Quality defensemen come at a premium and true number one defensemen cost a king's ransom to acquire, if they're available at all.

In the short term, I don't know how anyone in Flyerdom could not be in favor of tonight's deal to acquire Chris Pronger. With all due respect to Eric Desjardins and Kimmo Timonen, Pronger immediately gives the Flyers the best defenseman they have had since Mark Howe was in his prime. If they club receives even decent goaltending next season, it's capable of coming out of the East and reaching the Stanley Cup Finals.

In the long term, the Flyers have paid a very, very steep price. Losing Luca Sbisa hurts in particular. The deal amounts to Joffrey Lupul and three first round picks -- one of whom already has NHL experience and a bright future ahead of him -- for a player who already has a lot of miles on the tires.

If the Flyers get a Stanley Cup out of this trade, it's worth whatever long-term consequences there are to the system depth. Anything short of that, and Paul Holmgren's tenure as GM will be remembered for mortgaging the future on a gamble that didn't pay off.

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