Just one minor move on deadline day for Flyers

The television, blaring with 30 different talking heads from TSN in Toronto, played in Peter Laviolette's office from 8 a.m. until well after the clock struck 3 o'clock to mark the end of the NHL's trade deadline yesterday afternoon.

"It's on," the Flyers coach said. "But I'm not going to be watching that TV all day long."

Laviolette had more important things to do - like prepare for Thursday's matchup with Toronto and focus on his team's deficiencies against Ottawa on Saturday - than watch teams jockey for position in the standings via trade.

His team, for the most part, has been set since last July. There were no surprises yesterday.

Before the deadline expired, Paul Holmgren made one minor move - sending Phantoms forward Greg Moore and unsigned draft pick Michael Chaput to Columbus for bruiser Tom Sestito - but otherwise chose to stand pat on a quiet deadline day league-wide.

"Through the day and over the last few days, we looked for depth," Holmgren explained. "Nothing really came up that made sense for us. As I've said all along, we like our team."

Holmgren made his big move on Feb. 14, acquiring Kris Versteeg from Toronto in exchange for first- and third-round picks. The Flyers were in the market for a depth forward or defenseman - at a low salary - without trading away a component from their roster.

Florida's Marty Reasoner and Minnesota's Chuck Kobasew were two players in whom the Flyers reportedly were after, but both ended up remaining with their teams. Going into the day, Holmgren had only $1.9 million in maximum acquisition space under the salary cap.

"Basically, I'm happy with our team," Holmgren said. "I like our team, I feel good about that. And [I'm] in no way disappointed. I'm actually excited to see how we do."

Holmgren told the players a couple weeks back that he was not going to be making any big moves, which eased their minds on what is usually a stress-filled day.

"I'm a man of my word," Holmgren said.

"I'm sure it's a lot of fun for [rumor lovers]. For others, it isn't," Chris Pronger said. "We made a few moves over the last few weeks to add some depth and solidify some positions. I think for us, it's looking forward and looking at what we need to do to be successful, and that's winning the Stanley Cup."

Overall, it was an unusually slow trading day for the NHL. There were a total of 16 trades involving 35 players, even including the Flyers' three-player minor league deal with Columbus. That was the slowest deadline day in activity since March 14, 2000. Last season, on March 3, 2010, there were a league-record 31 trades.

"I did feel the prices were high for basically rentals," Holmgren said, referring to soon-to-be unrestricted free agents. "Because of our assets, in terms of draft picks, we're not as well-stocked as other teams. Maybe that was the reason."

In Sestito, a 23-year-old forward, Holmgren found a player he's been coveting a long time. Sestito is 6-5 and 228 pounds. He will report to AHL Adirondack with his 192 penalty minutes in tow.

"He's a big kid," Holmgren said. "He has 30-some points at Springfield, which will make him our third-leading scorer [at the AHL level]. He's a big kid who we've always liked. We think he has a chance at some point to play with [the Flyers]."

Sestito posted two goals and two assists in nine games with the Blue Jackets this season. He seemed excited about the trade on his Twitter account.

"On to the Flyers. Rumor has it Philly likes seeing [a butt-kicking]," Sestito (@TomSestito23) tweeted. "Hope to see you soon and will give you what you want. A day to look back at old friends and new challenges. My first trade . . . lots to ponder . . . OK, nuff pondering, now some pounding."

And as he clicked off the remote, with his team officially set for the stretch run, Laviolette was thinking the same thing.

"Today was a good day," Laviolette said after a long practice. "We need a lot more of those this month. We need to make sure we're hitting the end of the year ready to charge hard."

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at www.philly.com/FrequentFlyers. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.