What if...
Posted 3:11 PM ET | Comments 2
Rumors are ABUNDANT!
RJ Umberger and Denis Gauthier seem to be the pieces most likely to be traded by the Flyers.
If you're listening to rumors, Ed Jovanowski is available and Phoenix is actively looking for trade partners. Would the Coyotes trade Jovo for Umberger and Gauthier?
If you're listening to rumors, Peter Forbser and Teemu Selanne want to play in Philadelphia. Forsberg has stated how much he enjoyed playing alongside Simon Gagne and that he is impressed with the acquisitions made this offseason by management. Selanne is contemplating retirement but is supposedly considering joining fellow "Finns" in Philly. Selanne owns a minor league team in Finland with Sami Kapanen, is very good friends with Kimmo Timonen, and has voiced his praise for the rebuilding underway in Philly.
What if?
This is what the Depth Chart could look like:
Gagne - Forsberg - Selanne
Hartnell - Briere - Lupul
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Eager - Richards - Kapanen
Timonen - Smith
Jovanowski - Coburn
Hatcher - Kukkonen
Picard - Jones
Biron
Niittymaki
Either way, you can be certain that the roster is not finalized. There are more moves to be made...at least one more.
I am interested to see where the youngsters (Downie, Giroux, Parent, Potulny, Nodl, Bartulis, Reid, Van Riemsdyk, Ratchuk and the other Timonen) will fit in.
I am also interested to see what the Flyers do with players like Dimitrakos, Kane, Cote, Grenier, Jonsson, and Cullen. The older players in the system who are getting paid nicely to play for the Phantoms could be used in many different ways.
Time will tell.
In the meantime, I'm asking WHAT IF?
RJ Umberger and Denis Gauthier seem to be the pieces most likely to be traded by the Flyers.
If you're listening to rumors, Ed Jovanowski is available and Phoenix is actively looking for trade partners. Would the Coyotes trade Jovo for Umberger and Gauthier?
If you're listening to rumors, Peter Forbser and Teemu Selanne want to play in Philadelphia. Forsberg has stated how much he enjoyed playing alongside Simon Gagne and that he is impressed with the acquisitions made this offseason by management. Selanne is contemplating retirement but is supposedly considering joining fellow "Finns" in Philly. Selanne owns a minor league team in Finland with Sami Kapanen, is very good friends with Kimmo Timonen, and has voiced his praise for the rebuilding underway in Philly.
What if?
This is what the Depth Chart could look like:
Gagne - Forsberg - Selanne
Hartnell - Briere - Lupul
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Eager - Richards - Kapanen
Timonen - Smith
Jovanowski - Coburn
Hatcher - Kukkonen
Picard - Jones
Biron
Niittymaki
Either way, you can be certain that the roster is not finalized. There are more moves to be made...at least one more.
I am interested to see where the youngsters (Downie, Giroux, Parent, Potulny, Nodl, Bartulis, Reid, Van Riemsdyk, Ratchuk and the other Timonen) will fit in.
I am also interested to see what the Flyers do with players like Dimitrakos, Kane, Cote, Grenier, Jonsson, and Cullen. The older players in the system who are getting paid nicely to play for the Phantoms could be used in many different ways.
Time will tell.
In the meantime, I'm asking WHAT IF?
Nice roster, too bad the cap hit would be around 60 million. A more likely scenario would be the Flyers trading Umberger and Riley Cote to Columbus for Malhotra (perfect 4th line good faceoffman center) and Jody Shelley (established enforcer), and a mid round draft pick. They could then trade Gauthier for whatever they can get to give them salary space to sign Forsberg, who really seems to want to play with Gagne. This would leave them with the following line combo possibilities. Gagne-Forsberg-Knuble; Hartnell-Briere-Lupul; Eager-Carter-Upshall and Shelley-Malhotra-Kapanen. On defense they would have Timonen-Smith, Hatcher-Coburn and Kukonen-Jones/Picard/Parent Not a bad lineup by any stretch!
Oops silly me, I forgot about Mike Richards, well they could always skip the Shelley/Cote part of the deal and go with Malhotra-Richards-Kapanen and just bring up Cote when needed. They also have the option of moving Kapanen to defense, pairing him with Kukonen and letting Parent and Picard develop with the Phantoms while carrying Jones as a depth player.