Andrej Meszaros is injured again. The Flyers defenseman has played just 10 games this season after recovering from an offseason Achilles injury and an in-season shoulder injury, and the team announced this afternoon that he’s hurt the shoulder again. With just 18 games left in the regular season, his season could be over.
Simply put, Meszaros had looked awful since returning to the Flyers lineup. He was slower than usual, he was hesitant with the puck, he had a tendency to drift around out of position and he wasn’t nearly as physical as he’s known to be. Who knows how much of that had to do with the injury woes and how much of it had to do with the Flyers general lack of coherence at the defensive position this year, but it was worrying anyway.
Erik Gustafsson has been recalled from Adirondack to replace Meszaros in the lineup, which is good because in this wasted season, it’ll be nice to see younger guys get a chance to prove what they can do. Nicklas Grossmann is still out of the lineup as well, so there’s plenty of room on the Flyers blueline right now.
Meszaros has one more year left on his contract. He’ll earn $5.5 million in salary next season and will come with a $4 million cap hit before becoming a UFA in the summer of 2014.
