Free Agency Starts Hot, Flyers Grab Briere

The Flyers have again nabbed one of the top free agents on the market this off-season, signing center Daniel Briere to an 8-year, $52 million deal.  Not long after they announced the deal, the team traded Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson for defenseman Jason Smith (who was the Oilers captain) and center  Jeffrey Lopul. With these two moves, the Flyers dramatically increased their talent, and their leadership on and off the ice, something they've been lacking since Keith Primeau started seeing yellow. The Flyers have been monsters so far this off-season, making it likely that last season's 80-game trauma won't be repeated. Unfortunately, the Rangers were active today too, reportedly signing Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, both of whom would have made nice Flyers. True, we weren't going to get them all, but Gomez would have been nice (maybe even a better fit than Briere), and the Rangers getting them after the Mets took 3 of 4 at CBP is pretty annoying.

Pitkanen fell into disfavor last season after failing to live up to fairly high expectations. There's a good possibility he'll develop well in the coming years, but his trade value was probably higher than his actual value to the on-ice product in Philly. Having already added Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers blue line is markedly more stable with Smith in Pitkanen's place. Viva Paul Holmgren.

Comments

[GreggyD]

Do you have any idea how excited I was to hear about all these moves earlier today? Imagine, a Philadelphia team/GM that is committed to winning, its city, its fans, and making itself better in areas that were a problem the previous season. And you know what, all of these players may not play as well as they did for their previous teams. But the fact of the matter is that the Flyers and Paul Holmgren went out, spent the money, and made the best deals that they could in order to make this team as best as possible. Other teams in this city, particularly the Phillies, need to look at this model of running a professional sports franchise and apply it to their own organization.

[abhi]

I am loving the trade, because Pitkanen seemed to be a softy, and most of his value came on the offensive side of the puck. I wanted Holmgren to really address the defense and pick up a center in this offseason, and he has done both, picking up Timonen and Smith (who is excellent at blocking shots) and signing Briere. Although the Rangers are looking pretty damn scary with Jagr/Drury and Gomez/Shanahan as their top two lines.

[Joe Manning]

Looks good to me ... although, it's gonna be weird not seeing Sanderson out there on the ice - you know ?

[Walklett]

I think the biggest surprise of this deal will be Jeffrey Lopul. He was a number 7 pick overall by the Ducks and had 28 goals and 53 points in '05-'06 season. He then went to Edmonton in a trade for Chris Pronger last year, but wasn't very impressive. If he lives up to potential we are going to have a nice little squad this season.

[Walklett]

I think the biggest surprise of this deal will be Joffrey Lupul. He was a number 7 pick overall by the Ducks and had 28 goals and 53 points in '05-'06 season. He then went to Edmonton in a trade for Chris Pronger last year, but wasn't very impressive. If he lives up to potential we are going to have a nice little squad this season.