COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Flyers general manager Ron Hextall announced before Tuesday’s game that goaltender Brian Elliott had undergone core muscle surgery, most assumed that the 32-year veteran was done for the year. After all, it took Shayne Gostisbehere and Claude Giroux all of their summers two years ago to recover, and Nolan Patrick’s struggles with two such injuries and the recovery time required only accentuated that impression.
So when Hextall gave a timeline of five to six weeks before Elliott could return to the net — well, it raised eyebrows.
“Yeah,’’ Giroux said when asked if the timeline surprised him.