Welcome to the crossroads, where the correct move can save you years of frustration to put you well on your path to lifting hockey's most glorious of prizes, Lord Stanley's Cup. Our team has not performed over the last two years, and I think it's time to shake things up. I analyzed the entire roster and thought about where they would fit into the overall look of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The main underperformer was Cody Franson, who we brought in on a very expensive contract in the offseason and had not nearly performed well enough. He was one too many offensive defensemen on our team and looked like he needed to go after only one season. For the forwards, it looked like Wayne Simmons was the odd man out. I wanted to give Anthony Duclair more ice time so he can improve for the future, and Simmons had the worst plus/minus on the first two lines, showing that he wasn't really working out.
One big trade later, both players were gone to Calgary in one of the biggest trades of the series. We sent Calgary Wayne Simmons, Cody Franson, and three depth picks for Calgary's first and third round picks for this year, and two intriguing players in center Mikael Backlund(83 overall, 26 years old with four yellow star potential) and defensemen Tyler Wotherspoon(79 overall, 22 years old, 4 red star potential). Backlund definitely looked like a big piece of the future a few years ago for Calgary, but had fallen out of favor with the team. Tyler Wotherspoon looked interesting as a tough, physical defensemen, and was not a part of the Calgary line-up.
Since we acquired Wotherspoon, I decided that Luke Schenn was surplus to requirements and looked to find a trade partner to take him off of our hands. We found one in the Colorado Avalanche, who needed defensemen to complement their excellent group of forwards, and agreed to send us a third round pick.
Elsewhere around the league, our moves triggered quite a few defensemen to change hands. Dan Hamhuis went from Vancouver to Tampa Bay for a first round pick, Tomas Kaberle found a new home in Winnipeg, and Robyn Reghr moved to his third team since we started the series, beginning in LA, moving to Arizona, and on the trade deadline, ending up with the Senators, exchanged for a third round pick. The last move was followed by Arizona putting Zbynek Michalek, at which point we picked him up to help replace Luke Schenn. Michalek is a veteran at 33 years of age, and offers an excellent defensive presence and a good force in the locker room to help with our dearth of young defensemen, most notably Robert Hagg and Shayne Gotisbehere, both of whom had extended runs during the year.
I think the trades we made will definitely help out the team in the long term, with three more picks and extra ice time for youngsters Robert Hagg and Anthony Duclair. Hopefully you have enjoyed, and I will see you next time when we finish the regular season.
-Henry
The main underperformer was Cody Franson, who we brought in on a very expensive contract in the offseason and had not nearly performed well enough. He was one too many offensive defensemen on our team and looked like he needed to go after only one season. For the forwards, it looked like Wayne Simmons was the odd man out. I wanted to give Anthony Duclair more ice time so he can improve for the future, and Simmons had the worst plus/minus on the first two lines, showing that he wasn't really working out.
One big trade later, both players were gone to Calgary in one of the biggest trades of the series. We sent Calgary Wayne Simmons, Cody Franson, and three depth picks for Calgary's first and third round picks for this year, and two intriguing players in center Mikael Backlund(83 overall, 26 years old with four yellow star potential) and defensemen Tyler Wotherspoon(79 overall, 22 years old, 4 red star potential). Backlund definitely looked like a big piece of the future a few years ago for Calgary, but had fallen out of favor with the team. Tyler Wotherspoon looked interesting as a tough, physical defensemen, and was not a part of the Calgary line-up.
Since we acquired Wotherspoon, I decided that Luke Schenn was surplus to requirements and looked to find a trade partner to take him off of our hands. We found one in the Colorado Avalanche, who needed defensemen to complement their excellent group of forwards, and agreed to send us a third round pick.
Elsewhere around the league, our moves triggered quite a few defensemen to change hands. Dan Hamhuis went from Vancouver to Tampa Bay for a first round pick, Tomas Kaberle found a new home in Winnipeg, and Robyn Reghr moved to his third team since we started the series, beginning in LA, moving to Arizona, and on the trade deadline, ending up with the Senators, exchanged for a third round pick. The last move was followed by Arizona putting Zbynek Michalek, at which point we picked him up to help replace Luke Schenn. Michalek is a veteran at 33 years of age, and offers an excellent defensive presence and a good force in the locker room to help with our dearth of young defensemen, most notably Robert Hagg and Shayne Gotisbehere, both of whom had extended runs during the year.
I think the trades we made will definitely help out the team in the long term, with three more picks and extra ice time for youngsters Robert Hagg and Anthony Duclair. Hopefully you have enjoyed, and I will see you next time when we finish the regular season.
-Henry
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