FLYERS NEWS

The the first day or round 1 of the NHL draft was tonight. However, the Flyers did make any picks tonight because they traded away their first round pick(number 21) along with their 1st round pick in the 2010 draft, forward Joffrey Lupul, and defenseman Luca Sbisa to the Anaheim Ducks for future hall of fame defenseman Chris Pronger and young forward Ryan Dingle who will probably play in the AHL next season. Although he is now just one of the best defenseman in the NHL, rather than the best, Pronger is exactly what the Flyers needed, a tough as nails defenseman not afraid to intimidate others. He is the blue line leader the Flyers have lacked since Derian Hatcher's was felled by career ending injuries. Sure, they had to get rid of a lot to get him, but Lupul an average 25 goal scorer, was being grossly overpaid at 4 years for $4.5 million and thus was expendable and getting rid of him frees up the cap space the Flyers needed to sign a backup goalie and to re-sign Mike Knuble. Also both of the picks the Flyers gave up were late first rounders and in the NHL especially, late first rounders are always hit or miss and often take years develop before they can assume a role on the team. In fact Anaheim didn't even use that 21st pick they got from the Flyers tonight, instead trading it to Columbus. So ultimately all the Flyers really gave up for Pronger was Sbisa. Out of all the young defenseman on the Flyers he probably had the potential to become the most talented, but it would have taken him at least a couple more years to harness that talent. Also Sbisa was never going to have the same 6-6 221 lb size and the intimidation ability of Pronger. Therefore, while some would say the Flyers gave up too much for Pronger, I think it may have been worth it. The only problem is that Pronger has only a year left on his current contract so if the Flyers want to keep him for a few years at least, they'll have sign him to a new deal, but it sounds like that won't be a problem. At any rate this clearly shows the Flyers are committed to winning a cup now rather than a few years from now because at 34 years old Pronger probably can only help them get to the cup for another 3-5 years. So let's leave it at this. If the win a cup in next 3-5 years, than this arguably the best trade they have ever made. Otherwise it is a huge bust. At any rate though with Ray Emery and now Pronger in tow the Flyers will at least be a fun team to watch next season.