Rathje out indefinitely

Bad news for Flyers fans this afternoon, as it was announced defenseman Mike Rathje is out indefinitely with a herniated disc. This comes at an especially bad time because Lars Jonsson is yet to return from his high ankle sprain on his right leg. Rathje signed a large $17.5 million contract before the start of the 2005-2006 season. Rathje played in 79 games last season for the Flyers, most of them through pain. He had 3 goals and 21 assists last year along with a 22 +/- rating.

Denis Gauthier will return to the lineup tonight as reported earlier. The line combinations on defense may look a little something like this:

Derian Hatcher/Joni Pitkanen
Freddy Meyer/Denis Gauthier
Nolan Baumgartner/Randy Jones

Nonetheless, this is very bad news for a team that was going to count on Rathje. Paging Eric Desjardins...