Philly Flurry

With the NHL Entry Draft occurring tonight, the Flyers opened back up the trade scene in a big way.

A little while ago, they acquired the negotiating rights to pending UFA and former Vezina-nominated goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov from the Phoenix Coyotes. This was the move the Flyers had been looking for to solve their perpetual goaltending issues. After seeing the goaltending musical chairs that resulted in their second round trouncing by the eventual champion Boston Bruins, it was no mystery that what the Flyers lacked was reliable goaltending. The only problem here was they did not acquire a player under contract. Just last year, they had obtained the negotiating rights to standout defenseman Dan Hamhuis from Nashville, which they quickly traded to Pittsburgh when contract talks faltered. And still, when the free agent market opened, he did not sign with the Penguins, instead heading up to Vancouver.

The Flyers needed to clear cap space if they were to sign Bryzgalov, and they did so with the most surprising coupling of trades you could have imagined.

In one deal, they Flyers sent gifted goal-scorer Jeff Carter to Columbus for young winger Jakub Voracek and first and third round draft picks. In a second deal, they shipped captain Mike Richards off to Los Angeles for Wayne Simmonds and coveted prospect Brayden Schenn. After these deals, Bryzgalov was signed to a nine year deal.

For Columbus, they may have picked up the #1 center they've been missing. Imagine the goal-scoring ability of a line with Jeff Carter centering Rick Nash. This pairing could give monster offensive production, or could backfire gorribly. The only catch with pairing two 40-goal men is where is the set-up guy? Without a set-up man, these two could play a little puck hog and end up COSTING their team some goals. OR they could explode and propel the Blue Jackets into the playoffs. But if the Jacks are to have any postseason success, they still need to fill a massive void on the back end.

For the Kings, they add another star center-man who is a gifted offensive producer with leadership skills galore. With Ryan Smyth reportedly on the move to Alberta, Richards would round out a ferocious top 6 up front which would include Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, Dustin Brown, Jarrett Stoll, and Dustin Penner, all 20 to 30 to even 40 goal men. With Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson on D, and Jon Quick in net, the talented youth is in place in L.A. for the long term, and all that really remains to be seen as some depth.

From the Flyers perspective, they gave up a ton, but this could end up really paying off for them. Bryzgalov has yet to play in a city with big hockey pressure, but he could end up being the big game goaltender they've been missing, and his presence should aid in the development of promising young goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Meanwhile, their stellar defense remains intact and while they gave up their two-biggest offensive producers, plenty of offensive talent remains. They still keep guys like James van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux, Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, Kris Versteeg, and Ville Leino, who all know how to find the back of the net, plus they brought in two talented young forwards in Voracek and Simmonds to bring in talent and grit, just they way they like it in Philly. But even with Briere moving back to his natural position of center, there may be a depth issue down the middle if the Flyers cannot bring in a number 2 center. Schenn can fill that void down the line, but he is likely not close to ready. That leaves just Darroll Powe and Blair Betts, neither of whom have the talent to anchor a second line. The Flyers also got the 8th overall pick out of the Carter deal, so they may be able to get a top find there as well, but that's a gamble. If they really want another talented center, I would trade a defenseman. They have a very talented group of 6 in Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle, Andresz Meszaros, and Sean O'Donnell and surely can afford to let one of them go. There may be a question of leadership with their captain out of the picture, but both Pronger and Timonen have been captains of different teams previously, so there is still plenty of leadership mixed in with all that talent, as well as valuable playoff experience.

Before last season, I guessed that the Flyers would be the most dangerous team in the league, and for most of the season, they were second. But their Achilles heel was predictably their goaltending. Sacrificing offense for Bryzgalov here could be a move that pays huge dividends, and brings the Flyers much closer to drinking from the chalice of champions.