[dutch74]

Thought I'd start a thread to discuss all deadline discussions...

here we go...

Rumors are that Montreal has interest in Esche (however unlikely)

Other possible trades include: Sanderson, York and Hatcher... so we'll wait and see, Holmes sounded like he was done last night in his comments after the Calder trade. He's proved tricky though.

[Blindside]

Esche won't go to MTL... Abby's been playing alright and Halak's been playing very well since his first game. At this point, MTL would be ill-advised to burn assets on a back-up netminder.

Like I said in the shout box, the return for Calder was good, better than I thought we could get. I'd still like to see if we can re-sign him on the open market though, as he had good chemistry with Carter and Upshall. I guess the new top line is Gags-Carter-Upshall, which could still be pretty effective in the attacking zone with Upshall doing some dirty work in the corners.

I really hope that Pitkanen is still with us come 3:01 pm... I've heard alot of chatter about him going to Buffalo for Biron, which of course, would make no sense at all.

Sanderson is the only guy I see moving that could bring in anything decent as a return. I doubt Hatcher will be moved, because I don't think any teams with cap space are in the market for a defensive D-man (besides the Pens, but... you know...).
IF Esche is moved, I don't see him bringing a great return, maybe a mid-4th or conditional pick or something of that nature. Same goes with York. I hope we can move him, but at this point, his salary is kind of redundant and any return we get likely wouldn't be worth the paper we use to fax the trade to the league office. We have the space and an open roster spot. Maybe if we give him Calder's minutes, he could show us something... or we could just give Richards that time, which I would like alot better.

The young talent on our blueline excites me. We can have Kukkonen and Coburn playing tonight and Parent can join next year for training camp. This could also be good chances for guys like Timonen and Jonsson to justify their contracts. I'm still hoping we re-sign Jonsson, btw, because I think there's alot of untapped potential there and D-men usually take longer to hit their peak than forwards.

With Eager out, I'd like to see a 2nd line of something like Sanderson (unless he's moved) on the left, Richards centring and OffensiveSinkhole (Afanasenkov) on the right, just to see if he has any attacking instincts left at all. It looks like he works hard and has good wheels, but his hands kind of disintegrated since the 03-04 playoffs.

As for the goalies, maybe we give Houle and Reg Beauchemin a shot to prove what they're worth at the NHL level. Esche should be moved if there are any takers at all, and Leighton (if he clears going down AND on re-entry) would be nice back-up for Frank, but if management wasn't impressed with him, he likely won't get another shot on the big squad.

[Rex]

Leighton picked off waivers by Montreal.

Flyers send 2nd Rd Pick to Buffalo for G Martin Biron.

I'd expect Esche to get moved by the 3pm deadline.

[Hextall_Fan88]

AS WELL

Denis Hamel picked up off Waivers by the Flyers

[Blindside]

Well, the dust has cleared and alot of moves that should have been made are left unmade.
I'm not worried that Sanderson and Hatcher are still Flyers, in fact, I like that.

Esche? Why pick up Biron if there were no takers for Esche? We burn a 2nd rounder to talk contract with Biron before anyone else.
York? We couldn't even recover the 5th rounder we spent to get him? Unless we can hopefully spark something in him by putting him on a 2nd forward unit with Richards and Umberger, he's waiver wire fodder.
OffensiveSinkhole? (Afanasenkov)... Works hard, possesses the speed and skill of at least a 2nd line sniper, but has the hockey mentality of a Tom Fitzgerald/Kent Manderville lovechild. Frustrates the hell out of me.

I'd like to hear stories of how Mike Holmgren almost took a flyer on Joffrey Lupul... or maybe I wouldn't, for fear of being frustrated more.

Overall performance for Homer on this deadline day is a high B, low B +... I mean, Pascal Dupuis netted Alex Bourret and a 3rd from ATL and we didn't even TRY to move Sanderson? I'd like to think Sandy holds much more value than Dupuis. He's a good player, at a reasonable price, but he just hasn't been the same since going under the knife. Nothing ventured, nothing gained Homer!

[Hextall_Fan88]

Originally Posted by Blindside

Well, the dust has cleared and alot of moves that should have been made are left unmade.
I'm not worried that Sanderson and Hatcher are still Flyers, in fact, I like that.

Esche? Why pick up Biron if there were no takers for Esche? We burn a 2nd rounder to talk contract with Biron before anyone else.
York? We couldn't even recover the 5th rounder we spent to get him? Unless we can hopefully spark something in him by putting him on a 2nd forward unit with Richards and Umberger, he's waiver wire fodder.
OffensiveSinkhole? (Afanasenkov)... Works hard, possesses the speed and skill of at least a 2nd line sniper, but has the hockey mentality of a Tom Fitzgerald/Kent Manderville lovechild. Frustrates the hell out of me.

I'd like to hear stories of how Mike Holmgren almost took a flyer on Joffrey Lupul... or maybe I wouldn't, for fear of being frustrated more.

Overall performance for Homer on this deadline day is a high B, low B +... I mean, Pascal Dupuis netted Alex Bourret and a 3rd from ATL and we didn't even TRY to move Sanderson? I'd like to think Sandy holds much more value than Dupuis. He's a good player, at a reasonable price, but he just hasn't been the same since going under the knife. Nothing ventured, nothing gained Homer!

Well, I gotta say I'm overall impressed with all the recent deals Holmgren has made. The deals that didn't go through, are by far surpassed by the good ones he DID make. I still don't see how Esche couldn't be moved.. and York for that matter. But you never know I guess..

I'm happy Sanderson and Hatcher have stayed, Sandy still is under contract for cheap next season, and he gives us some speed and veteran leadership for the young guys. Big Hatch will stabilize our young defense, and is an excellent presence on the PK.

From what I've heard and seen, Biron is a really good team player. He stuck it out in Buffalo for as long as he did, and he seems like a nice guy. I'm sure he'll want to show the Flyers what he's capable of in the final stretch here, and I hope we sign him long term. That would leave Esche or Nitty as the odd man out, more likely Esche, but you never know these days. Denis Hamel will likely play on the 4th line, instead of a guy like Reid.
The lines projected to finish off the season?

Gagne Carter/Sanderson* Upshall/Knuble when he comes back

York* Umberger Kapanen

Sanderson/Eager Richards Upshall

Fedoruk Richards/Carter Ruzicka/Hamel?

*Sandy showed hes capable of playing center agains the Leafs, I was actually surprised at how many faceoffs he won. He'll probably play on our top 2 scoring lines, at either wing or center position.

*We should give York some quality playing time on a scoring line down the stretch here, to give us any sign of his old form. He sure as hell hasn't shown it yet. As well, until Eager comes back, Hamel will probably play LW on the 4th and 3rd lines. He's a pretty big guy and will fit in nicely I think.


Pitkanen Kukkonen

Picard Coburn
(they complement each other quite nicely)

Hatcher Gauthier/Jones

[Rex]

Coburn is playing alongside Hatcher tonight.

[dutch74]

Maybe they'll shut down nitty for the reset of the season

[tmcc]

Originally Posted by Blindside

OffensiveSinkhole? (Afanasenkov)

I split a rib on this one! LOL!

I think we all know Esche won't be here next year, but granted, we could have tried to get SOMETHING for him. Maybe Homie did try, but it didn't work out.

I also think he wants to give a go with York next year.

I LOVE the stacked up defense. LOOOOVE. I'm very happy with those moves all together.

[Jlg-28]

I didn;t see the Biron deal comming but hopefully he can regain the form he had before Miller came in. also gotta love that our D is younger, faster and more moble then it was Now we just need the right offseason moves and we still can end up with the # 1 pick in the draft

[tmcc]

On a side note, how bout the Isles getting Zednik and Smyth!!! They're really going for it this year, props to them. Smyth is a great aquisition for this team.

[Blindside]

Originally Posted by tmcc

On a side note, how bout the Isles getting Zednik and Smyth!!! They're really going for it this year, props to them. Smyth is a great aquisition for this team.

I think if they had Zhitnik, they would still be a legit contender with those moves, but I don't see enough support in their backline to get the job done over 7 games... let alone winning 4 series in a row.

Don't get me wrong Hex, overall I'm impressed with Homer's TRADES this year (except the York experiment... Why does every GM need their own reclamation project?), but his personnel moves have been absolutely terrible. The timing, players involved, just everything he did outside of trades, he did wrong.
I think he could have stood to be a little more adventurous at the deadline (ie seen what the market was like for Ruzicka, kick the tires on Lupul, etc) but I guess I have no gripes about the moves he did make. He saw a wealth of offensive d-men in our system and went out and got a couple stoppers to pair them with. Not bad at all.
The Bourret trade still ticks me off though... Fricken Pascal Dupuis and a 3rd rounder snagged a guy who could be a more physical (yes, more physical) Cam Neely? Come on Homer, get on the phone a little, there's a future to be had! I like Sanderson and all, but I would have driven him to the airport myself if it meant Alex Bourret came back.

tmcc, York has been absolutely terrible this year and has done nothing to warrant even a training camp try-out. To think Homer wants him on the team next year would be audacious at best.

[dutch74]

various reporting is that Biron has offered to help sign Briere in the offseason... and that they've (Biron and Briere) talk to each other about the possibility of playing in Philly. While the Flyers may suck this year, Philly is known for being a great hockey town and many players want to play here. Goat also knows Briere from their junior days so who knows?

Knuble-Briere-Gags

doesn't sound too bad afterall

[Hextall_Fan88]

Originally Posted by dutch74

various reporting is that Biron has offered to help sign Briere in the offseason... and that they've (Biron and Briere) talk to each other about the possibility of playing in Philly. While the Flyers may suck this year, Philly is known for being a great hockey town and many players want to play here. Goat also knows Briere from their junior days so who knows?

Knuble-Briere-Gags

doesn't sound too bad afterall

Who knows what will happen. I hope we can sign a bonafide playmaking center by the time next season comes along, thats all I care about. Whether it will be Gomez, Briere, or even a Forsberg return remains to be seen. In a perfect world, we could get one of those centers and a defenseman to boot, such as Timonen. I'm worried about Forsberg's health and if we do sign him, it should be for less than 5 million.

Imagine this.. (God, I always end up putting together lines on each of these threads..)

Gags-Foppa-Knuble

Umberger-Briere-Carter

Kapanen-Richards-Upshall

Fedoruk-Umberger-Downie?/Afana-sink-hole? as blind puts it

each of our top three lines look pretty dangerous. Who knows who we'll sign...??