It was not good news for the Flyers when both Phil Myers and Morgan Frost left the game on Tuesday evening. They were already down Sean Couturier as he is out with a rib fracture. It will once again be a next man up mentality for the upcoming weeks.
The two had MRI’s on Wednesday to determine the severity of their injuries. It was worse news for Frost as he suffered a dislocated left shoulder. He will be out indefinitely. The Flyers were unable to provide a timeline, but will update his status in the near future.
It is the first major injury Frost has suffered in his career. And it comes at a time where he finally had a chance to prove he belonged in the NHL. With Couturier hurt, the Flyers brought Frost in and put him between Travis Konecny and Oskar Lindblom. They were giving him a chance to succeed.
It was an innocent looking play into the boards, but one that left Frost hunched over and in clear pain right away. It is a unfortunate situation for a player who will have to likely wait until next season to make an impact.
Depending on the severity of his injury, dislocated shoulders can sometimes take between 12-16 weeks to fully heal. Even if Frost was on the short end of that, that would be three months. It is possible he could return for the playoffs, but unlikely that he would get into a game.
The news was slightly better for Myers. After what was feared to be a knee injury, he was diagnosed with a fractured rib. While Couturier’s rib injury appeared to be more serious, the Flyers have Myers on a week-to-week timeline.
While being hit earlier by the same player, it did not appear that it could result in serious injury. Neither play was malicious but an unfortunate outcome for the Flyers.
The Flyers seemingly prepared for this outcome as they recalled Derick Pouliot from the Phantoms and added him to the taxi squad. With Connor Bunnaman and Mark Friedman as extras, they will likely check into the lineup for the time being.
It is possible Pouliot could join the team as an extra defensemen. Or he was simply brought in to fill an empty hole on the squad. Team must have a minimum of four players, but no more than six on the taxi squad.
In such a shortened season, it is tough to deal with this many injuries early on. Shayne Gostisbehere has also been absent since the beginning of the season. He has been been the lone Flyers player out for COVID-related reasons. It looked like he was going to also be given a chance to shine on the top pairing with Ivan Provorov.
With a depleted defense and an offense that is beginning to go down as well, the Flyers will have to band together the next few weeks. The depth will absolutely be on display.