[Jlg-28]

Source: Couier Post - Chuck Gormley

What's next?

OK, so now that all of the suspense surrounding Peter Forsberg and the NHL trading deadline is behind us, it's time to sort out who will be here and who won't on Feb. 28.

Last week, when Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren was answering one of the million or so Forsberg questions, he mentioned a "base" upon which the Flyers would be built.

Holmgren identified Simon Gagne, Sami Kapanen, Dennis Gauthier, Derian Hatcher and Alexei Zhitnik as the rocks upon which the Flyers will be rebuilt. (The feeling here is that Mike Knuble's omission from that list was simply an oversight.)

By naming his team's five or six cornerstones, Holmgren did not necessarily imply they would all be untouchable between now and the Feb. 27 trade deadline. In fact, the Flyers would trade Hatcher if they felt they could get something of value in return.

And while it's clear the Flyers are not in fire sale mode as the deadline approaches, they do have a few players who will attract interest over the next nine days:

Derian Hatcher: Hatcher might be the most intriguing. With two more seasons remaining on a contract that pays him $3.5 million a year, Hatcher has been labeled too old and too slow for the new NHL, but he remains one of the NHL's best penalty killers and brings the kind of veteran playoff experience some teams may covet.

Hatcher has a no-trade clause, but said he would lift it to go to a contender. The Flyers will not simply give away Hatcher because he remains one of the few strong voices in the locker room, but they will consider dealing him if they can get a younger, less expensive player in return, freeing up even more cap room over the summer.

Robert Esche: If Esche survives the Feb. 27 deadline, it will be a shock. If you prorate his $1 million salary, he would cost a team only $217,391 if acquired at the trade deadline. That's a steal for a goalie who three years ago came one win away from going to the Staley Cup Finals.

The Montreal Canadiens sure could use a goaltender with playoff experience now that Cristobal Huet is sidelined indefinitely with a hamstring injury.

The Habs have battle-tested David Aebischer to step in while Huet mends, but if Aebischer falters, they could come looking for Esche.

Other teams that might need security between the pipes are Detroit (unproven Mike Smith is behind Marty Turco); Anaheim (Ilja Bryzgakov has a losing record behind J.S. Giguere); and Pittsburgh (Jocelyn Thibault has a losing record behind Marc-Andre Fleury).

There is another interesting scenario in which Esche is dealt to Buffalo (not too far from his home in Whitesboro, N.Y.) in exchange for goaltender Martin Biron, who would get a crack at being the Flyers' starter next season.

Speaking of goaltending, it looks as though Antero Niittymaki will be re-signed by the Flyers at about the same salary ($1 million) he is making this season. The Flyers aren't letting Niittymaki off the hook for this season, but they'd like to see him compete for the job next season with a fresh start and a healthy hip.

Geoff Sanderson: At 35, Sanderson still has another year remaining on his contract, but at $1.5 million he is not a great financial burden for a team that could use some scoring depth.

Sanderson looks a bit slower since returning from a sports hernia, but he could provide an offensive spark to a playoff team in need of some scoring punch from its third line.

Sanderson and his family have been featured on several promos for the Flyers' Wives Fight For Lives Carnival, which took a big hit when Forsberg was dealt to Nashville. So the Flyers might hold off on trading Sanderson until after next Sunday's Carnival, which happens to fall two days before the deadline.

Because he is not a six-week rental, Sanderson might draw a decent prospect or a second-round pick.

Kyle Calder: Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the Flyers' disappointing season, Calder is playing his best when it matters least. After netting a career-high 26 goals for Chicago last season, Calder is on pace to finish with 12 goals and a franchise-worst minus-41 this season.

Oddly enough, Calder still has some trade value, especially for Western Conference teams that saw him torch them for goals last season. He has picked up his game since playing alongside Jeff Carter, but at $2.95 million the only way the Flyers should re-sign him is if he agrees to play for free next season.

Mike York: Holmgren would like to erase this mistake from his resume. The Flyers thought they were getting a hard-nosed, hard-working veteran when they sent Randy Robitaille to the Islanders for York. Instead, York has been a major disappointment with two goals, one assist and a minus-8 in 18 games with the Flyers

[Hextall_Fan88]

Good read.. I think Knubles injury has pretty much erased any thought of dealing him at the deadline.

[Chris]

Hatcher has a no-trade clause, but said he would lift it to go to a contender. The Flyers will not simply give away Hatcher because he remains one of the few strong voices in the locker room, but they will consider dealing him if they can get a younger, less expensive player in return, freeing up even more cap room over the summer.

Please. We need some more speed in the back.

[Hyperfried]

Chuck Gormley, you are my savior. Now I understand!

I really hope they make some of these deals.

[Chris]

I really hope we keep Sanderson, he's a big part of the future here with developing the younger guys and all. It'd be foolish to let him go, IMO.

[Flatline]

Same here, hope Sanderson is back next year.

[Blindside]

Esche - I think the best we get for him is a 2nd or 3rd rounder, which would be great... but it won't be from MTL with their recent slide getting them possibly out of the playoff picture. I would expect a team like Dallas or Vancouver to try and pick him up as insurance, but don't expect a lineup for his services.

Hatcher - I don't know if I'd trade him at this point. He hasn't been bad at all recently, unless he's misused. He's been a steady #3-4 blueliner, maybe a stay-at-home presence to balance out a guy like Picard, Timonen or Jonsson next year. He's also been a premier shot blocking d-man and is one of the main reasons why our PK is top 5 in the League. His $3.5M/yr salary is a big bite, but relative to what some guys out there got last off-season (like Jay McKee getting $4M/yr) it's a pretty consistent price. If the cap goes up to $46-47M next season it's less of a financial hit still. I vote to keep him and use him to the best of his strengths, keep him out of situations where his weaknesses can be exploited.

Calder - Re-sign him. Period. He and Carter already had good chemistry and Upshall coming in has provided even more spark to the line. These three are playing so well that they're being tabbed as the new top line. I think he'll take less than his $2.95M arbitration reward from last year, or maybe an incentive laden contract is possible. At any rate, I wouldn't move him right now.

Sanderson - He'll be in Detroit by Monday or Tuesday. I can almost guarantee it. Okay, I can't almost guarantee it, but my gut is telling me that. Plus, apparently there were two Detroit scouts at the Philly-Boston game. Media outlets were saying they were scouting Hatcher, but Detroit needs some secondary offense more than D right now.

[Hextall_Fan88]

Originally Posted by Blindside

Esche - I think the best we get for him is a 2nd or 3rd rounder, which would be great... but it won't be from MTL with their recent slide getting them possibly out of the playoff picture. I would expect a team like Dallas or Vancouver to try and pick him up as insurance, but don't expect a lineup for his services.

Hatcher - I don't know if I'd trade him at this point. He hasn't been bad at all recently, unless he's misused. He's been a steady #3-4 blueliner, maybe a stay-at-home presence to balance out a guy like Picard, Timonen or Jonsson next year. He's also been a premier shot blocking d-man and is one of the main reasons why our PK is top 5 in the League. His $3.5M/yr salary is a big bite, but relative to what some guys out there got last off-season (like Jay McKee getting $4M/yr) it's a pretty consistent price. If the cap goes up to $46-47M next season it's less of a financial hit still. I vote to keep him and use him to the best of his strengths, keep him out of situations where his weaknesses can be exploited.

Calder - Re-sign him. Period. He and Carter already had good chemistry and Upshall coming in has provided even more spark to the line. These three are playing so well that they're being tabbed as the new top line. I think he'll take less than his $2.95M arbitration reward from last year, or maybe an incentive laden contract is possible. At any rate, I wouldn't move him right now.

Sanderson - He'll be in Detroit by Monday or Tuesday. I can almost guarantee it. Okay, I can't almost guarantee it, but my gut is telling me that. Plus, apparently there were two Detroit scouts at the Philly-Boston game. Media outlets were saying they were scouting Hatcher, but Detroit needs some secondary offense more than D right now.

Good call with Hatcher. I wanted to voice that a while ago, but was too lazy. He's a steady d-man for us and one of the biggest reasons were #4 on the PK this season. 3.5 is nothing with the upcoming salaray cap going up, and we have quite a bit of room as it is. I'd care to wager Sanderson will go to either Toronto or Ottawa, (whichever team that doesn't get Roberts). Detroit is going for Tkachuk or Bertuzzi, a physical, gritty winger. Ever since Sanderson has come back from that sports hernia, he hasn't been his old self. Speedwise, almost the same, but if you look at his forechecking, compared to earlier this season, its almost non-existent.

[dutch74]

There are still rumors swirling about Hatch going to Detroit, but I think it's unlikely at this point. The only people I see moving at this point would possibly be York, Sandy, Esche, and Rathje (oops, sorry, just wishful thinking). Knuble's injury's tough but we hopefully won't move any young talent at this point.

[Blindside]

Originally Posted by dutch74

There are still rumors swirling about Hatch going to Detroit, but I think it's unlikely at this point. The only people I see moving at this point would possibly be York, Sandy, Esche, and Rathje (oops, sorry, just wishful thinking). Knuble's injury's tough but we hopefully won't move any young talent at this point.

Rathje's likely done anyways, so I wouldn't worry too much about him. He'll get a bit of the Jeff Hackett treatment and call it a career.

If York, Sanderson and Esche are the only guys moved, I'd be okay with it. If we can package Rosey and Afana-sinkhole for a pick or a decent hard-working prospect, I'd do it in a flash.

[dutch74]

Sandy to the Canes?

I've seen a number of rumors circulating that Sanderson could be shipped to Carolina soon. We would certainly get another d-man prospect and possibly another draft pick.

---------------

There is also some continuing interest in Calder, who could also go to the Canes. Holmgren has come out and said that he doesn't expect any trades to happen until Thachuk and Guerin get sorted. I find it kinda interesting that the boys will be in Carolina tonight.

[Blindside]

I don't buy the rumours of us sending a 1st to CHI for Seabrook. If we did, and they took it, great, but I don't think Dale Tallon is THAT much of a dimwit. [wishful thinking]How sick would a top 4 of Joni, Seabrook, Coburn and Parent be?[/wishful thinking]

I love the acquisition of Coburn. Yes Zhitnik could have been useful next year, but adding Coburn just makes too much sense and I think it's silly of Atlanta to burn a player with BC's potential to get Zhitnik at this point. If they were a top 4 team in the East, I could say it's worth the risk, but right now, they're likely fodder for a higher seeded team.

The Canes should be out of the Calder/Sanderson "sweepstakes" with their acquisition of Carter, and I hope that Calder is re-signed for less than his arbitration award from this season.

I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on Joffrey Lupul right now. If we could move Umberger + Dimitry OffensiveSinkhole for Lupul, I'd do it in a second. Edmonton seems to have lost confidence in the former highly touted young sniper and I think it's worth it to see if we can snag him in exchange for a couple guys who have taken backward steps in their development, I wouldn't hesitate. With the young depth in our system, it's worth the risk in my mind.

There were plenty of rumblings of a goalie being traded either in or out of Philly the past couple days, but I don't see one coming here at all. I'd be surprised if Frank was moved, less surprised to see Esche leave town but very surprised to see us get anything of value for him.

I think we're looking at a 2-3 year re-tooling instead of a 1 year turnaround for this team. If we go out and spend some money on a bona fide #1-2 blueliner to pair with Pitkanen and a steady bottom pairing guy to take Jones' place, we'll be well set with a possible back unit of:

Pitkanen-UFA
Picard-Coburn
Hatcher-Parent

I put Parent on the bottom pair for now because he'll get used to big-league hockey at a good rate with decent minutes. Coburn and Picard compliment each other's skillsets pretty well and the UFA signing would have to be a very defensive-conscious guy to give Pitkanen a little freedom to join the rush.

There's too many variables with the forwards right now, but I'd push to spend some money on a guy like Giguere or someone of his ilk in the off-season. It's taken him a while to get back to his form of 2002-03, but he's played very well this season and is one of the reason's Anaheim is hovering near the top of the standings, despite the absence of Prongs and Niedermayer.