Couturier has lower-body injury, will play near end of Flyers preseason

PHILADELPHIA -- Sean Couturier sustained a lower-body injury and will need four weeks to recover, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said Wednesday.

The Flyers center was injured during a charity hockey game in Quebec on Aug. 10 but does not need surgery.
"We anticipate Sean participating partially at the start of training camp and then approximately halfway through camp we believe he'll be full-go and participating in the last number of preseason games," Hextall said.
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The Flyers report for medical testing Sept. 13 and start the on-ice portion of training camp Sept. 14. Their first of eight preseason games is against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Sept. 16. The first five preseason games will be played in six days, then the final three in a six-day span. Philadelphia opens its regular season at the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 4.
"Our timeline right now is he would participate in the back end of the preseason games, somewhere in [the final] two, three, four range, not the first four," Hextall said.

Couturier sustained a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee when he collided with teammate Radko Gudas during practice on April 17, the day before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 25-year-old forward missed Game 4 but returned to play for the final two games of the series. He had a hat trick and two assists in an 8-5 loss in Game 6. The injury did not require surgery.
"He was 100 percent at the time [of the new injury], had more than enough time to heal after the season," Hextall said. "I don't like to get into what type of injury, but it's not the exact same spot in terms of the [previous] injury.
"Just a play in front of the net, it was a rebound and his leg went the wrong way and that's pretty much how it happened. It was more a freak [injury] than anything."
Hextall said he wasn't concerned about Couturier having chronic issues with his knees.
"I think this type of injury heals fairly quickly and fairly well," he said. "Obviously he'll be in a knee brace and what not, (but) I don't anticipate this being an issue."

Couturier had NHL career highs in goals (31), assists (45), points (76), power-play goals (seven), power-play points (14), game-winning goals (six), shots on goal (227) and shooting percentage (13.7 percent) last season. He had a plus-34 rating (tied for third in the NHL) and finished second in voting for the Selke Trophy, awarded to the player voted the top defensive forward.
Couturier, who played in all 82 regular-season games last season, led Flyers forwards in ice time per game (21:35), which ranked third among NHL forwards behind Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings (22:05) and Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers (22:04).
Selected by Philadelphia in the first round (No. 8) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Couturier has 267 points (101 goals, 166 assists) in 498 regular-season games and 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 25 Stanley Cup Playoff games.