Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds is expected to miss the next two to three weeks with an upper-body injury, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall told reporters at the team’s morning skate Tuesday.
Hextall also announced backup netminder Michal Neuvirth will be out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.
It’s unclear what Simmonds’s specific injury is or when he sustained it but the 29-year-old registered one assist, a fighting major and 14:05 of ice time in Sunday’s 7-4 win over the New York Rangers.
Simmonds is one of 10 Flyers players that has suited up in every one of Philadelphia’s games this season. In fact, the 29-year-old has only missed a total of 16 regular-season games since making his NHL debut in 2008. The Scarborough, Ont., native had 20 goals, 17 assists and 55 penalty minutes in 59 games this season prior to his injury.
The team recalled forward Oskar Lindblom from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms to fill Simmonds’s roster spot. Lindblom, a 2014 fifth-round pick of the Flyers, has 16 goals and 18 assists in 54 games with the Phantoms this season. The 21-year-old Swede could be in Philadelphia’s lineup Tuesday when it hosts the Montreal Canadiens. It would be Lindblom’s NHL debut if he plays.
Neuvirth is 8-7-3 with a .915 save percentage in 21 appearances this season. He joins starter Brian Elliott on the shelf as Elliott is expected to miss up to six weeks after undergoing core muscle surgery last week.
As a way to augment its talent between the pipes, the team acquired Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings Monday night in exchange for a 2018 conditional fourth-round pick and a 2019 conditional third-rounder.
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