Here's a debate for everyone out there in Flyerdom.

We all know how much Matt Carle has "grown" in his game since coming to the Flyers last November.

I thought his play was atrocious at the start, but gradually got better and agree with the coaching assessment that over the final quarter of last season and into the playoffs, Carle had become a very trusted blue liner on the ice.

The Carle-Braydon Coburn pairing got better even though I felt Coburn played under his capability the entire season.

Now, we head into the summer and the Flyers go out and get Chris Pronger, arguably the No. 1 or 2 or 3 top defenseman in the NHL.

Rather that pair Pronger with Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers wisely split him up, essentially giving them TWO No. 1 d-men on the top 4.

Here's the rub. We've seen Carle's improvement before Pronger got here and we continue to see it every night this season. But has his game gotten better this season simply because he's paired with Pronger or because he is continuing to "grow" in his role?

Craig Berube, Chris Pronger and Matt Carle had something to say about that with me yesterday here in San Jose.

Here's my story on CSNPhilly.com. Incidentally, the stats sent to us electronically yesterday were not fully updated and therefore, Carle's plus/minus was listed as +17 when he is actually +18.


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