PHILADELPHIA(AP) -- Flyers winger Simon Gagne is expected to miss
the next six to eight weeks after having abdominal and hip
surgery.

Gagne, who missed the past two games, is scheduled for surgery
on Tuesday.

"It's hard to take, but it's still early in the season," Gagne
said. "I'll miss close to two months and have time to get back
in shape and feel 100 percent when I'm skating. That's something
I wasn't able to do right now."

The 29-year-old Gagne, who has one goal and four assists, has
two small hernias in his right groin, the same area that
required hernia surgery before the 2007-08 season. He also has
had multiple hip operations due to problems linked to the groin.

"He's had repairs in both of those areas before, so the doctor
wants to go through those same incisions - they're just small
incisions - and reinforce and strengthen the area," Flyers
general manager Paul Holmgren said. "He will look at the small
hernias that we saw in the ultrasound and see if they really are
there."

The Flyers wanted Gagne to have surgery earlier, but Gagne
sought a second opinion. The team issued a statement Saturday
saying it was still reviewing MRI, ultrasound and bone scan
results, and hadn't made a decision.

The delay "was more to just make sure Simon was feeling
comfortable with what was going on," Holmgren said. "I think
deep down, he just wanted to know which is right. It does seem
frustrating at times, but at the end of the day you've got to
trust the player. Simon's been through a lot and we just wanted
to make sure we get it right."

Added Gagne: "We went to the bottom (of it) to make sure we were
making the right decision for myself, the team and the future,
to go and do the surgery. We're going to do the surgery and get
on a program to make sure those types of injuries don't happen
to me anymore."

Danny Briere also has missed two games for the Flyers after
tweaking a groin injury and Ryan Parent has missed three games
with a groin strain before returning for two periods on
Saturday.

He re-injured the groin and could miss another week.