Now in terms of blockbuster deals, I don't think we've ever seen 2 in the span of one hour by one team. But that's exactly what the Philadelphia Flyers did on Tuesday, June 23rd 2011 when they first traded star sniper Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets for young forward Jakub Voracek and the 8th overall pick in 2011 and a 3rd round pick also in 2011. Carter was rumored to be going to the Blue Jackets for some time before this deal went down so it came as no surprise to me. But then mere minutes after the trade was finalized there were rumblings that Flyers captain Mike Richards was being traded. In fact, the Flyers offered the Toronto Maple Leafs Richards for young 2-way forward Nikolai Kulemin and blue chip prospect Nazem Kadri. But it ended up being Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for The Hockey News' #1 rated prospect and Canadian world junior star Brayden Schenn and young power forward and Scarborough native Wayne Simmonds. This is the one that shocked me because not only was Mike Richards the captain and face of the franchise but he was loved throughout Philly and by GM Paul Holmgren (who was nearly in tears announcing the trade of Richards). I still believe both trades were even for both sides. The Blue Jackets finally get the #1 center they wanted for star winger Rick Nash and the Flyers get a great young piece in Voracek and the 8th overall pick was turned into forward Sean Couturier. The Kings get their #2 center to compliment underrated talent Anze Kopitar and the Flyers receive Brayden Schenn, who's drawn comparisons to Mike Richards, and Wayne Simmonds who, even though he struggled last year, can develop into a very good power forward. The Flyers were also active in their pursuit for a true #1 goalie and got it when they traded for (and eventually signed) Coyotes star Ilya Bryzgalov. The Broad Street Bullies also were players in the free agent market signing forwards former NHL star Jaromir Jagr, and former Penguins pest Maxime Talbot.
Lets now take a look at how I think the forwards will go together:
Line 1:
James van Reimsdyk - Claude Giroux - Jaromir Jagr
Line 2:
Scott Hartnell - Daniel Briere - Jakub Voracek
Line 3:
Max Talbot - Brayden Schenn - Wayne Simmonds
Line 4:
Jody Shelley - Blair Betts - Andreas Nodl
Bubble forwards: Ben Holmstrom, Ian Laperriere
Even with the loss of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards (among others) the Flyers still have a very intimidating forward group. Anyone in the first 3 lines can be moved up or down depending on performance, chemistry and whatnot. My personal favorite line is the 3rd line of Talbot/Schenn/Simmonds because all of those guys are very good two-way players and all capable of scoring 15+ goals, assuming they get the playing time I expect. This group of forwards is a great mix of young (van Reimsdyk, Giroux, Voracek, Talbot, Schenn, Simmonds, Nodl) and not-so-young (Jagr, Hartnell, Briere, Shelley, Betts) and I think they'll thrive together.
On to the defensive pairings:
Defensive Pairing 1:
Chris Pronger - Kimmo Timonen
Defensive Pairing 2:
Braydon Coburn - Matt Carle
Defensive Pairing 3:
Andrej Meszaros - Andreas Lilja
Bubble defensemen: Oskars Bartulis, Erik Gustafsson
I had a tough time choosing between the veteran Lilja or the youngster Bartulis but in the end I chose the experience. The rest was fairly simple and like the forwards they can all be mix-and-matched. My favorite pairing is probably Coburn/Carle because they're styles compliment each other so well.
Now the goalies:
Starter:
Ilya Bryzgalov
Back-up:
Sergei Bobrovsky
This was fairly obvious. Bryzgalov is a proven veteran. I'm not going to slight Bobrovsky but he was a little inconsistent at times last year. This has to be up there in the league as one of the best tandems in the league.
Now I've gone back and forth on whether I like or dislike the Flyers' moves this off-season going as high as them going to the Cup and as low as missing the playoffs, but as of right now...
My Prediction: Out 2nd round of the playoffs.
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