Flyers center Sean Couturier listed as ‘week to week’ after suffering ‘upper-body’ injury

On Sept. 12, Flyers center Sean Couturier sat in front of the media and, with a big smile on his face, expressed his excitement to get back on the ice after missing most of last season with a back injury that required surgery. Now, he’s injured again, and training camp hasn’t even started yet.

The Flyers said in a statement Monday that Couturier is considered “week to week” with an “upper-body injury” and that he will be reevaluated during training camp.

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The announcement from the Flyers came just hours after several journalists reported that Couturier recently had suffered another back injury.

Although training camp doesn’t officially start until Thursday, most of the team has been participating in unofficial skates and working out at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees since around Labor Day. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Couturier reportedly felt pain in his back while participating in one of those sessions within the last few days.

While the injury reportedly is in a similar area to Couturier’s previous back injury, it’s not yet clear if they are related, according SportsNet. Couturier and the Flyers are expected to seek a second opinion regarding the severity of the injury.

The 29-year-old last played for the Flyers on Dec. 18, 2021. The Flyers later revealed that he had a back injury, although he had been dealing with it for some time before that game. Couturier, who wound up playing in just 29 games, was later shut down and underwent season-ending surgery in February. He spent the rest of the season and offseason rehabbing, although he did travel with the team to provide leadership.

When Couturier spoke last week, he said he had lots of ups and downs, even through the summer. He said he had to be really careful not to push himself too far and to let himself heal properly. However, when he returned to Philadelphia, the doctors cleared him to play. The conversation led Couturier to believe that the injury would not continue to be a problem.

“That’s my understanding,” Couturier said. “Hopefully, we can move on from this and never look back at something like that. At the same time, it’s a physical sport. Pretty tough out there. And injuries happen. It’s part of the business. But looking forward to being healthy again.”

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Couturier’s injury is a massive blow, as he was scheduled to be the team’s top center and would have featured prominently on the power play and penalty kill. A two-time 70-point player and a former Selke Trophy winner, Couturier is viewed as one of the team’s most important players heading into 2022-23 under John Tortorella.

“We feel pretty confident, or I should say quite confident, that Couturier and [Kevin] Hayes will be able to bounce back,” general manager Chuck Fletcher said after addressing the first day of free agency. “Right now, as an organization, the most important thing that we have to do is stabilize. We’ll be a much-improved team. We’ll be a competitive team.”

Before last season, Couturier signed an eight-year, $62 million contract extension with the Flyers ($7.75 million average annual value) that made him the team’s most expensive player and locked him up through the 2030 season.

“When you have Couts, who is one of the best players, if not the best player, going at 100 percent, he anticipates, he dictates the play,” winger Cam Atkinson said last week. “Not only in the offensive zone but defensively because he’s so good.”

Couturier’s injury is just the latest in a string of misfortune for the Flyers, who still do not have defenseman Ryan Ellis (groin) healthy and also have seen young wingers Bobby Brink (hip surgery) and Joel Farabee (disk replacement surgery) suffer serious injuries while working out this offseason.

The Flyers also announced that they brought in 34-year-old center Artem Anisimov on a professional tryout offer on Monday, although it is not clear if Couturier’s health played a role in that decision.