In the last few days, there has been a lot of talk over which Flyers player(s) will go to the NHL All-Star game along with coach Peter Laviolette. Personally speaking, I think that the lone highlight of the vast majority of ASGs is the player introductions. Beyond that, I would just as soon not see Flyers players in the game, even though they are almost invariably no-checking, hit-free and virtually penalty-free affairs.
Nevertheless, earning a spot at an All-Star game -- especially for the first time -- is a nice honor. Danny Briere clearly deserves to be there, and Mike Richards has a good shot at going. But if there is Flyers one player above all whom I'd like to see named to the game, it would be potential first-time honoree Claude Giroux.
Giroux has been in a mini-slump of late, forcing the play a bit and producing one point (an assist) in his last four games. He has not scored a goal in the last eight games. Nevertheless, he has been a major reason why the Flyers find themselves atop the Eastern Conference at the midpoint of the season. The ASG environment would be a place where he could show off some of those puck skills and remarkable ice vision of his. If for no other reason, I'd watch the game for his shifts.
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In the weeks to come leading up to the trade deadline, there will be several NHL clubs that face tough decisions on whether to hang onto their impending unrestricted free agents for the stretch drive or give up on the playoff chase and acquire some assets (draft picks and/or mid-grade prospects) for the future.but
One such club is the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes are on the bubble of the playoff chase at midseason, but have games in hand against the two teams they are currently pursuing for the seventh or eighth spots. They have over $8 million in cap space the rest of this season, but also need to consider the fact that they have nine impending UFAs and several RFAs for next season. Their most prominent impending UFAs are ex-Flyer Joni Pitkanen, Erik Cole and Jussi Jokinen but players such as Chad Larose would also draw interest from some clubs.
The Flyers and Hartford/Carolina have been frequent trading partners over the years, and Paul Holmgren's connections in the organization have routinely kept the communication lines open between the clubs. If Carolina slips out of the race in weeks to come and decides to deal off some assets, I could see easily see the Flyers having interest in renting Cole (although he makes $2.9 million) or Jokinen (30-goal scorer last year, makes $1.7 million) to add a little more wing depth, especially if they throw in the towel on the ever-enigmatic Nikolay Zherdev.
Today's
Daily Drop at Versus.com looks at the Hurricanes upcoming decisions.
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