FLYERS NEWS

A lot has happened to the Flyer's this offseason since the night of the NHL draft back on June 20. On that night the Flyers were supposed to have the 27th pick in the first round, instead they traded it to Washington for young defenseman Steve Eminger and the 84th pick of the draft. They sent R.J Umberger and their 4th round selection to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 19th overall pick, which they used to select Swiss defenseman Luca Sbisa. Already a canadian junior league(WHL) star, Sbisa, a smart offensive minded defenseman, with 33 points and 63 penalty minutes last season, Sbisa could be ready to contribute to the Orange and Black within a year, which is good since he is exactly what the Flyer's needed. Also Umberger, a restricted free agent would have been hard for the Flyer's to re sign, and his absence gives the Flyer's the cap room to go after a free agent defenseman if they so choose. Next with their 3rd round pick from Columbus the Flyer's selected yet another defenseman, Marc-Andre Burton, who is big, strong, and unfortunately a slow skater, but still a solid selection. Later in the 3rd round they selected goalie Jacob Deserres, who should be a solid backup someday. Later in the 6th round, they selected fighting forward, Zac Rinaldo, who recorded 191 penalty minutes in Canadian junior league play last season. Finally in the 7th round they grabbed swedish goaltender, Joacim Eriksson who could be pretty good someday, or not who knows. The Flyer's weren't done yet, following the draft. On Tuesday the 24th, they added more defense, trading Triston Grant and their seventh round pick in the 2009 draft to Nashville for defenseman Janne Niskala who led all Nashville AHL defenseman with 44 points(19 goals, 25 assists) last season. On Friday the 27th they re-upped Jeff Carter, who had been a restricted free agent to the tune of 3 years and $15 million, well deserved for a player who had a big part in the Flyer's magical run to the conference finals this past season. Finally today they signed Eminger whom they acquired in the draft night trade to a one year deal, as GM Paul Holmgren really seems to think Emminger is a perfect fit for the Flyers. Hopefully, he is right