Assessing The Market

With Chris Pronger being out, we have seen a flood of trade suggestions, some fanciful, others more realistic. Given the Flyers aggressive management style, and the way that head coach Peter Laviolette leans on his top four defensemen, it’s not a question of if the Flyers add a defenseman, but rather when.

Below is one man’s opinion on various options and what I think it would take for them to land in Phialdelphia.I’m not endorsing any of them right now.

Shea Weber-Weber’s a 26 year old Norris candidate, who is arguably the best defenseman in the NHL right now. He’s on a one year contract and will be a RFA in July. Now, I have seen more trade ideas surrounding Weber than anyone else. One was Brayden Schenn, another prospect, and a couple of first rounders. Another was James van Riemsdyk, Sean Couturier and Erik Gustafsson for Weber and Jared Smithson.

To those proposals, I have one question. Is a 26 year old Shea Weber more valuable than a 34 year old Chris Pronger? In the summer of 2009, the Flyers traded Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and 2 1st rounders for Pronger. Lupul, at the time, was a 25 year old winger with 3 20+ goal seasons under his belt. Sbisa was a highly touted recent first round pick. To me, that’s a better return than the offers I saw above.

I’m thinking that, to be in the ballpark, Nashville’s going to want JvR, a healthy Schenn or Couturier, and a nice pick package, at least a 1st & 2nd, probably two 1st rounders. David Poile recently said as much in a recent interview with Josh Cooper of the Tennesseean. Anotherr factor is Weber’s salary moving forward. He’s going to cost a lot of money, upwards of $7.5mm a year. That means that if Pronger manages to come back next season, no matter how doubtful, the Flyers cap situation will be a mess.

Ryan Suter-Suter is Weber’s teammate. He’s not as big or physical, but he is a gifted two way defenseman. He likely will not cost as much as Weber, but he will still be expensive. Suter will be a UFA in July, so he will have to be re-signed, and I’d expect a hefty salary to be required to do that. Given Poile’s statements, he’s likely to want a guy like van Riemsdyk and probably another young player, such as Matt Read or Harry Zolnierczyk, plus a pick.

Bryan Allen & Tim Gleason-Allen is a big, physical stay at home defenseman, while Gleason is a smaller, but tough defender. Both are capable PK guys, but limited offensively. Allen is more of a stay at home type, while Gleason is more mobile and able to jump into the offensive flow. Both are UFA in July. Given Carolina’s position, they’d likely be looking for younger players and picks.

Nicklas Grossman-Dallas’ blueliner is similar to former Flyer Marcus Ragnarsson. Solid, doesn’t have a lot of flash, but you can plug him in and not worry about that 18-20 minutes of ice time. Grossman is also a UFA, and would likely be more costly than Allen or Gleason, since Dallas is in a better position to make the playoffs than the Hurricanes.

Francois Beauchemin-the Ducks defenseman is probably perfect for what the Flyers need. He’s physical, has a booming shot, can play 25 minutes, work on both the PK and PP. As such, he’ll probably cost more than Grossman, Allen or Gleason. He’s older, and also a UFA, but with Anaheim basically dead in the water, he could be pried loose once the Ducks decide how to proceed in their rebuild. One concern is that Beauchemin has struggled when he was not in Anaheim.