Philadelphia Flyers winger Ian Laperriere is likely to miss the rest of the NHL season, according to Flyers GM Paul Holmgren. Laperriere suffered a contusion of the brain and a mild concussion when he was nailed with a slap shot just above his right eye in Game 5 against the New Jersey Devils.
”I think this is significant,” Holmgren said. ”They saw a spot there [on his brain] initially, and I think they were hoping, like we all were, that it would dissipate a little bit. Right now, it’s not safe for him to play.”
Laperriere will not require surgery, according to Holmgren. And it seems like he’ll be out about four weeks and will take another CT scan.
”It’s hard to replace Ian and what he does, particularly on the penalty-kill. He’s a heart-and-soul guy on our team, and it’s hard to replace that,” said Holmgren.
Hope Lappi ends up healthy, that was a nasty shot to take off your eye. Rally the troops! Just imagine how good this team will look when Lavi gets an entire summer to work with the guys, and put his own set of players together.
Too early for talk of off season. We are 1-0 in playoff series this year and looking for more. I hope Laperriere heals well. That is a heck of a brain bender he took to his eye. The are going to have to make these guys wear shields next year. Honestly I am somewhat surprised they havent put the college style cages as mandatory equipment. I wouldn’t want to wear it either but it’s better than losing a player for any length of time. They would just need to come off during fights though.
Tell me about it, RegalEagle. I have a hard time believing he wasn’t wearing at least a visor after getting hit in the face earlier in the season. I know he fights a lot but he could take off the visor just like players drop the gloves.
We’re getting pretty far down in the forward depth chart…
The hits just keep coming,
I heard the Flyers even asked G-Man to try out for the next series