What does Pronger's loss mean for Flyers?

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If Erik Gustafsson were healthy, the Flyers defensive plight would not look so grim right now.

Chris Pronger needs surgery to have his left knee cleanedan arthroscopic procedureand will miss four weeks (see story).

This is not as invasive, it sounds to me, as in July 2010 when he had a more complicated procedure done to his right knee that required extensive off-season rehab that caused him to miss the start of last year.

Placing Pronger and Andreas Lilja, another D-man, on long-term injured reserve opens up 5.6 million in cap space, but then adding Brayden Schenn and subtracting Andreas Nodl puts the Flyers at about 59.55 milionroughly 4 million under the salary cap.

Gustafsson, who is the best blue line prospect the Flyers have, is still a month away from recovering from left wrist surgery.

What to do?

Can the Flyers survive four weeks plus a grueling December travel schedule without their No. 1 and No. 6 defensemen? Thats at least 12 games without Pronger.

I like what Ive seen from Marc-Andre Bourdon. Kevin Marshall doesnt look as impressive as he did a year ago.

In reality, as Bill Meltzer nailed it, it takes two players to replace a Prongernot one. His absence kills them on the power play, besides in the defensive end.

I think initially we'll probably just recall Kevin and try to figure out where we're at, at that point, said general manager Paul Holmgren today. But right now thats kind of the way were leaning.

Pronger has had multiple surgeries as a Flyer: back, wrist, knees. This is either his fifth or sixth surgery in the last year-and-a-half. Depends on how many procedures he had involving his wrist.

At 37, his durability is a genuine concern. Most people never thought Pronger would ever play the full seven years of his contract. At this point, I agree.

Any time a player has surgery, there's concern, whether hes an older player like Chris or a younger player, Holmgren said.

I do think Chris is a player that takes good care of himself, looks after himself, does the proper rehabilitation and conditioning to stay in top shape. I think this time, the only thing we can go by is what the doctors tell us, and its just a question of cleaning up some of those bodies.

The structure of his knee is fine, hes got good cartilage on both sides of that knee, so this is just kind of a maintenance thing more than anything, and to get him a little more comfortable. Hed been playing with some discomfort in that knee, apparently, and Dr. Peter DeLuca believes if we just get this done now and take care of it, we can get him back playing in four weeks time and he'll be good to go.

We're worried because he's going under surgery, yes, but long-term I still think Chris has a lot of miles left on his body, and based on his attitude about this and the way he takes care of himself and prepares, I think he'll be fine.

How will the Flyers defense survive at a time when Ilya Bryzgalovs rollercoaster of a season has dipped below standards?

Its one thing to lose a couple defensemen when your goaltending is sound and playing well. Its another to lose players when the goaltending is skittish. That best describes the Flyers. Again.

Knowing Holmgren, he waits it out unless this club caves defensively in, say, the next four games.

Regardless, the pressure now is on Bryzgalov and backup Sergei Bobrovsky to raise their game because the number of quality shots theyre going to see is about to rocket upward.

If you ask me, the goaliesnot necessarily the defensemay hold the answer over the next month.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net

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