Powe caught ‘off guard’ by trade from Flyers

Another day, another Flyers forward jolted when he learned he was traded.

This time, it was speedy Darroll Powe, a gritty fourth-line center and penalty-killing specialist who was sent packing. The Princeton University product was sent to Minnesota on Monday for the Wild's third-round pick in 2013.

"It caught me a little off guard," said Powe, who led the Flyers with 196 hits last season.

A restricted free agent who made $725,000 last year, Powe and his agent apparently weren't making much progress in contract negotiations.

"I'm sure it had something to do with it," Powe said of the trade.

Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2007, the 26-year-old Powe had seven goals and 10 assists last season.

Earlier in the day, the Flyers re-signed restricted free agent Andreas Nodl, a winger who is one of the leading contenders to fill Powe's penalty-killing role.

An 11-goal scorer last season, Nodl signed a two-year deal, with a salary-cap hit of $845,000 per season.

The Flyers made qualifying offers Monday to restricted free agents Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek, each of whom were recently acquired in trades, and minor-leaguer Jon Kalinski. They did not make an offer to feisty winger Dan Carcillo, another restricted free agent. (Simmonds, by the way, will wear Jeff Carter's old number: 17.)

The Flyers have 19 players signed and $6.7 million in salary-cap space. That figure will grow by about $2.7 million if Michael Leighton clears waivers and goes to the Phantoms and Ian Laperriere goes on long-term injured reserve. They still hope to re-sign winger Ville Leino, who can become an unrestricted free agent on Friday.

As for Powe, he said, "Philly's been good to me. But at the same time, it looks like there may be a good opportunity for me in Minnesota, so I'm trying to look at the positives. Hopefully, I'll have room to grow in my role there. I'm looking at it as a new challenge."

The Powe deal, of course, was a blip when compared to last week's blockbuster trades that sent Jeff Carter to Columbus and Mike Richards to Los Angeles.