Wrist injury could delay start to Briere's season

The Philadelphia Flyers could open training camp without center Danny Briere, who sustained a wrist injury playing in Germany during the lockout.

Briere was injured Dec. 28 and, at the time, expected to miss about two weeks. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer in Sunday's edition that he sustained a bone bruise and a sprained left wrist, and will visit a hand specialist later this week. He told the newspaper he expected he would be ready for the start of the season, or, at most, miss a game or two.

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren said he knows about the injury, but doesn't have a lot of details.

"Danny Briere is a little bit of a concern," Holmgren said during a media session Monday. "We'll get the information on that over the next few days."

When asked if Briere would be ready at the start of the season, Holmgren said that would be up to team doctors.

"I don't know for sure," he said. "We'll see in the next few days once our doctors get their hands on him. I don't think it's serious, but we'll see. The fact that Danny was playing probably was good. Missing a little bit of time isn't that big of deal. Obviously you'd like to have him. If we don't, we'll deal with it."

Briere had 16 goals and 49 points in 70 regular-season games in 2011-12, but then had eight goals and 13 points in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Another player the Flyers could be missing at the start of the season is defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who tore his right Achilles tendon while working out during the summer. Meszaros has been skating since Nov. 12, but said he wouldn't be sure if he would be ready to start the season until he got up to speed at training camp.

"I don't know," Meszaros told CSNPhilly.com following an on-ice workout Monday. "It's tough to say. I really didn't have a full practice with everything. Or a scrimmage. The speed of the game … it's a great tempo but it's not -- I have to try it. Once we start practicing with the whole team and do scrimmages, then I can actually say whether I can. I can't really tell right now."

Holmgren said he was hoping Meszaros would be ready for whenever the season started, but said the final decision would be made by the player and team doctors.

"Meszaros will get checked out [Monday]," Holmgren said. "He looks good on the ice. He feels good, so we're hoping he gets clearance to go ahead. I think it's just a trust issue [skating for Meszaros]. I'm assuming the doctors are going to say he's good to go. Then it's just going to come from Andrej practicing and doing the things that we can do."

Holmgren also addressed the team's captaincy. With defenseman Chris Pronger out indefinitely while he recovers from a concussion, the thought is Claude Giroux could take on the role. However, Holmgren said that wasn't a front-burner concern for him at the moment.

"I haven't even thought about it," he said. "I'll sit with Lavy [coach Peter Laviolette] over the next few days and we'll decide. Obviously we'll have a captain at some point. That's another thing to add to the list. Thanks for bringing that up."