Photo Credit: Shaylah Rice
Sean Couturier’s last game was on December 18th, a game in which he tallied one assist. It’s never easy losing your number one Center, and one that plays so well offensively, as well as, defensively. Unfortunately, Couturier had successful season ending back surgery, and the doctors do expect Couturier to be 100% ready for training camp.
Couturier does a bit of everything and does it well. He is the backbone of this Flyers team, and he is sorely missed. Couturier is a hard player to replace, especially with the versatile player that he is. It’s great to hear that Couturier is doing well with rehab:
“The good news is Sean Couturier is doing great. He’s doing all summer training. Feels very good.” – Chuck Fletcher
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
Whatever the case may be Couturier is a huge piece to the Flyers overall success, as is Kevin Hayes. Hayes is also well with getting ready for training camp, per Chuck Fletcher. “Same with Kevin Hayes,” Fletcher says. “Hopefully, there are no more surprises this summer in a negative sense. Like a week and a half ago when I got the call that Joel Farabee had numbness and pain in his neck and it could be pretty bad. I was like are you kidding me. Hopefully, there are no more of those.”
The Flyers could use all the good news they can get right now, especially with two big pieces to their puzzle. It wasn’t the easiest day/night for Kevin Hayes and his family when he returned back to his hometown in Boston. He took his nephew Beau, his late brother Jimmy Hayes’s son, for a pre-game skate earlier in the day. Kevin Hayes believed it was his first practice skate:
As one can imagine this wasn’t the easiest game for him to play, but he did make some nice passes to Zack MacEwen, who was snake bitten by the goal post, or Hayes would have ended with a multi-point game in his reunion of sorts back in Boston. After healing from his second abdominal procedure this year, to include a third procedure to drain fluid from his abductor region. Kevin Hayes has somehow managed to play in 45 games this season, while tallying nine goals and 21 assists. He has looked more like his self over the course of the past 20 games or so, and he got that long stride that he used to have when he was completely healthy a few years ago.
A healthy Hayes and Couturier could go a long way for the Flyers this coming season. With a new coach in Tortorella, these young players will look for Hayes and Couturier for guidance. This is great news for the proud faithful of the orange and black.
