PHILADELPHIA – Despite Chris Pronger missing a third game with his hand injury, despite him sporting a new, soft cast on his hand, and despite the fact that he has seen not one but two hand specialists, general manager Paul Holmgren is downplaying the injury.
Still insisting that Pronger is day-to-day with a mysterious injury to his right hand suffered when he blocked a shot against the New York Islanders Feb. 24, Holmgren said Pronger will make the road trip with the team and likely could return to the lineup this week.
“He was better in practice,” Holmgren said. “That’s all we can go by. We’re hoping by the next game he’s ready to play. His grip strength is getting better. We’ll see how it goes.”
Holmgren said he is not worried about how long Pronger will be out of the lineup because of the depth the team has on defense.
“I happen to like it when (Andrej) Meszaros, (Matt) Carle and (Braydon) coburn play more minutes,” Holmgren said.
Pronger has met with team hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham, who is based in Baltimore and is considered the leading hand specialist in the U.S., and has also been examined by Dr. Randall Culp of the Philadelphia Hand Specialists who is affiliated with Methodist Hospital.
All x-rays and MRI’s have been negative so far.
“There’s obviously something going on in there that’s inhibiting his strength,” Holmgren said. “Obviously if you’re a hockey player you can’t play if you can’t grip your stick.