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Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia Flyers’
The MLB trade deadline is approaching, and the free agent market has slowed to a crawl. The goalie market hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, but it hasn’t shown any signs of accelerating either. In fact, the goalie market is just about non-existent.
No goalie has signed a contract since July 1st. Six goalies have changed teams for a combined 7.875 million dollars. That is an average cap hi…
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Player Projection: Nikolai Zherdev
25, Jul 2010NHLHS Philadelphia Flyers Correspondent David Strehle takes a look at Philly’s top candidate to have a breakout season in 2010-11, newcomer Nikolai Zherdev. With youngsters like James van Riemsdyk and Claude Giroux and playoff upstart Ville Leino, the Philadelphia Flyers do not have a shortage of players that could possibly have a breakout season in [...]
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The Show
24, Jul 2010The boys in The Hockey Guys are back tomorrow afternoon with a fantastic show prepared just for you, the fan of the NHL. Back from a summer hiatus. We will not be going weekly just yet, but we have one hell of a show lined up for you that will be broadcast live, Sunday July [...]
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THG and JVR
24, Jul 2010The Hockey Guys live Sunday 7/25 with James van Riemsdyk.
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Sergei Bobrovsky Could Be The Future
23, Jul 2010Sergei Bobrovsky: The future of the Philadelphia Flyers in net?
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Simon Gagne: The Definitive Trade Post
22, Jul 2010In case you needed another reminder that sports are a business, the Philadelphia Flyers trade of longtime winger Simon Gagne proves just that.
The fan favorite was the epitome of class both on and off the ice. However, on a team up against the cap and full of veterans with no-trade clauses, somebody had to go.
It’s sad that the era of players starting and finishing their careers with one team is essentially over. There aren’t many Steve Yzermans, Tony Gwynns or Cal Ripkens anymore.
In an uncapped world, the Flyers would not have dealt Gagne, and even if they did, the return would have been much greater than a depth defenseman and fourth round pick.
As disappointing as the trade is, it is not surprising.
This deal enabled the Flyers to go from about $1.4 million over the $59.4 million cap to nearly $1.1 million under it at the time of the move.
Gagne will earn $5.25 million this season and can become an unrestricted free agent after the year.
The 22nd overall pick in 1998 netted 17 goals in an injury-plagued 2009-10 season, but he scored nine goals in 19 playoff games.
2010 Playoffs
Gagne broke his foot in Game 4 against the Devils and returned to the lineup 17 days later for Game 4 against Boston.
His OT winner that game kept the Flyers alive and started a streak of seven straight games with a point, with seven goals and an assist.
However, his last game as a Flyer wasn’t one to remember as he was a -3 and was on the ice for Patrick Kane’s Cup-winner.
Injuries
Gagne put up tremendous numbers despite missing 156 games over 10 seasons in Philadelphia with various injuries.
The winger missed 84 games over the past three seasons alone, suffering from a concussion, sports hernia and broken toe.
1998 Draft Class
Gagne scored 259 career goals. From that draft class, only first-overall selection Vinny Lecavalier has more goals (326). Lecavalier also played in 205 more games than his current teammate.
The only other player from the class with over 200 goals is Alex Tanguay with 203.
Tanguay and Lecavalier are the only two players selected ahead of Gagne that year to reach an all-star game.
Think about how fortunate the Flyers were that Gagne fell to number 22 for them.
Some not so notable players picked prior to Simon include: Bryan Allen (4), Rico Fata (6), Mark Bell (8), Mike Rupp (9), Jeff Heerema (11), Michael Henrich (13), Patrick DeRochers (14), Mathieu Chouinard (15), Eric Chouinard (16), Scott Parker (20), and Mathieu Biron (21).
Numbers to Consider
- No player has scored more overtime goals in a Flyers sweater than Gagne’s five. That doesn’t include his two playoff OT tallies—in Game 6 of the 2004 Eastern Conference finals against the Lightning and the comeback-igniter in Game 4 against the Bruins this year.
- No player has scored more regular season goals against Martin Brodeur than Gagne’s 18.
- Only Eagles kicker David Akers, who came to Philly one month before Gagne joined the Flyers in 1999, has been in town longer.
- It’s hard to believe, but now Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are the longest tenured Flyers, with five years each on the big club.
First Round Picks
Gagne is one of 37 all-time first rounders for the Flyers, and the 25th to be traded away.
- Of that group, four are currently on the team (Richards, Carter, Giroux, JVR). Five, if you include Brian Boucher, but Boosh is in his third tenure with the organization.
- Two never played in the NHL (Bob Currier, who was selected ahead of Bobby Clarke in 1969; Ryan Sittler, who was selected seventh overall in 1992).
- One played six games in the NHL before being allowed to leave as a minor league free agent (Danny Lucas).
- Two were selected in expansion drafts: Lew Morrison and Darren Rumble.
- One was claimed in the waiver draft (Steve Smith).
- One saw his career end due to injury after 19 NHL games over three seasons (Glen Seabrooke).
- Only one played an entire, significant career for the Flyers: Hall of Famer Bill Barber.
The point is Gagne’s trade is nothing new in Flyers history, 25 of 37 first rounders have been traded away.
Of those 25, there are plenty of significant names: Brian Propp, Peter Forsberg, Ken Linseman, Mike Ricci, Ron Sutter, Boucher, Bridgman, Behn Wilson, Dainius Zubrus, Joni Pitkanen, Justin Williams, Luca Sbisa, and Steve Downie.
Who is the last homegrown Flyer to play his entire career in orange and black? I can’t think of any in recent years, going all the way back to Clarke and Barber.
Notable Flyers Careers to End Unceremoniously
Dave Poulin was traded to Boston for Linseman in January 1990. Bob Clarke has called this the worst trade of his career.
Less than two months later, Propp was traded to the Bruins for a second round pick which turned out to be Terran Sandwith.
Poulin and Propp helped the B’s reach the Cup Final that spring. Propp also reached the Finals in 1991 as a member Clarke’s Minnesota North Stars.
Tim Kerr was left unprotected in the expansion draft after the 1990-91 season and was selected by the Sharks. San Jose then promptly traded him to the Rangers.
Mark Howe played in only 42 games for the 1991-92 Flyers due to back problems. After the season, the team granted him free agency so he could go to a contender. Howe signed in Detroit, where he went on to play parts of three seasons.
John LeClair was bought out in July 2005, as a result of a new CBA which introduced a salary cap to the NHL. The Flyers were forced to part ways with Johnny Vermont, and they bought out LeClair’s and Tony Amonte’s contracts to create cap space.
LeClair signed a two year deal with the arch-rival Penguins on August 15.
#12’s Career Achievements
The Daily News posted a few categories where Gagne ranks in orange and black:
FLYERS’ REGULAR-SEASON HISTORY:
2004 Game 6 vs. Tampa: OT winner
2006 Regular Season vs. Rangers: OT winner just seven seconds in
2010 February vs. Devils: OT winner as Gagne broke a long scoreless drought with maybe the best shift of his career.
2010 Game 4 vs. Bruins: OT winner as Gagne’s return sparks incredible run for both the team and himself.
2010 Game 7 vs. Bruins: Series winner . The crowd reaction at the Wachovia Center says it all. Still get chills every time.
Gagne’s Thank You to Fans
“The organization becomes like your family a little bit. But you have to understand that hockey is a business and that is the way it is. I am going to miss a lot of people there and it is going to be tough. But I am looking forward to this new challenge of going to Tampa Bay. I think it will be a great place and great fit for me.”
“I think the thing I will miss the most are the Flyers fans. All the support I got there for the 10 years that I played, even during the tough times when I had some injuries, the fans were really fair with me the whole time. There were a lot of No. 12 jerseys in the stands even when I started with the team in 1999. To them, I would just like to say a huge thank you. Those are the people I am going to miss the most.”
–Simon Gagne
The fans won’t have to wait long to return the thanks, as Tampa Bay comes to Philly for the fourth game of the season on October 14.
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The Problem with Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Homgren
22, Jul 2010Paul Holmgren is not a popular man in Philadelphia right now.
His trade of fan favorite Simon Gagne, formerly the longest tenured player on the roster, was roundly criticized by fans and analysts alike for the pathetic “value” Holmgren received in return.
So how did Holmgren find himself in this situation? How could a GM fresh off building an Eastern Conference Championship roster make such an egregious error?
It must stated that Paul Holmgren, despite the hyperbole circulating on blogs and message boards over the past week, is not an idiot. His overall track record seems to indicate an intelligent, competent GM with the ability to pull off the occasional heist.
His 2007 trade deadline deal of Peter Forsberg eventually netted the Flyers Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Scottie Upshall, and Ryan Parent, all of whom have played roles in the Flyers’ late ’00s resurgence.
His acquisitions of Braydon Coburn (for Alexei Zhitnik) and Ville Leino (for Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a fifth round pick) proved to be outright steals.
His 2007 signing of future captain Mike Richards not only locked up a franchise player for the following 12 seasons at a reasonable price, but it was also one of the first deals following the lockout to show the rest of the league the merits of signing players to ultra long-term deals in order to lessen their overall cap hits.
Even his 2009 trade for Chris Pronger, while criticized by some at the time as an overpay, showed a keen awareness of the needs of his current roster and a capability of acquiring the “missing piece” necessary to make a run at the title.
But if Holmgren is generally a good GM, what happened in the 2010 offseason?
On Wednesday, June 30, Delco Times sportswriter Anthony SanFilippo wrote a blog article giving some insight into the Flyers’ goals leading into the first day of free agency, with information coming from numerous sources in the Flyers front office. His analysis of their plan? Sign a few defensemen, sign a few forwards, get another goalie.
Notice there is no “trade away a top forward to get back under the cap” in that description.
Now that the Flyers offseason is likely close to complete, a question comes to mind: Was there ever actually a plan?
The likely answer: Yes. But the problem with the “plan” was that GM Holmgren did not do sufficient research prior to the start of the offseason to realize the consequences of his goals.
Let’s try to piece together what Holmgren’s actual goals were.
Goal No. 1 was to improve the defense, but in a very specific way. Holmgren kicked off his plan by trading for the rights to Dan Hamhuis, a very solid defenseman who was looking for a contract in the $4-5 million range.
After being unable to come to an agreement with Hamhuis, he dealt a second round pick to Tampa Bay for Andrej Meszaros, a 24-year-old defenseman with a $4 million cap hit.
All along, it seems, Holmgren was allotting about $4 million to spend on a No. 4/No. 5 defenseman, a plan that became obvious when fellow No. 4/No. 5 D-man Braydon Coburn was re-signed shortly after the Meszaros acquisition to a two-year, $6.4 million deal. Holmgren wanted to improve the defense and was willing to spend big money to do so.
In addition, he wanted a better No. 6 defenseman, preferably at a low cost. The signing of Sean O’Donnell to a one-year, $1 million deal achieved this.
Goal No. 2 was to sign a fighter, specifically former Ranger Jody Shelley, who tormented the Flyers during the final two games of the regular season.
The three-year, $3.3 million contract was an obvious overpay, hinting that the Flyers had set their sights on Shelley long in advance and wanted to be certain he would join the roster.
Goal No. 3 is a bit tougher to figure out, but it seems as though the plan was to acquire either a goalie or a forward in the price range of about $2 million.
Holmgren traded for the rights to Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco, and apparently both turned down offers in that range. It is possible that the Flyers also kicked the tires on Dan Ellis and Chris Mason, but could not come to terms.
Holmgren responded to those rejections by signing Nikolai Zherdev, a talented but flaky forward, to a one-year, $2 million deal in an apparent attempt to improve forward depth.
Achieving these three goals, in a vacuum, would succeed in improving the Flyers in 2010-11. Except for one thing.
Holmgren apparently forgot to do the math.
These planned additions would give the Flyers an estimated $10.3 million in additional cap hit. The problem?
Assuming the signings of RFAs Daniel Carcillo and Darroll Powe, the Flyers only had about $8 million in cap space.
This is where Gagne gets dealt for peanuts.
The problem was not so much that Gagne was dealt. For the players and fans alike, it was painful to watch, but he did have only one year left on his contract and has become injury prone. If the Flyers want to keep Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux, and James van Riemsdyk long-term, Gagne was likely going to leave in 2011.
The problem was when he was dealt.
It’s already been established that Holmgren had three offseason goals. If he succeeded in achieving these goals, the Flyers would be over the cap limit, and a player would have to be moved at some point.
But the job of a GM is to maximize the value of his players.
Trading Simon Gagne while the Flyers were over the salary cap limit gave Holmgren no leverage whatsoever in trade talks.
Teams knew he had to be dealt. So they offered nothing of value.
Had Holmgren recognized on June 30 that his plan would inevitably make the Flyers go over the cap, he should have dealt Gagne then, when he had leverage. He could have received, at the very least, a solid prospect and a higher draft choice, rather than a No. 6 defenseman with a bad contract (Matt Walker) and a fourth round pick.
But this failure goes back to Holmgren’s biggest problem as a GM.
Sometimes, he simply does not do enough research.
The 2010 mismanagement of the cap and subsequent Gagne trade is not the first time this has happened.
The first example was the extension given to Chris Pronger.
Pronger was signed to a deal that pays him through the age of 42. The yearly salaries are frontloaded, so Pronger will get the most money when he is the most effective. The deal was made under Holmgren’s assumption that if Pronger were to retire at age 40, his salary would come off the books.
However, Holmgren apparently did not read the CBA, which states that if a player is over 35 years of age, his full cap hit counts even if he retires. The Flyers disagreed with the interpretation, but they will likely have to live with it.
As a result, a 42-year-old Chris Pronger, either retired or a shell of his former self, will still cost the Flyers about $5 million worth of cap space.
Another example of Holmgren’s lack of research was the extension given to Michael Leighton.
Leighton was signed to a two-year, $3.1 million deal the day before free agency started. Holmgren apparently was sold on Michael Leighton as a legitimate goalie and did not want to risk losing him.
However, he did not take into account the likely lack of a market for goaltending during the 2010 offseason.
With few teams searching for starting goalies, prices went way down. More established goaltenders such as Dan Ellis ($1.5 million cap hit) and Martin Biron ($875K cap hit) went for less on the open market than the Flyers paid Leighton.
Had Holmgren let Leighton test the market, he probably could have eventually signed the goalie for less, or, in a worst-case scenario, picked up Ellis for the same price (or Biron for a cheaper price) as Leighton.
If Holmgren had spent the time to count the number of teams actually searching for a goalie in free agency, he could have anticipated the market and saved cash.
But he didn’t.
So Flyers fans are left in a frustrating spot.
They have a GM who is apparently a solid judge of talent and generally a good trader.
They also have a GM who often does not put in the necessary legwork, which can result in embarrassing failures.
This tug of war between “Good Holmgren” and “Bad Holmgren” will likely continue throughout his tenure as general manager.
The question for owner Ed Snider over the coming years will be simple. Do the successes of “Good Holmgren” outweigh the failings of “Bad Holmgren”?
The rest of the NHL will find out soon enough.
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For what it’s worth, my sources tell me the bag of pucks the Flyers received in exchange for left wing Simon Gagne are indeed very nice pucks.
By now you have no doubt heard that the Simon Gagne era in Philadelphia ended yesterday, as the Flyers shipped their longest tenured player to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for journeyman defenseman Matt Walker and the Lightning’s fourth-round draft selection in 2011.
Considering the fact that many observers and fans of the team were expecting a bit more of a return for the Flyers beloved 30-goal scorer, the hue and cry across southeastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware resounded in a collective, “WTF?!”
Because this trade appearson its surface to be so disproportionate in value that it defies any rational explanation, let’s just skip to the analysis of this butterball and try to understand how such an odious transaction was made by the Flyers, shall we?
The Flyers Had Limited Options
I have little doubt the Flyers would have received a better return for a player of Gagne’s caliber were it not for the obstacle of the player’s no-trade clause.
It should be noted Paul Holmgren did not have the ability to field serious offers from 30 different NHL teams, since Gagne only agreed to waive his NTC for teams that he approved of as acceptable destinations.
I can’t say this enough: This is why NTC’s are so prized in player contract negotiations. The NTC gives the player absolute control in any trade scenario.
Considering Los Angeles and Tampa Bay were the only two teams that came up consistently in trade speculation, it’s possible the Flyers were forced to choose a deal from one of just two possible suitors, with both of those teams fully aware of the leverage each possessed in such a negotiation.
If Matt Walker and a fourth-round 2011 draft selection were the best offers on the table for Gagne, I would love to know what the worst offer was.
So Why Not Just Keep Gagne And Wait For A Better Deal?
For a couple of reasons, actually.
First and foremost, I believe Paul Holmgren when he says his intent was to solidify his defense.
The scouting on Matt Walker is that he is a physical defenseman who makes sound decisions in the defensive zone, blocks shots, and likes to hit.
In last season’s Stanley Cup Final, none of those elements were present in the Flyer’s third-line defensive pairing, and Philadelphia paid dearly.
A rotation of Matt Walker and Sean O’Donnell at No. 6 on the Flyers defensive depth chart is a major upgrade over Ryan Parent and Oskars Bartulis. There is no disputing this.
Throw in Andrej Meszaros as a major upgrade over Lukas Krajicek at the No. 5 spot, and there is no denying an already formidable Flyers blue line just became much, much better.
And dare I say it, such depth on the Flyers blue line just might have been the difference for the Flyers in the SCF last season.
Of course, you may not agree. But looking at the Flyers offseason moves, it’s hard to come up with a better explanation.
Secondly, the Flyers were ready to move on from Simon Gagne, even if fans of the team were not.
Gagne will enter the final year of his contract after a 2009-10 season where the left winger suffered from a concussion and a broken foot.
The calculus on each says that as a 30-year-old player, Gagne’s production as a Flyer is more likely go down in 2010-11.
Of course, there’s no way to know that for certain.
But the Flyers looked at the situation, weighed the odds, and came to the conclusion that moving Gagne now, while he still had some value, was the safest bet for the organization.
And Matt Walker was deemed as an acceptable return for Philadelphia, whether Flyers fans agreed or not.
But…MATT WALKER?!
With all due respect to the faithful, the Flyers are the ones with scouts in the stands shrewdly evaluating talent in a division most of us know nothing about.
You may look at the deal on its face and see that a productive, beloved player left Philadelphia in exchange for a physical third-pairing defenseman; the organization sized up their needs and reached the decision that the two things the Flyers needed more than an oft-injured 30-year-old left winger in the final year of his contract were:
More physicality in the defensive zone.
Salary cap relief.
The Flyers got both in the deal.
Who Will Be Matt Walker’s Roommate For Road Games Next Season?
My suggestion? Dan Carcillo. He knows a thing or two about incurring the wrath of fans after arriving in Philadelphia to replace a dearly departed player.
You have to feel bad for Matt Walker. He really stepped into it the moment he became part of a trade he had no say in.
+++
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That’s all?
After ten years with the Flyers and giving it his all through thick and thin, Simon Gagne is gone. Everyone has heard about it for about two weeks now that he will be a goner because the Flyers were 3.1 million over the cap and he only had a year left on his deal. but most thought that the deal was for a goalie.
In return the Flyers get Matt Walker and a Fourth Round Pick.
Wait. What?
Yes, Matt Walker yet another behemoth defensemen, listed at 6 foot 3 and 214 pounds and a fourth rounder in next years draft. For those keeping track at home that gives the Flyers, eight NHL defensemen. Five of whom who are making at least 3.2 Million.
All combined now the Flyers are spending approximately 25.1 million on defense. How much for goalies you ask? A wimpy 2.475 on two of them(if you want to add Backlund, it’s 3.175).
After I heard I thought maybe he was an offensive defensemen. Nope. Five points last year. But he did have 90 penalty minutes which would have been good for fifth on the team but most among defensemen beating Chris Pronger by eleven. And he was -11 on the year while averaging just a shade over sixteen minutes of ice time. To his credit he did have 116 blocked shots last season which is huge.
But in all honesty, this is not what I was expecting at all.
I was expecting either for them to trade Gagne maybe for a prospect or draft picks or something along those lines to get be about 2.1 million under the cap and then either sign a goalie for cheap or trade someone else for one.
Or trade Gagne for a goalie say the unproven Bernier(age 21) or Quick(24), perhaps even Mike Smith(28) from Tampa who was not stellar but was on an average to bad Tampa team. Even for Jaroslav Janus(20) or Riku Helenius(22), two Tampa Bay goalie prospects, who preformed decently well in the AHL and ECHL this year.
My overall point is I wanted to see a proven goalie or perhaps even an unproven goalie who is young. Sorry Leighton(30), Boucher(31), and Backlund(28) but at those ages, and we still have no idea what we are getting each game from you, I would like some reassurance we have someone young to look forward to for the future or even rarer someone who is young and good(Quick for example, hell even Carey Price, but the door is slammed on him).
A scary trend in the NHL similar to running backs in the NFL, once when goalies hit 30 it is a crapshoot of what you are getting. Turco at 34 has not had a good year in three years though Dallas has been slightly down in that span, Turco was the backstop of the team similar to Brodeur in New Jersey. Theodore at 33 is bouncing from a .500 goalie to a 30-7-7 in one year. Nabokov is the shakiest goalie in the postseason at 35 and one of the big reasons he is going to Russia. The list goes on…
I am waiting to be wrong on this one and I would like to see the other shoe to drop in which we get a goalie. But at this time it does not seem likely.
For those people who are wondering what the Flyers have left in cap space post-deal: approximately 400,000 dollars.
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At the very least, this is hard to digest. For ten years, Simon Gagne called Philadelphia home.
He was as much a part of the city as the Liberty Bell or Ben Franklin. It’s easy to go the sentimental route with this, but that can be avoided. This is understandable. It is, as they say, a business.
It’s a business that has seen Philadelphia sports institutions like Brian Dawkins and Donovan McNabb go to Denver and Washington respectively. Bobby Abreu’s trade to the New York Yankees also comes to mind.
The business can be good, and it can be bad. It’s not a problem to see longtime stalwarts like Gagne go. It is a problem to see players like Gagne moved in a deal as incomprehensible as this one.
Sure, the Flyers had limited options heading into this offseason. The goal of trading a big-name roster player such as Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell, or Gagne seemed appealing should the team be able to upgrade the goaltending position.
But the goaltending options were never particularly strong, and the Flyers seem content to head into next season with Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher tending the twine.
In that case, the trade of Gagne is tough to swallow. The Flyers could have easily kept Gagne and tweaked other things.
They now have seven viable starting defensemen, but the ways in which they were added to the roster is somewhat baffling. Sean O’Donnell would be a great sixth defenseman. Unfortunately, so would Matt Walker, whom the Flyers have acquired in the trading of Gagne.
It has become clear that this was purely a salary dump by Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. He was attempting to clear Gagne’s $5.25 million salary from the books in what may not have been a necessary move.
A lot of people will argue and say that “it had to happen” because this was the position the Flyers were in. It was Holmgren who worked himself into this situation and he simply wasn’t able to work himself out of it.
In the end, the Flyers made two separate trades with the Tampa Bay Lightning this offseason. If you want to combine them into one trade, the Flyers received Andrej Meszaros, Walker, and a fourth round pick and dealt Gagne and a second round pick.
And what did they do in those trades? They ended up adding salary to the team.
Holmgren could have gone about things quite differently this offseason. They could have nipped here and tucked there.
They could have traded defenseman Braydon Coburn, who had a relatively disappointing 2009-2010 season. Instead, he was rewarded with a new two-year contract as a restricted free agent.
They could have avoided signing Nikolai Zherdev to a one-year, two million dollar deal.
They could have done a lot of things.
It’s reasonable that players like Scott Hartnell or Daniel Briere (who owns a $6.5 million cap hit through 2014) didn’t have a certain worth on the market.
Holmgren seemed determined to ship Gagne, who has given everything he has to this team over the last ten years. He’s dealt with his share of injuries, but if Holmgren’s reasoning for shedding Gagne from the roster was injury risk and this was the return value, he would have been better off holding on to the 30-year-old winger for another season.
In his first major move, new Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman fell into a perfect spot. He now will oversee a team that has Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, and Gagne up front.
Though Paul Holmgren has been in the Flyers’ front office in various capacities for the past 15 seasons, it was he, not Yzerman who looks to have made a rookie mistake.
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Simon Gagne Trade Makes Little Sense for Flyers
19, Jul 2010As everyone has been expecting, the Flyers pulled the trigger and traded away their longest-tenured player in Simon Gagne. But in an unexpected twist, the Flyers recieved next to nothing in return for a player who played such a large role in their recent Stanley Cup push.
They traded Gagne away to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and in return received defenseman Matt Walker and a 2011 fourth-round draft pick. So in a move that was supposedly made to free up cap space, why exactly did they trade for a guy scheduled to make $1.7 million per season over the next three years?
“This was a move to solidify our defense,” said Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren. “Matt Walker is a right shot defenseman that we like. He brings size, grit and toughness to our backend.”
So they traded for a defenseman to sure up their defense. Thanks a lot, Paul.
But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why they’d pick up his contract when they’re so strapped for cap space. Trading Gagne away was supposed to alleviate that, but now all they’ve done is perhaps come closer to breaking even.
However, as Sam Carchidi of Philly.com points out, the move likely isn’t complete.
“GM Paul Holmgren received lots of criticism after the trade was announced,” Carchidi writes, “but the deal cannot be judged until the next domino falls.”
Clearly Carchidi believes Holmgren will deal one of the dozen or so defensemen the Flyers have acquired as of late in return for a legitimate scoring threat to replace Gagne.
If he is able to pull that off, then the tone of the next article will be a lot more positive. However, until then, this looks like an absolute misfire on Holmgren’s part. If you’re going to trade away one of the most popular players on the team, you had better have a sound plan to replace him.
But, it hasn’t been a complete loss, because at least one party is happy about the move.
“My initial reaction was pure excitement,” said Walker after finding out he’d been traded to the Flyers. “To find out that I was coming to Philly, I don’t know if I would say it was a life-long dream, but I’ve always wanted to play in Philly and I thought I would be a good fit there.”
Walker had better be right about being a good fit, otherwise he’s going to be forever remembered as “that bum we got for Gagne.” But at least he’d be able to join Holmgren as “that bum who traded away Gagne.”
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End of an Era as Gagne Departs
19, Jul 2010NHLHS Philadelphia Flyers Correspondent David Strehle takes a look at the departure of Philadelphia sports’ longest tenured player. It’s hard to believe that just two short months after rescuing his Philadelphia Flyers from postseason elimination in such heroic fashion, Simon Gagne will no longer be wearing the Orange-and-Black. It’s now official, Gagne is an “ex”-Flyer, a [...]
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