Flyers' Gagne to miss 6-8 weeks

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PHILADELPHIA -- Flyers winger Simon Gagne is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks after having abdominal and hip surgery.

Gagne, who missed the past two games, is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.

"It's hard to take, but it's still early in the season," Gagne said. "I'll miss close to two months and have time to get back in shape and feel 100 per cent when I'm skating. That's something I wasn't able to do right now."

The 29-year-old Gagne, who has one goal and four assists, has two small hernias in his right groin, the same area that required hernia surgery before the 2007-08 season. He also has had multiple hip operations due to problems linked to the groin.

"He's had repairs in both of those areas before, so the doctor wants to go through those same incisions -- they're just small incisions -- and reinforce and strengthen the area," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. "He will look at the small hernias that we saw in the ultrasound and see if they really are there."

The Flyers wanted Gagne to have surgery earlier, but Gagne sought a second opinion. The team issued a statement Saturday saying it was still reviewing MRI, ultrasound and bone scan results, and hadn't made a decision.

The delay "was more to just make sure Simon was feeling comfortable with what was going on," Holmgren said. "I think deep down, he just wanted to know which is right. It does seem frustrating at times, but at the end of the day you've got to trust the player. Simon's been through a lot and we just wanted to make sure we get it right."

Added Gagne: "We went to the bottom (of it) to make sure we were making the right decision for myself, the team and the future, to go and do the surgery. We're going to do the surgery and get on a program to make sure those types of injuries don't happen to me anymore."

Danny Briere also has missed two games for the Flyers after tweaking a groin injury and Ryan Parent has missed three games with a groin strain before returning for two periods on Saturday.

He re-injured the groin and could miss another week.

And there goes my second best LW. Now I really have too many damn C and not enough LW.