The Philadelphia Flyers delivered news about Sean Couturier that nobody wanted to hear on a Saturday. Sean Couturier will miss at least two weeks, per Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher.
Couturier underwent a MRI early Saturday morning and that is when the extent of his injury was revealed.
The team is calling it a costochondral separation. In simpler terms, it means a ribcage separation that produces severe difficulty in breathing and causes pain when sneezing, coughing, and breathing. The injury will keep him on the sideline for at least two weeks, however it could be more.
These type of injuries typically take anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks to completely heal. With a shortened season due to the coronavirus, this loss could be seen as detrimental to the team.
Couturier sustained the injury early in the first period of the game on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was very obvious he was in the pain shortly after making impact with a Penguins player on the ice.
He left the game and did not return. It was initially thought to be a shoulder injury, but clearly that isn’t the case here.
With this injury, Morgan Frost will step into the spotlight for at least the next seven games over the two week period. Frost was named the Flyers 13th forward, and he’s going to be put on the ice earlier than most expected.
Of course the expectation was that the team wouldn’t have to turn over to Frost just two games into the season, but here we are and it might not be exactly a bad thing.
The Flyers will probably move Kevin Hayes up to the first line. Nolan Patrick or Morgan Frost potentially could be playing center on the second line.