The Adirondack Phantoms could have center Garrett Roe back in the line-up this weekend.

That was just one of several injury updates that Phantoms coach Terry Murray passed along after Monday morning's practice at the Civic Center. Roe, expected to be one of Adirondack's top centers once the NHL lockout ended, has played just two games since Dec. 28 thanks to two upper-body injuries.

He has been out of the line-up entirely since he was hit while killing a penalty in the team's Jan. 12 loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. But the second-year pro made it through an entire practice Monday wearing no-contract colors, and Murray said he is hopeful that Roe will be back in a normal jersey later this week and in the line-up for this weekend's games against the Syracuse Crunch.

"We'll see how he came through today," Murray said of Roe, who had 40 points as a rookie last season. "Today was the hardest workout, shooting some pucks and skating. We'll follow that up today or tomorrow and see how he comes out of today. We'll kind of shoot for the weekend."

In other news, defenseman Erik Gustafsson missed Monday's practice, though Murray said it was a maintenance day and Gustafsson is expected back on the ice Tuesday. Murray also had some more insight into the quote-unquote ankle injury that had kept Gustafsson out of the line-up for six weeks.

Initially, x-rays came back negative and it was initially believed the injury was only a deep bone bruise. It got better after a couple of weeks and Gustafsson tried to get back on the ice, but left a practice and appeared to be in some pain when he left the ice. Gustafsson then went to see the Flyers team doctors. By that point, Murray said, swelling had subsided and x-rays revealed Gustafsson actually had a fracture in his tibia. Murray said it looked like an indentation that could have been caused by a ping pong ball, but it was right around the area where he would lace up his skates.

When Gustafsson tried to get his skate on, Murray said, his skate laces would dig into the site of the fracture. That's what made it such a lengthy injury. If the injury was to a different part of his leg, there's a chance that he could have returned to the line-up sooner. Murray even went as far as saying it was a matter of inches. Regardless, Gustafsson is healthy again now and should be good to go.

-- Matt Ford is still feeling the effects of taking a knee from Albany's Brandon Burlon on Jan. 26. Murray said it was a "lower-body, knee issue" and added there's still no timetable for Ford's return.

-- Mike Testwuide, who suffered a head injury Jan. 23 at Connecticut, participated in an off-ice workout. "I think when you get on the bike and you've gone through a head injury, it's a sign that you're feeling pretty good," Murray said. "You get some light exercise and see how you're going to respond later in the day. If there's no issue, you jack up the intensity of the workout and you just go through the process for three or four days. Then it gets to the point where you can do a baseline (test) and get cleared."

-- There were a couple of Tweets out there that said defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon, out since the start of December with concussion-like symptoms, has been skating on his own. Murray said that's not the case. Bourdon did skate when he went to see a concussion specialist in Atlanta as part of a supervised medical evaluation, Murray said, but that was the extent of it. No timetable there. Keep in mind that Bourdon is also technically no longer on Adirondack's roster, so he would have to either clear waivers or be assigned here on a two-week conditioning stint to play for the Phantoms again.

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No print story in tomorrow's paper, but here's something to look forward to for Wednesday's edition. Since the Phantoms lost a bunch of players to the National Hockey League last month, know who their leading scorer is? Jason Akeson? Marcel Noebels? Harry Zolnierczyk. No, no and no.

It's Danny Syvret, posting nine points in the 10 games since the Phantoms lost Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier and others to the NHL prior to their Jan. 11 game at Binghamton. Since Syvret went scoreless in the Jan. 11 and Jan. 12 games, he actually has nine points in his past eight games. He had 13 points in his first 35 games of the season, so he has really picked up the scoring pace as of late.

A good percentage of that has to do with the team's recent power play success, but you can read more about that online tomorrow evening and in print Wednesday. Syvret is also closing in on a milestone.

Expect another blog update after tomorrow's practice.

Until next time,
MC