Ed Moran: Richards injury may fuel trade for slumping Flyers

THE SIGNS that something was up with Mike Richards could be seen Thursday night. Out in front of the Flyers' bench during a break in the game with San Jose, Richards was going through a routine I had not seen from him since last year, just before he went out for abdominal surgery. It was clear he was uncomfortable as he went through an extensive set of stretches.

by Ed Moran | Columnist

Published Feb. 25, 2008, 3:01 a.m. ET

THE SIGNS that something was up with Mike Richards could be seen Thursday night.

Out in front of the Flyers' bench during a break in the game with San Jose, Richards was going through a routine I had not seen from him since last year, just before he went out for abdominal surgery. It was clear he was uncomfortable as he went through an extensive set of stretches.

At practice Friday, Richards said his back was tight, he was breaking in a new pair of skates and, well, new skates always give him problems.

But nothing more than that, he said. Maybe there was and maybe there wasn't, but the fact is

Richards is out for probably the next 3 weeks with a torn left hamstring suffered during the 2-1 overtime loss Saturday to the Panthers in the Wachovia Center.

"The doctors told me to take my time and to rest it up and see how it goes from there," he said yesterday.

"It is right in the middle of my hamstring and from what I hear it is better from being high or low. When I had my groin surgery last year, it healed a little faster than I expected, so hopefully this is the same way.

"It is disappointing. Everybody hates being out of the lineup. At this time you want to be out there helping your teammates going down the stretch."

This could be the blow that pushes the Flyers' season over the edge.

With 20 games left, the Flyers are going to have to play well over .500 to have a chance to get into the playoffs. That isn't going to be easy with their top point scorer and best player out for most of that time.

No Simon Gagne (concussion)for the rest of the season; Derian Hatcher is a question mark to return from his right knee issues; Joffrey Lupul (high ankle sprain) is still possibly 2 weeks away; and now Richards.

The Flyers keep holding the line that the injuries are not going to change the way they approach tomorrow's trade deadline, that they will not give up too much for a rental player, but that is getting harder to believe.

Given the circumstances, they need help, and Dan Boyle (Tampa Bay) and Brian Campbell (Buffalo), two as yet re-signed blue-chip defensemen, were still available yesterday afternoon, as were forwards Vaclav Prospal and Brad Richards, of Tampa.

"We're still going to pressure the options out there," said Flyers president Peter Luukko. "[General manager Paul Holmgren] is still looking at all the options, but the whole idea is we're not going to do anything where we would give up one of our young players for a rental."

This certainly makes the next 2 days more interesting, and the final weeks of the season nailbiters.

Jesse's back

After sitting out his 25-game suspension for crosschecking Vancouver's Ryan Kesler in the face at the start of the season, Jesse Boulerice has been recalled to the Flyers and will be in the lineup for tonight's game in Buffalo.

The Flyers also cleared defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick (sports hernia surgery) to play and sent him to the Phantoms. Steve Downie (concussion) could be in the lineup tonight.

"Fitzpatrick finally cleared to play and we think it is important for him to get playing again," Holmgren said. "We recalled Jesse Boulerice. That will give us 13 forwards and seven defensemen for our game [tonight]. [Downie] has a possibility of playing [tonight] so we will have to wait and see."

Back to the pads

Besides trading players, the league's GMs apparently spent a lot of time last week talking about ways to bring more scoring into the game, and have again gone after the goalies.

The general consensus was that the pads need to be reduced again, and the league will try to come up with new rules this summer.

If that doesn't work, could larger nets be far away? How about smaller pucks? Here's a better idea: Leave the game alone before the real fans - the ones who follow the games, pay for the tickets and actually care - get fed up. *

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