Flyers hope Coburn won't be out long-term: report

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn could only miss a few days with a lower-body injury that kept him out of the Flyers' game Thursday against the New Jersey Devils, according to CSNPhilly.com.

Coburn was removed from the lineup hours before the game started and was seen on crutches during pregame introductions. Coburn had three shots on goal, two blocked shots and two hits in 20:02 of ice time in the Flyers' season-opening 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Friday that Coburn would be re-evaluated Monday but was optimistic Coburn would not be out long-term.

"We've actually gotten better news than we had [Thursday], but until Monday we won't be able to be definitive," Hextall said according to CSNPhilly.com. "I'm hoping it's short-term instead of mid-term is the best way to put it. Before I was thinking weeks … hopefully now it's less than that."

Coburn has been ruled out of the Flyers' game Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens. After that the Flyers play at home Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks and then have three games in five days at the Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins from Oct. 18-22.

Hextall said he would be patient before deciding on how to handle his roster, whether that included calling up a player from the American Hockey League or pursuing trade options. Nick Schultz, who played in place of Coburn on Thursday, had one shot on goal and one hit in 14:46 of ice time.

"You still got to look at your options and prepare for [Saturday] and a couple of weeks from now," Hextall said. "We'll continue to look and see what the options are."