Flyers’ Giroux, Gostisbehere Need Surgeries

It became clear, by the time the Flyers were in the midst of their first-round playoff series against the Washington Capitals, that something was wrong with Claude Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere.

Neither seemed like himself and it showed. Neither would fess up after the season to injuries affecting their play because that’s just hockey culture.

Still it came as little surprise when general manager Ron Hextall finally came clean Saturday that both will need surgeries to repair their right hips and torn bilateral lower abdominal muscles.

“The medicine has come so far,” Hextall said on a conference call with reporters. “There was bad hips back in the 80s and 90s, but there wasn’t this type of surgery. What it does, basically, is it puts a lot less wear and tear on the body.

“The medicine has come so far that you’re preempting some injuries where there’s not too much damage on the hip and both these players should be in better shape at the start of this year certainly than they were at the end of this past season.

The surgeries will all happen Tuesday with Dr. Eric Kropf taking care of the hip surgeries and Dr. William Meyers performing the abdominal procedures. The expected recovery time is 10-12 weeks.

Giroux was hampered by the injury since about halfway through the season, Hextall said, and they figured that surgery would be necessary at some point. They debated more after the season and came to the final verdict.