Flyers Lose Another Defenseman to Injury

The Philadelphia Flyers have lost the services of defenseman Braydon Coburn for the next four weeks due to a lower body injury.

Braydon Coburn

Coburn suffered the injury after blocking a shot late in the first period of a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  The shot went off of his left foot, which was the same one that he broke on opening night after blocking a shot against the Boston Bruins.  He was wearing a skate guard this time, but caught the puck on the inside of his foot.  He missed 12 games due to the broken foo earlier this season.  The Flyers are also without defenseman Nicklas Grossmann, who was injured after being hit by Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals.  Steve Mason, the Flyers number one goalie, is also out two weeks after he suffered what appeared to be a knee injury.

Coburn has one goal, five assists, six points, is a minus one and averages 20:01 of ice time per game in 31 games played.  He plays at even strength and on the penalty kill.  The defenseman has played better at home than on the road this season, at least that’s what the numbers indicate.  In 13 games played at the Wells Fargo Center, he has one goal, three assists, four points and is a plus three.  In 18 road games played, the defenseman has zero goals, two assists, two points, and is a minus four.  All six of his points have come at even strength.

He averages 3:02 of ice time on the Flyers penalty kill unit, which has really struggled this season.  It was thought that once Coburn came back from his injury earlier this season that he would be able to help the struggling penalty kill, but that hasn’t been the case.  He is a decent skater and has the ability to be a shutdown defender even though he’s prone to at least one costly misplay per game.  The Flyers will probably miss his ability to log a lot of minutes during games the most.  Coburn is on the ice a lot, but his point shots don’t exactly hit the net, most of the time.

Coburn’s replacement in the lineup will be Carlo Colaiacovo.  He was signed in October when both Coburn and fellow defenseman, Andrew MacDonald, went down with injuries.  He had only played in five games before the Flyers got back their defensemen.  In those five games played, he had zero points, two assists, two points and was a plus two.  The Flyers went two and three in the five games in which he played in.

Colaiacovo plays a sound positional game and can move the puck.  It wouldn’t be surprising if Craig Berube paired him with Luke Schenn.  They had played together while both were playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and seem to have developed some chemistry.  The bad thing about pairing these two together is that they both make mistakes in their own end.  If they are paired together than Luke Schenn could play the physical game he needs to be successful and Colaiacovo would be there to support him.

The Flyers are fighting an uphill battle to just try and get into a playoff spot, and the injuries to this team just keep piling up.