Flyers' draft pick improves with Chicago win; will Hakstol pursue Stafford?
The fact that Chicago will meet Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Finals is a mixed bag for the Flyers.
The good news: Because the Blackhawks reached the Finals Saturday with a 5-3 win over Anaheim, the Flyers will receive the maximum return in the Kimmo Timonen trade: second-round draft picks this year and in 2016.
The bad news: With Tampa Bay winning the Eastern Conference, the first-round pick the Flyers will receive from the Braydon Coburn trade will be 29th or 30th. It could have been as high as 22d.
Timonen, 40, was sidelined by blood clots when he was with the Flyers this season. He did not play in the final two games of the Western Conference finals because of his ineffectiveness; he was used sparingly in the first five games of the series.
According to the agreement, for the Flyers to get a second-round pick in 2016 - it originally was a conditional fourth-rounder - Timonen had to play in at least half the games in the Western Conference finals and Chicago had to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
In 31 games with Chicago - including 15 in the playoffs - Timonen has not registered a point.
The Chicago-Tampa Bay matchup guarantees that a former Flyers defenseman will be on a Stanley Cup champion. Tampa Bay has two former Flyers blueliners in Braydon Coburn and Matt Carle.
North Dakota ties
Chicago captain Jonathan Toews played for new Flyers coach Dave Hakstol at the University of North Dakota.
There is a chance that Hakstol will try to persuade general manager Ron Hextall to pursue unrestricted free-agent winger Drew Stafford, another player he coached at North Dakota.
Stafford, 29, had a total of 18 goals with Buffalo and Winnipeg last season. The 6-foot-2, 214-pounder can play either wing, and he could give the Flyers some much-needed second-line scoring.
In his last season at North Dakota, Stafford had 24 goals and 48 points in 42 games.
It will be interesting to see if Hakstol tries to take a page out of Chip Kelly's book and acquires or signs some of his former college players. Hakstol's North Dakota teams produced 20 NHL players and 42 draft picks.
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