Mike Rathje's reaction tonight here on Long Island:
“I'm always in pain, especially during the games. It’s obvious that I m not plying where I should be and its affecting me, the team and my family. It’s something I can’t really hide from."
Has retirement crossed your mind?
“Yes it has for the last year. This whole scenario of me playing injured all the time and taking medication all the time to play. It runs through my m ind and I am at the point you can only take drugs so long to play hockey.".
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The Flyers will likely discuss placing Mike Rathje on long term injury tomorrow at their practice facility.
Rathje has been bothered by back and hip problems for two years now and has considerable pain in his sciatic nerve, running through his back, leg and buttocks on the right side.
Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said last night he would speak to Rathje today because the club is running out of options.
“It’s no secret that Mike is pretty beat up,” Holmgren said. “We need some plan to deal with this. He has things going on with his back. We need to find a plan. And we need to find out what is going on.”
As bad as Rathje has played this season, I truly believe his total lack of mobility is related to this on-going injury which the FLyers either didn't know about when they signed him two summers ago or simply felt they could manage.
I think this is the first step to getting Rathje's $3.5 million salary off the cap this year and for the next 3 years left on his deal. The Flyers have a strong case since he was in pain all last season even though he missed just 3 games back then.
Should Rathje retire?
"You have to ask Mike about that," Holmgren told me. "You talk to him and right now he is down in the dumps. He is really depressed about this. He’s a hockey player and he wants to play.”
One target goes down, but can we be so lucky to see Burrell follow him out the door? I doubt it, but you never know. Maybe Gillick can work some magic.
2 comments:
This guy has got to be the worst signing that Clarke ever made. I do feel a little bad for the guy though. He is trying to play through pain, and hockey is the toughest sport to try and do that. You are getting hit night in and night out and there aren't six days off to recover like in football. It ain't his fault that the Flyers gave him all of that money.
I'm reading today that he's going to hold up the FLyers ability to move on just like Primeau did...MF'er!
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