Reports: Couturier Reinjured Knee
French media outlets Journal dé Montreal and TVA Sports
reported on Tuesday night that Flyers center
Sean Couturier recently reinjured his right knee in an offseason hockey game. The newspaper stated that Couturier has returned to Philadelphia to meet with Flyers team doctors.
According to the JdM report, Couturier suffered a medial collateral ligament injury to his right knee, the same injury and the same knee the Flyers' first-line center injured at practice during the 2018 playoffs in a collision with teammate
Radko Gudas. This time, Couturier was playing in the Boot Camp Tournament in Quebec City two weeks ago and reinjured his knee on a non-contact play, making a routine move on the ice.
Surgery was not required after the initial injury, nor it is expected to be necessary now according to the Journal dé Montreal report by journalist
Jonathan Bernier. However, the typical recovery course of about six weeks leaves Couturier's status for the start of training camp and the preseason up in the air.
The Flyers have not, as yet, commented on the report.
Back in April, Couturier missed Game 4 of the Flyers' first-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, playing through the MCL tear, he scored a combined five goals -- including a hat trick in a losing cause in Game 6 -- over the final two games of the series.
A Selke Trophy finalist in 2017-18, Couturier is also coming off the best offensive season of his career. The 25-year-old center posted 31 goals, 45 assists and 76 points while dressing in all 82 regular season games in 2017-18.
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Quick Hits: August 22, 2018
1) The upcoming
Justin Miriglianidocumentary, "Keenan's Kids", a look at the special bond of brotherhood the Flyers' teams of the
Mike Keenan era (1984-85 to 1987-88) forged through the many triumphs, tears, celebrations and heartbreaks shared together over the years, has taken a big step forward toward becoming a reality. On Sunday, the likes of
Mark Howe,
Brian Propp,
Doug Crossman and longtime Flyers equipment manager
Jim "Turk" Evers sat down for on-camera interviews with Mirigliani for the project.
The mid-1980s group of Flyers is a special one, and not only because they reached the Stanley Cup Final in both 1985 and 1987. Against the backdrop of playing under the iron-fisted
Mike Keenan, the overachieving Flyers iced the youngest team in the NHL but quickly rose to the stop of the standings in 1984-85 and remained a contender until the remnants fell apart in 1989-90, two seasons after Keenan was fired. Although Howe was the only Hockey Hall of Fame inductee among the Flyers rosters of those years, it was a talented, gutsy and deep squad with tremendous locker room leadership by
Dave Poulin and others that quelled would-be mutinies against Keenan for the sake of winning.
Along the way, the Flyers saw
Pelle Lindbergh rise to become the best goaltender in the NHL -- signified by winning the 1984-85 Vezina Trophy and placing as a Hart Trophy finalist. In Nov. 1984, the happy-go-lucky Swede perished in an automobile accident in South Jersey. The youthful team, the majority of whom had never yet experienced the death of anyone close to them, grieved together off the ice and became even more close-knit.
Keenan thrived on being the players' common enemy, and pushed the team even harder to their growing resentment of his tactics. Still, the club kept on winning. The arrival of Vezina Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winning rookie goaltender
Ron Hextall in 1986-87 filled the void in net; one which Vezina finalist
Bob Froese worked admirably in his own right to fill during the emotionally wrenching 1985-86 regular season before struggling in the playoffs as the favored Flyers were upset by the New York Rangers in the first round.
In 1985, the Flyers defeated the dynastic Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final before ultimately losing an up-for-grabs contest in Game 2. The scene shifted to Edmonton, where the Oilers won the next three. Lindbergh suffered torn quadriceps in Game 4 and was unavailable for Game 5. Froese stepped in but the Flyers were blown out in the finale. The other games had all been competitive ones but the Hall of Famer-laden Oilers were just a bit better.
In 1987, the Flyers had a more arduous road to the Cup Final but stretched the Oilers to the seven-game limit. An overtime loss in Game 2, in some ways, was the ultimate decider of the series. The Flyers fell into a 3 games to 1 hole in the series before staging comeback victories in Games 5 and 6, punctuated by
J.J. Daigneault scoring the game-winning goal in Game 6 and the Spectrum crowd going bonkers. The Flyers scored first in Game 7 but ran out of gas. What had been a manageable one-goal deficit for much of the night became an insurmountable gap late in the third period, and the Flyers lost 3-1.
In the two years that immediately followed, there were many serious injuries, contract disputes and ill-advised trades. A no-longer-preventable full-scale player mutiny against Keenan resulted in his ouster after the 1987-88 season. The next year, the Flyers made a surprise run to Game 6 of the 1989 Wales Conference Final under new head coach
Paul Holmgren. That was the end of the line, however, for the "Keenan's Kids" era. Subsequently, the team went into a five-year dark period before a new group emerged as a contender.
Off the ice, the 20+ years that followed saw many more personal triumphs and tragedies, including the untimely deaths of
Brad McCrimmon,
Peter Zezel,
Ilkka Sinisalo,
Miroslav "Cookie" Dvorak, assistant coach
E.J. McGuire and the wives of
Tim Kerr and
Dave Brown. Propp suffered a stroke but survived and is still doing well.
Through the years, much of the mid-1980s group has gone its separate ways both professionally and geographically. But each and every one would be there for his brothers if needed and, when they see each other (whether at Flyers Alumni events, in the course of their jobs or away from the rink), the unspoken but very palpable bond is still strong.
2) Former Flyers prospect
Terrance Amorosa has signed an AHL contract with the San Diego Gulls for the 2018-19 season.
3) August 22 Flyer Alumni birthdays:
Mitch Lamoureux (1962),
Brayden Schenn (1991),
Bruno St.Jacques (1980).
4) Today in Flyers History:
* On August 22, 1974, the late
Barry Ashbee (forced to retire as a player due to an eye injury suffered in the 1974 Stanley Cup semifinals against the New York Rangers) was named a Flyers assistant coach.
* On August 22, 1985, Hockey Hall of Fame left wing
Bill Barber announced his retirement. Chronic knee issues curtailed the Flyers' all-time leading goal-scorer's career, and he had sat out the entire 1984-85 season hoping to rehab his knee and resume playing. Unfortunately, the issue never improved to a significant degree and the 33-year-old was forced to officially end his stellar playing career.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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