of the season. And now, it looks like one of the feel-good stories on a Flyers team that is lacking for them, has possibly turned sour once again.
Sean Couturier is possibly dealing with another undisclosed injury that could keep him out of action.
The 31-year-old was absent from practice on Monday morning and when asked why the Flyers’ top center was not in attendance, head coach John Tortorella simply said the center was “banged up” and that the issue is nothing to do with his back.
It should have been one of the season’s miraculous returns to form. Prior to the injury that kept Couturier out for over 21 months, he was riding high on a recent Selke Trophy win as the league’s top defensive forward and signing a significant, eight-year extension to stay in Philadelphia. Now, the injuries appear to just keep on nagging him and keeping him off the ice.
Of course, we won’t get ahead of ourselves and missing one practice — without even mentioning if he could possibly miss Tuesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks — isn’t crazy. He has played more hockey in the last week than he has in almost two years and if it’s just something to keep him out of one practice, then we should maybe just take a breather.
If it is for anything longer than this week, we might just have to let out a big sigh and think that some possible return that would lead the Flyers to not being one of the worst teams in the league, was just not realistic. Here’s hoping for the best.
Couturier earned one assist and is a plus-3 in the first two games of the season.
