Giroux says he's fine, getting tests as precaution

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Every time you hear that a Flyer has a “minor” injury, you need to hold your breath several days to make sure that’s all it is.
 
Many times over the past several seasons, seemingly minor injuries to Chris Pronger, James van Riemsdyk, Marc-Andre Bourdon and so on, turn out to be worse than expected.
 
Which brings us to Claude Giroux.
 
He suffered a hit to the head last Friday playing in Germany for Eisbaren Berlin against Krefeld.
 
What was originally diagnosed as a “minor neck injury” could be worse, perhaps a concussion, though no one is actually saying that. Still, that can’t be ruled out of any head hit.
 
Giroux is on his way back to the United States and will undergo testing in Atlanta, according to Oliver Koch who reports on the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, via Broad Street Hockey.
 
Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren told CSNPhilly.com that all he knows is that Giroux is returning for “evaluation and precaution” for what was “diagnosed” as a minor neck injury.

Berlin general manager Peter Lee told the Ottawa Sun that Giroux is being evaluated for a concussion because he was not "feeling right" after taking a high elbow to the head.

"He got hit in the neck area and was feeling a little funny,” Lee told the Sun on Tuesday.
“Without even thinking, we wanted to double-check because we weren’t going to push him.

“You know how it is with players, we didn’t want him to make the decision, we want to make sure he’s going to be fine. He’s out for the week anyway. Rather than sitting around we might as well be pro-active so we’ve sent him back so we know everything is all right.”

Reached Tuesday afternoon, Giroux told us, "I'm fine, I'm just making sure that I am 100 percent" with these precautionary tests. "I will be fine."

Needless to say, the very last thing the Flyers need is for their top returning offensive player to be seriously injured, regardless of whether there is ever an NHL season this year.
 
Giroux’s last concussion, incidentally, was Dec. 10 against Tampa Bay when teammate Wayne Simmonds accidentally clipped him in the back of the head.
 
He missed 10 days and four games as a result of that collision.
 
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net