His trade to Tampa Bay yesterday for the equivalent of a bag of ice was all about that, all about being in position to make a deal around next season's trade deadline, in a way that they haven't been able to over the last two seasons. Remember the beer-league defenseman they hired for a game 2 years ago? Remember how they pulled one of their draft picks out of the UMass-Lowell this winter to be backup goalie for a game? Remember how they had to sit on the sidelines when Ilya Kovalchuk was made available at the deadline last season?
The departure of Gagne's $5.2 million salary gives the Flyers wiggle room now, or what is likely the case, down the road. About $2.75 million once they officially make Matt Walker a Phantom, as much as $3.85 million if the services of Oskars Bartulis and Riley Cote also are unneeded.
It's significant dough in the NHL. Spent correctly, it could even prove the difference between winning a Stanley Cup or just having it visit your barn.
"I think we're in a good position where we can just sit back and see what happens," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said after the deal was announced. "But I like our team right now. When we came out of the Stanley Cup final loss to the Blackhawks, we had specific objectives in mind and the No. 1 thing on our list was to improve our defense, and No. 2 on our list was to get a little bigger, and No. 3 on our list was to look for some more goals up front."
Huh? Simon Gagne was the Philadelphia Flyers from 1999 until yesterday, for good and for bad. He was almost always good. He was occasionally great. He was a seam through a decade of hockey, a pair of young eyes watching the Lindros era come apart, a pair of older ones amid a Flyers youth movement, especially up front.
