Flyers lose Pronger to postconcussion syndrome

MONTREAL - Five surgeries in the last 16 months. Countless fractures, torn knee ligaments and muscle strains over the 18 years of his Hall of Fame career.

Chris Pronger can deal with all of those things. Headaches, nausea and perpetual fatigue are entirely different.

Pronger can have a baseball catch in his backyard with his sons, Jack and George, with a surgically repaired wrist, or ride a bike with his daughter, Lilah, with a rubber knee. He can't do any of those things if he is too woozy or too tired to get out of bed.

That's part of the reason why Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren shocked the hockey world last night by announcing that Pronger will be sidelined for the rest of the regular season and playoffs with "severe postconcussion syndrome."

"After consultation with respected concussion specialists Dr. Joseph Maroon and Dr. Micky Collins, it is the recommendation of both doctors that Chris not return to play for the Philadelphia Flyers for the remainder of the 2011-12 season or playoffs," Holmgren said in a statement. "Chris will continue to receive treatment and therapy with the hope that he can get better."

Pronger visited the specialists Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

"That's news to me. I don't think any of the guys knew," Scott Hartnell said with a grimace.

"That's devastating, to say the least. He is a presence. He is a presence in the [locker] room, a presence on the ice. When he is in the lineup, he brings a lot of intangibles that a lot of guys can't bring. We're upset about it. It's a big loss."

The exact cause of Pronger's concussion remains unclear. He has been out since Nov. 19, when he began complaining of symptoms. He took a face-first spill in a game 2 days earlier against Phoenix, and also missed six games after being hit in the right eye with a stick on Oct. 24 against Toronto.

Now, with the bread and butter of the NHL season still in front of them, the first-place Flyers will have to pick up the pieces and move on without their captain. Pronger is the third Flyers captain in about a decade, joining Eric Lindros and Keith Primeau, to be sidelined with a concussion. Primeau, of course, retired in 2006 from postconcussion symptoms that linger today.