Paul Holmgren shocked the hockey world yesterday when he traded the heart (Mike Richards) and the hands (Jeff Carter) of his team to Los Angeles and Columbus, respectively. Most people looked at the deal as a way to make room for the Flyers to sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, whom Flyers' chairman Ed Snider believes to be the missing piece of the puzzle. While most people are focusing on what the Flyers gave up, I am going to focus on what they got in return. In return for Mike Richards, the Flyers got Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds. Schenn will literally fill the same exact role that Richards had in a few years, at a discount. In Simmonds, you have a solid, young two-way guy who can pot 20 goals in the NHL. For Jeff Carter, the Flyers acquired former 7th overall pick Jakub Voracek. Voracek, like Simmonds plays wing and will also score 20-25 goals a year for this team. Then, there is the 8th overall pick in tonight's 2011 draft. Which will land them anyone from point machine Sean Couturier to future Power Play Quaterback Ryan Murphy, either way, the player they take will have a huge impact on the Flyers in the years to come.
If you want to know what is going to happen in the draft, just watch it tonight. I won't be putting up a mock draft or anything like that because nobody knows what is going to go down tonight in Minnesota. However, I will make one prediction. Look for the Philadelphia Flyers to move up from their 8 spot by dangling Kris Versteeg, Scott Hartnell, or Braydon Coburn to nab Gabriel Landeskog at the 2 or 3 spot. It makes sense for a whole bunch of reasons. One being that it would mean the return for Jeff Carter would be Landeskog, Voracek, and a 3rd rounder, which would look great for Holmgren. Secondly, it would clear even more cap space for the Flyers to obtain more pieces through Free Agency. Lastly, those Flyers were part of a Philadelphia team that doesn't exist anymore, so why stop at Richards and Carter?
(One more prediction, my New York Islanders will trade down and end up picking between 9th-11th, acquiring an NHL player in the process.)
