490 days. That’s how many games that were missed last year by Flyers players. No, we are not talking about people being benched or healthy scratches. We aren’t talking about players who were sent down to Lehigh Valley to get their mojo back. That is 490 games lost due to serious injuries.
Ryan Ellis, the Flyers prize acquisition last year, played in just 4 games (or roughly $1.5 million per game). Sean Couturier played in 29, and even in some of the games he was in, you could tell he was hurt. Kevin Hayes was good for 48 games. Carter Hart was shut down for the last few weeks of last season.
Patrick Brown, Derek Brassard, Nate Thompson, Nick Seeler, Cam Atkinson, Cam York, Wade Allison, Tanner Laczynski, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Bobby Brink also spent time on the injury list. I guarantee that I missed a lot more names here. And that also doesn’t include anyone who missed games because of COVID.
While he was here, interim Coach Mike Yeo talked about how hard it was to play games when you’re missing upwards of 10-12 NHL players. And at times, that even included those who were filling in for said players.In his end of season interview, GM Chuck Fletcher assured Flyers fans that they would look into the injury mess and see what they can do to help their players.
On Thursday, the Flyers hired Ian McKeown as their new Vice President of Athlete Performance and Wellness. McKeown comes to us from the Land Down Under as he was previously with the Port Adelaide FC of the Australian Rules Football League for the last nine seasons. McKeown comes with the reputation of providing a lot of great care for his team.
"”In order to compete at the highest level in today’s game, our players need and deserve a modern, comprehensive performance and wellness program, and by hiring Ian for this new role, we’re investing in a world-class program that we believe will significantly impact our players and our team.” Fletcher said in a team release press release."
In this newly created role, McKeown will help oversee and create comprehensive health and wellness programs for all Flyers players within the organization.
Is this the start of a shakeup in the health and fitness area of the team’s medical staff? It’s unclear as of yet. One thing is for sure, 490 games missed is a lot of time missed out. Who knows what could have been. If McKeown can even reduce that by half, he will have worked wonders.
The health of the Flyers players is one of the big question marks going into this upcoming season. They will need every body they can get this year.