Flyers remade

When I first heard about the Flyers moves yesterday, I thought that they won one, lost one big time, but the room to add Bryzgalov in the nets made them 2 for 3. I thought the Richards move was a bad move for the Flyers, and frankly that made me happy as I thought it weakened one of the biggest annual threats in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins blogosphere is making fun of the Flyers for the moves, but I think they may be wrong to do so. If you look at most recent production, the Flyers gave up Carter who has had 46, 33, and 36 goals in the past three seasons, and Richards who had 30, 31, and 23 but was also considered a Bobby Clarke type player and the heart and soul of the team. In return, they got two young NHL players with upside (Voracek and Simmonds) but whose top production was 16 goals in each case. In the short term, it looks like Philadelphia gave up a lot more than they got back in those deals. But, you have to consider this fact as well. The growth of James Van Riemsdyck and Claude Giroux have given the Flyers the luxury of making a move like this. They still have JVR, Giroux, Briere, Hartnell, Versteeg, and Leino from the core of forwards last year, and have added a top notch goaltender in Ilya Bryzgalov with the cap space those moves created. They will not have to put natural centers into winger roles with these moves any more, creating a more balanced attack. Many think that both Simmonds and Vorcek are 20-25 goal scorers in this league, and don't forget that most people think that Brayden Schenn is a TOP prospect in this league. Finally, with a deep draft this year, getting the #8 pick overall is likely to add another young player with upside to this organization. On top of that, they get an extra third round pick this season, and an extra second round pick in 2012. Yes, the Flyers moved their cornerstone centers from the 2003 draft who have combined for between 59 and 76 goals together for the past 3 seasons, but in doing so, they have added big time goaltending, which has been the achilles heel of the team, balance, by not having to have natural centers play wing, and they have created room for younger, more affordable players to blossom further under Laviolette. Finally, the leadership issue is cleared up. It is clearly Prongers team now. As in any trade, you cannot grade it out until a year or two goes by, and this one may be evaluated based on the development of Schenn, and the player the Flyers get with the #8 selection this year, but it is a better move by Holmgren than I originally thought, and man does the Richards move take some sack! The Flyers did lose some firepower in the deal, but the balance and big time goaltending, along with depth potential makes this trade a far better move than many will say. By the way, both Columbus and LA got better based on their needs as well. GO PENS......Note the 8th pick became Sean Couterier, a guy who is touted to be a shutdown center with offensive upside all Jordan Staal........if he can make the team along with Matt Read, this Flyer team is loaded up front, and look for a breakout season from Claude Giroux.  Bold moves that are getting criticized, but I like them.