Tyson Foerster will be out for 2-3 months, per an update from Flyers general manager Danny Brière on Tuesday. 

Foerster tried to tee up on a one-time shot during the second period of the Flyers’ 5-1 home loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night, but when his stick blade met the puck, he fell to the ice on the follow-through in visible pain and immediately skated to the bench to go down the tunnel while clutching his right arm. 

He was ruled out for the game’s remainder with an “upper-body injury,” and that remained his designation alongside the announcement of a 2-3 month absence. 

It’s a brutal blow for the Flyers either way. 

Right before the injury forced him to exit, Foerster had scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season to continue his offensive breakout as one of its core young stars. 

In the previous two seasons, Foerster had established himself as a dependable two-way winger capable of reaching the 20-25 goal range, but with this season’s fast start, the 23-year-old looked set to take a leap into the 30- and maybe even 40-goal territory. 

Unfortunately for him and the Flyers, those hopes are on hold now.

“That’s tough,” Travis Konecny, Foerster’s current linemate, said after Monday night’s loss to Pittsburgh. “He’s such a big part of the team, the locker room, everything, so yeah, it’s definitely difficult. We’ll see where that’s at.”

Without Foerster, the Flyers have a clear hole in the lineup that needs to be filled, along with a source of production that needs to be compensated for. 

Nikita Grebenkin could be an option to take on more ice time in a more offensively-oriented role, or maybe Alex Bump can get that call-up from the Phantoms for his first NHL look. 

Other wingers throughout the lineup, meanwhile, like Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, and Konecny will have to start finding the back of the net with more regularity to keep the Flyers afloat, knowing that each has already had their share of early-season struggles.

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