Back with the news!

After a brief pause on my part, I am back to report a few moves through the league. Much has happened in my absence so I wont make this too long, but some significant moves were made. The Philadelphia Flyers made two acquisitions which may seem depth geared but in my opinion, these trades very possibly could lead to more. With a few extra draft picks, they acquired Nicklas Grossman from the Dallas Stars and Pavel Kubina from the Tampa Bay Lighting. Grossman was at first thought overpaid for, while I agreed when he was first acquired, I have to say the price was just right. In my humble opinion, the Flyers have been missing real grit on the blue line since Derian Hatcher's retirement. While Grossman is no Hatcher, he brings good size, (6'4" 230lbs), he is a true stay at home defenseman who eats up a lot of minutes and plays the pk better than most. He eliminated the need of an aging Andreas Lilja and opens up the door for young guys like Marc-Andre Bourdon and Kevin Marshall to season in the minors just a little longer. 

The second acquisition made by Philadelphia, being Pavel Kubina, is much more about power play time. Kubina has been one of the better quarterbacks on the PP for many years now and at 35 he can't play 30 minutes a night anymore. He does also give tremendous size at 6'4", 258lbs, and he plays the PK. Both are depth additions at first sight I know but riddle me this. Nicklas Grossman is 27 years old. Impending UFA, 27 years old, a second and third round draft pick went for him. You don't acquire a guy that age at that stage in his career for that amount of a return and not re-sign him. Again, Grossman is not Hatcher, but he is close. 

The hard thing to figure out for most people is in Kubina is really just a rental. Kimmo Timonen is absolutely one of my favorite Flyers, and favorite players in the NHL. His contract, that pays him right around 5 million this year and 3 million next year at a cap hit of 6.3 million, expires after next season. We all would love to see him stay in the orange and black but if he does not discount his services, Philadelphia simply can not afford him. So, Kubina has stated that he would deeply discount for Tampa Bay to re-sign him, if Philadelphia as a team can convince him to stay by showing some effort, proving themselves, ahem BRYZGALOV, and winning a few playoff games, I see Kubina coming in on a deal around 2.5-3 million for one year.

The other big move in the NHL was Hal Gill to Nashville. In the grand scheme of things, Montreal made out like bandits with this trade. But in the immediate future, you have a team in Nashville who is proving everyone wrong about their quality and just wrecking teams. They are already solid defensively and have a tremendous netminder in Pekka Rinne. But with the acquisition of Gill? Wow they are scary now. A former co-worker and good friend of mine told me today that his pick for the cup is Nashville. He has a strong team to count on for that prediction.

Speaking of my friend, I would like to add something for him. He is a die hard Sabres fan like I am a Flyers fan. So Ben, this last part is for you; The strong possibilities for Rick Nash remain Philadelphia and the New York Rangers, but, there is a phantom team involved. I do believe it is the Buffalo Sabres because they have exactly what Columbus wants in return. This might sound lopsided at first Ben but just mull it over. Buffalo send Ryan Miller, Brad Boyes, Nathan Gerbe and a 2nd rounder to Columbus. Columbus returns Rick Nash, Jeff Carter, and Curtis Sanford. Sanford is not the greatest back-up in the world but let's face facts here Enroth is Buffalo's guy once Miller goes. Jeff Carter will shoot the puck 700 times a season and if he nets 30 its worth it for the Sabres. Oh yeah and Rick Nash is Rick Nash. Big, strong, accurate, physical, basically everything you want in a high scoring power forward. I like to call him the white Jerome Iginla. 

That's all the thoughts for today guys, with a recent change in career I will have more time to write and I will be covering every trade coming up to and including the trade deadline. Hope you enjoyed!