Chris Pronger spoke for the first time this morning since having surgery on his right hand that will keep him out of the lineup for about a month.

Pronger didn't say anything unexpected, but admitted it will be difficult to sit out this next few weeks with the team in a battle for the top spot in both the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division.

"It’s never easy being hurt and sitting out," he said. "You want to be part of the team, part of the action and playing. So, yeah it sucks. But I have to use this time wisely and make sure that when I do get back and can jump in seamlessly."

Pronger admitted that he tried to play through the injury, but that it didn't seem to feel right and progressively got worse.

"Nothing was showing up on the x-ray but it continued to stay weak," he said. "It wouldn’t get any better during the off days and it was getting weaker after playing. So we had a CT scan and it showed up and decided to get it fixed."

Pronger said his timetable is pretty much set to where the bandages will come off Sunday and he will be put in a splint and then next week he will start skating to get his game legs back and follow a well-designed rehab program over the next few weeks to strengthen his hand.

In the meantime, Erik Gustafsson and/or Nick Boynton will take his place in the lineup.