Gagne deal doesn't make much sense, but....
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Gagne deal doesn't make much sense, but....
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
(NOTE: Powe/Betts update below)
In three seasons, general manager Paul Holmgren has transformed the Flyers from the NHL’s worst team to Stanley Cup finalists.
So Holmgren obviously knows what he is doing.
But…
The team’s off-season moves have been more confusing than ‘Inception.”
To review:
The Flyers have failed to upgrade their goaltending, have gotten worse on offense, and are paying $4 million per season to a recently acquired player (Andrej Meszaros) who might be their No. 5 defenseman.
On Monday, they traded left winger Simon Gagne _ the classy, gritty veteran who returned from a broken foot and carried the Flyers into last season’s Finals _ to Tampa Bay for a player they didn’t need (defenseman Matt Walker) and just a fourth-round pick in 2011.
All because they needed to clear cap space.
OK, OK. It’s dangerous to judge the deal until all moves are made. Holmgren could have another trade coming.
But, from here, Gagne was just the type of fast, two-way player the Flyers NEEDED. And if they were going to trade him, they should have held out for a much bigger return. (Isn’t it easy being an armchair GM?)
The Gagne deal was set in motion by the puzzling July 1 deal in which the Flyers sent a second-round 2012 draft pick to Tampa Bay for the underachieving (and expensive) Meszaros.
The beefy Meszaros upgrades the Flyers’ defense, but the club is now paying a combined $21.8 million (of the $59.4 million maximum cap) for its five top defensemen. That’s $4.4 million for each of their top-five D-men.
Was the Meszaros trade necessary? If that deal had not been made, the Flyers could have kept Gagne _ and had a third defensive pairing of Sean O’Donnell and Oskars Bartulis. (That would have been an upgrade over Ryan Parent and Bartulis.)
It would have given the Flyers the following possible lines:
Gagne-Richards-Carter; Leino-Briere-Hartnell; JVR-Giroux-Zherdev; Carcillo/Shelley-Betts-Lappy. That’s three solid lines and a very good checking unit.
Now the lines may shape up like this:
Zherdev-Richards-Carter; Leino-Briere-Hartnell; JVR-Giroux-Carcillo; Powe/Shelley-Betts-Lappy.
The Gagne deal does open room for the possible re-signing of underrated Arron Asham, who could play RW on Giroux’s unit and bump Carcillo to the fourth line.
Again, Holmgren has worked wonders in transforming the Flyers from bottom-feeders to Cup finalists and deserves the benefit of the doubt.
But right now, there are a lot of doubters _ especially since L.A. lost out to New Jersey Monday in the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes and was seemingly desperate to add a quality winger.
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to wait a few days to see if the Kings offered more for Gagne?
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The Gagne deal did free cap room for the Flyers to re-sign Darroll Powe, who inked a one-year deal for $725,000 on Wednesday. The Flyers are about $325,000 under the cap. They can still make some demotions and have enough room to sign Asham.
Powe may start the season as the Flyers' fourth-line center. Blair Betts is recovering from shoulder surgery and could miss the first month of the regular season.
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For Flyers updates, follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BroadStBull.
beefbr: "Gagne was great but never seemed the same after his concussions." Well, all the guy did two seasons ago (post concussions) was put up a career high in assists (40), notch 34 goals, post a +21 for the season (which is +12 more than any Flyer had last year), and average a point per game. Sounds pretty damn good to me.- Just when Gagne was growing on me: not a great year but he played more physical this year than the last 5. Would rather have seen Carter moved. Sign Asham and stop signing defenseman!!!— CFA
- Gagne is 1 hit away from being a vegetable, he is always hurt, and I think they got as much as they could for him and his huge salary. To say he is gritty and a two-way player, is just false. He hasn't been in the defensive zone in 6 years, and he is not gritty because of his injury past. Moving him was to make way for another trade, so I don't mind it at all.....The Kovi deal was just dumb by Lou, who is usually the best exec in the NHL.— kozykoz26
- I've got a feeling Coburn is trade bait now. Meszaros could take his spot easily. Figure the current cap room plus Coburn's salary could land a decent forward or goaltender (we'd probably have to toss in a draft pick as well, but that doesn't affect the cap room, of course).— Phantoms9805
- personally, would have preferred if holmgren just kept it simple this offseason.... sign a goalie and keep the team in tack. too much change this offseason...its the old saying - why fix what isnt broken— lockmaster
- Why do people assume they could have gotten more than Walker and a 4th rd pick for a 30 year old with concussion issues? What team would give up prospects for that? They needed the cap space, they refuse to deal Carter and they got the best they could get for Gagne, end of story. other than the Shelly deal, which makes no conceivable sense whatsoever, I like the moves thus far and look forward to what is next.— beagle29
- I don't want any more moves until the season starts. This team underperformed all season last year until the playoffs. Let's see if they found something and can continue with it before anymore drastic changes are made. Keep what cap room is available now and make a move at the deadline if necessary.— therev
- Steve Yzerman has good quick hands, just like when he played. So in the end---he gets a 2nd rounder and Gags and we get Mesz, Walker and a 4th. He did it again!— Romus
- Why pick up 1.7 mil Per 3 if it is a salary dump. Better return I could have got so why? Why pick up Mez costs? Why Shelly for mil + and for three years at his age? Why? Carter and Gags gets a super goalie to build around? Why not?— JimDunfee
Fast ? Two-Way Player ? Maybe in the gay district, but not on the ice.- This is a Barber bailout. We pick up Tampa's inflated defensive contracts as a bundle and then try to sell them on the open market. We may need some money from NHL to underwrite some of this expense. Maybe we should have stayed out of derivative trades. Who's our capologist?— JimDunfee
- I agree that this trade made no sense for Flyers. I think Gagne was an important part of this team. I understand the CAP realities, but if you are going to dump salary don't take back a player who will be 7 or 8th on your depth chart. Just take the picks. As for the Kings, I live in Los Angeles and I am hear to tell you they would have offered more for Gagne and I'd rather not have him playing for a conference rival. I wish him the best, he will be missed.— roclwyr
- The one thing the flyers lack is a good quality starting gaoltender. You can have all the great d-men in the world but if you don't have someone to stop he puck for you its all for nothing. Did anyone watch the last goal that was scored in the finals? Heartbreaking to watch all those games and get that far only to KNOW somehow someway you knew he was gonna let that kind of goal in. You could fell it as the game progressed. Stop messing around and get someone in there who has a proven track record in net!— millhouse
- Because Gagne had the NTC, that severely limited Homer's bargaining power. But, no deal is better than a bad deal and this trade was bad. Homer screwed this up by making two separate trades with Tampa in which he took on $21.1 mil ($16 & $5.1) in total salary and only gave back $5.25 mil. Plus he gave up a 2nd rd pick and only got back a 4th. Why does he take on 4 times as much salary AND gives up the higher pick for two guys that Stevie Y. was looking to DUMP. Read the Tampa papers. Yzerman is thrilled that he improved his team for this season and unloaded future salary. There should have been one trade, Meszaros for Gagne.— SkinnyJoey
- Seems like the Flyers couldn't afford to get any more then they did in return for Gagne ..LA could have offered a bettern player in return, but the better player would bring a bigger salary cap number with him...— kadhia
