While a few of the Flyers spoke on Tuesday about injuries they suffered during the postseason, it turns out that was only touching the surface of what this team was dealing with. Just before Danny Briere was set to speak to the media for his end-of-season press conference, he released the exact nature of the injuries that multiple players had been dealing with.
And it's a lengthy one.
Emil Andrae: Fractured wrist – requires surgery
Alex Bump: MCL sprain
Noah Cates: Fractured foot – No surgery required
Christian Dvorak: Fractured rib; separated shoulder
Nikita Grebenkin: Upper body injury
Garnet Hathaway: Fractured fibula
Travis Konecny: Fractured rib; nasal fracture
Owen Tippett: Internal bleeding; Core muscle injury
Cam York: Fractured rib
Trevor Zegras: Elbow ligament sprain
A few of the above injuries are ones that we've already known about. Nikita Grebenkin has been out since late March, and not much information has been revealed about the nature of the upper-body injury he has been dealing with. Noah Cates' fractured foot took him out of the Hurricanes series after Game 2. Owen Tippett did not appear in the second round and revealed his scary injury on Tuesday. And while Cam York mentioned that his ribs were banged up, this clarifies what he was dealing with.
Now, onto the rest of the list. There's no word on when these injuries were sustained, but only Christian Dvorak was revealed at one point during the postseason to be dealing with something. Emil Andrae was scratched in Game 4 against Carolina, but it wasn't injury-related, at least it wasn't reported to be. His performance was up and down in the playoffs, so who knows if it was due to the fractured wrist. He is the only one on the list who will require surgery, though.
You wouldn't know Alex Bump was dealing with an MCL sprain based on the way he was playing. He was one of many young players who made their postseason debuts, and he was rather impactful once he entered the lineup. Trevor Zegras was also dealing with a sprain, another that wouldn't be noticeable to the naked eye. He led the Flyers with six points in 10 games.
Going back to Dvorak, he was day-to-day heading into the final game of the Carolina series and appeared to truly be gutting it out at that point. Dvorak was one of three players dealing with a fractured rib, which is hard enough to deal with as it certainly impacts the ability to breathe clearly. But he was playing through a separated shoulder on top of that. He put everything on the line for the Flyers.
Add Garnet Hathaway to that list as well. Considering the physical type of game Hathaway plays, it's insane to believe he was playing through a fractured fibula. And in a game where sudden twists and turns are common, the amount of pain must have been through the roof. It's a serious injury to play through, but good luck telling these players to get off the ice, especially in the playoffs.
Seeing Travis Konecny on this list puts a lot of things into perspective as well. It was evident that something was going on because he simply wasn't his most effective self during either series. It's not good to see any player fighting through an injury, but it at least provides an explanation as to why he wasn't at his best. Konecny downplayed his injuries when he spoke, but that's just the kind of player he is.
There will be plenty of time for all of these players to rest and take the much-needed time to heal ahead of next season. They put their bodies on the line and brought an excitement level back to the city of Philadelphia that had been missing for quite some time.
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