By now most of you readers have heard that one of the Flyers defensemen Andreji Meszaros is injuried and probably out for a season. Let me pause for your screams and curses, now let’s take a deep breath and don’t PANIC! Moves are being made as today Scott Laughton was signed to an entry-level contract and Marc-Andre Bourdon was re-signed for a one year two way contract. So what now?
Well if you listened to our podcast tonight, when we talked to Rick Tocchet he assured us to not panic about the situation with the defense. Bourdon is an up and comer and has played a good amount of games in the past season, so he does have potential to step it up. He’s only put up a handful of goals and assists and only has 7 points with the flyers, but he has a plus 4. The kid is my age, so he’s young and has time to mature. Laughton is new to the NHL, but the good thing about signing him is that he knows how to play both sides of the ice. Which means he’s a defensive forward, which is definitely something to help the Flyers out. He just needs to make the team first.
That’s all well and good, but this is not the only move that the Flyers need to make with the condition of our defense. As Tocchet explained the team definitely needs to acquire another player that will be able to put up 20 points. Right now the Flyers reportedly have $2.9 Million left in the salary cap which means the team can probably sign one or two more players.
One of the FAs left that has been throw out by another blogger to me is John Carlson of the Washington Capitals. He’s only scored 9 goals but he’s active on the ice with 23 assists and 123 shots. He also knows how to block shots logging 153 which is up there with Flyers’ own Grossman, so he could be a good fit on a line with him. So what would it cost the Flyers? Hopefully Read and a few draft picks? His price tag won’t be as high as Bobby Ryan, and I’d rather get another defensemen than a forward to strength the already weak blue line. The only problem is that the Caps would be able to match any offer sheet.
One of the other names that’s been thrown out there is PK Subban, but he seems unlikely. Montreal needs him on their line, as they also have a weak defense. They are also in a big market like Philly so they will be able to match which they probably will, so this seems like a no go. The same would go for Del Zotto. He would be a really good fit for the Flyers especially with his 41 points, 156 hits and 95 blocked shots, but it will cost the Flyers. He’s in the same situation as the other three and there is no doubt that the Rangers will want to keep him. The Rangers could have gone all the way last season, because they have such a solid team, with Del Zotto being a part of that team it’s more likely they’ll try to keep up.
So now what are the flyers to do? Again, let’s not panic. The above three players can be possible line additions, even if they seem unlikely. Secondly, the Flyers might want to look at changing the system. They play a strongly offensive system, so if they change it this might actually help the defense as well as Brygalov play to his potential. Right now it’s really just going to be a huge waiting game to see what happens, but another move does need to happen before pre-season.
Thanks for reading!
You can follow me on twitter @dmvasso