Holmgren: Gagne Injury 'Different'; Surgery Needed?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com

WASHINGTON -- Flyers’ left wing Simon Gagne has two small hernias in his right groin area and it appears to be a brand, new injury.

A decision on whether to perform surgery will be made Wednesday, after the club’s medical staff consults with Alan Schurict, a surgeon at Pennsylvania Hospital, who performed the ultrasound on Tuesday and others, including Gagne. 

“I know it’s very vague, but it’s only because I don’t know any more,” general manager Paul Holmgren said before Tuesday’s game against the Capitals. “We need to sit down and talk to Simon about the whole thing going on here. [Surgery] is an option, yeah. I don’t know right now.”

Holmgren said he was told this is a new injury unrelated to Gagne’s past groin and hip problems on his right side.

Gagne has been bothered since late August with a groin pull and stiffness in his surgically repaired right hip. He hadn’t felt “right,” as the coaching staff said, this season, and had just one goal in nine games.

“He’s been through a lot, whether it be his hip or his groin, and we’ll try to get through this process and get healthy,” Holmgren said.

Gagne’s absence should benefit Claude Giroux, who has been averaging 16 minutes a game, playing in various roles, but most recently was on a line with Gagne and Mike Richards and also as a center for Gagne and Ian Laperriere.

“We moved Giroux back as a third line center because we think he was good there and with Gagne playing there, I really liked the line,” said coach John Stevens. “Now a guy goes down and forces you to change things a little bit.

“We had a couple skill guys being used in a different role because who was ahead of them and now I think it’s an opportunity for guys to step up and play more.”

Mika Pyorala (12:31) could get more ice time, as could Arron Asham (10:04), who came into Tuesday’s game with three goals in his last four outings.

Stevens hinted he’d rather increase ice times for Giroux and others than see a player called up from the Phantoms, and Holmgren, for now, seemed to agree.

Gagne’s injury is likely different from Danny Briere who had a sports hernia in his abdomen last season. Briere’s entire year was ruined by groin and abdominal issues, as he played just 20 games.

A strenuous offseason training regime, coupled with previous in-season surgery, has left Briere skating with the kind of authority he had a few years ago. Gagne, however, hasn’t been able to do that.

“Is his a sports hernia or just a hernia, I guess they are different because that is what I was told,” Briere said. “My own experience, last year was tough. I only played one game after the first [injury]. After the second time, it was almost four months and I felt I was way behind everybody.

“It was tough to catch up missing so much time. When you are rehabbing, you are rehabbing that area, you are not rehabbing working on your explosiveness and strength. There is only so much you can do.

“When I was ready to play, I felt I just didn’t have that quick jump, that power I need to be successful,” he said, adding that a hockey’s player’s “core” strength area for a skill player like him and Gagne, is the groin. Stevens said this week Gagne lacked the explosiveness on his skates seen from him in the past.

Gagne’s initial problem began in late August, when he pulled his right groin doing sprints at Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary.

“We’ve handled Simon very carefully this time, based on what happened at the hockey Canada camp in August,” Holmgren said. “Coming back to our training camp, we made an effort to give him more time than he even he thought was needed. This is just a totally different thing. From what I understand, this is not related to what happened during the summer.”

Going under the knife is nothing new to Gagne. He has undergone three surgeries in four years for hip and groin problems prior to this season:

• Gagne went through 2008-09 relatively healthy, until the end, when his right hip began bothering him, although the club did not announce it. He had offseason surgery (May 28) to the right hip to remove a bone spur and scar tissue.

• In 2007-08, Gagne missed 56 games because of post-concussion syndrome and wasn’t on the ice long enough to develop hip problems.

• In 2006-07, he was bothered from March until season’s end by a hip flexor and groin strain. That offseason, Gagne underwent double hernia surgery.

• In 2005-06, he had a serious groin tear and subsequent offseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net