Today Is the First Day of Flyers Practice, and Claude Giroux Is Already Hurt

Flyers center Claude Giroux. Photo | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

UPDATE, 3:07 p.m.: Giroux is out for the entire preseason.

The first Flyers practice of the season started today. Hooray! The team’s best player got hurt 15 minutes in. Oh no!

Before anyone could even get excited for the start of Flyers season, Claude Giroux left the ice with what was officially deemed a “lower body injury.” (This is how hockey reports injuries.)

But it appears Giroux injured his groin. “First day of camp and guys go 100 miles an hour — things happen,” Flyers general manager Ron Hextall told reporters. “Obviously, that’s not the way you want to start, but that’s the hand we’re dealt and we’ll deal with it.”

Darroll Powe replaced Giroux in the lineup.

The Flyers are already dealing with the status of longtime defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who is unlikely to ever play for the Flyers again due to blood clots in his lungs. He’s holding out to make a return to the team in the second half of the season.

Flyers exhibition season starts Monday with split squad games against Toronto in Canada and Washington at the Wells Fargo Center.