By Sam Bush
The Flyers are a team in the National Hockey League.
But sometimes they act as if they are the CIA, hiding their business, especially regarding injuries.
Take what happened Monday afternoon when the team announced, via its official Twitter page, that captain Claude Giroux would not be attending a season ticket holder meet-and-greet at the Wells Fargo Center Monday evening because he was “being evaluated by team doctors.”
Giroux took part in practice on Monday and played in the Flyers’ most recent game, a 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Just a couple of hours after the initial statement that Giroux was being evaluated, the team released another vague statement from general manager Ron Hextall:
Claude Giroux was evaluated by team doctors tonight and he is fine, according to #Flyers GM Ron Hextall.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 18, 2014
Tim Panaccio of Comcast Sportsnet pointed out that Monday’s practice was a very physical session and that it’s possible that Giroux could have been banged up during that time, but that he was supposedly “fine” after leaving.
Giroux has appeared in all 16 games for the Flyers this season and has 21 points (five goals and 16 assists) on the season. A year ago he finished in third in the NHL’s MVP voting after leading a second half turnaround that put the Flyers into the playoffs. He finished the season with 86 points (28 goals and 58 assists).
The Flyers are back in action on Wednesday night when they make the short trip to New York to take on the Rangers.
