"He's like the big toe on your foot," defenseman Sean O'Donnell said. "Things seem to work a lot better when he's out there. I know he's not 100 percent . . . but I think there's 30 teams that would love to have him as their anchor guy."
Pronger will practice again Wednesday before a decision is made on whether he plays against the Penguins. During Tuesday's workout, "we didn't do a lot of speed stuff, so I don't think today was a really good day to test his mobility and speed," O'Donnell said. "But he looked good at everything he tried."
General manager Paul Holmgren said Pronger would travel with the team to Pittsburgh, even if he doesn't play. The team's medical and coaching staffs will evaluate the situation before the opener.
"I think you have to rely on Prongs, too. It's his body," coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's the one who's feeling what he's feeling."
At Tuesday's practice, Pronger was paired with Matt Carle, his partner last season.
The other defensive pairings Tuesday: Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn; Andrej Meszaros and O'Donnell; and Matt Walker and Oskars Bartulis.
Leighton update. Goalie Michael Leighton, sidelined with a back injury, is progressing, and the Flyers decided not to put him on the long-term injured list, in which a player must miss 10 games or 24 days. Instead, he was placed on the injured-reserve list and can be activated at any time, since seven days have transpired since the injury occurred, Holmgren said.
Leighton is not expected to be available for a few weeks.
With Leighton on injured reserve, his $1.55 million salary counts against the Flyers' salary cap, but he does not count against the roster. Without Leighton, the Flyers have 24 players and can get down to the league maximum of 23 by placing Ian Laperriere on the long-term injury list on Wednesday.
