WILL SCHENN PLAY WING OR CENTER?
Following yesterday's trade that sent Scott Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for R.J. Umberger, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they had signed Brayden Schenn to a two-year bridge contract. The deal will pay Schenn $2.25 million in 2014-15 and $2.75 million the following year for a cap hit of $2.5 million per season.
Now the big question is whether Schenn will be penciled in as a candidate for the vacated first-line winger spot or if he will center the second line. Schenn is also a candidate to take over Hartnell's spot on the top power play unit.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall deferred the questions to head coach Craig Berube to decide come next season.
"It's hard to say," Hextall said. "I think if you look at that left wing spot with Giroux, there are three candidates right now. Brayden spent a bit of time there, [Michael] Raffl spent some time there. I mean, who knows? In the end, that's up to the coach and guys when they come into to camp, to see how well they play and how Craig Berube envisions it."
"Brayden is certainly capable of being a very good player. We like Brayden and he's capable of playing the left wing or the middle, which... helps out when you are trying to piece things together. It's not a perfect world with injuries and guys' play that drops off, so to have a guy who plays wing and the middle is a good thing. Brayden is capable of taking his game to another level."
Asked by Sam Carchidi whom the third candidate is, Hextall increased his theoretical number to four.
"It could be Vinnie [Lecavalier]. It could be Umberger. I mean, it's really hard to say," said Hextall. "You throw names out there of guys that have been there and guys who have scored goals because, obviously, you want someone up there capable of scoring some goals and you probably want a bigger body. All those guys have bigger bodies."
By extension, Hextall implied that he did not size versatile but undersized forward Matt Read or skilled but undersized Jason Akeson as ideal candidates for the third spot on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
Read, who has scored 20-plus goals in each of the two full-length NHL seasons he's played (the 2012-13 season was only 48 games due to the lockout), seems settled into the Flyers shutdown line centered by Sean Couturier. There is a chance that Umberger, himself a five-time 20-goal scorer, could play left wing on that line with Read playing the right. Raffl is another potential candidate for that spot.
Umberger, like Read, is a versatile player who has played all three forward positions in his NHL career. His most likely spot back in Philly, for now at least, seems to be left wing.
As for Akeson, the fourth-year pro will be fighting for an NHL roster spot out of camp. He might be a candidate for the second line but may also wind up with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms if he is waived and clears. Twenty-nine-year-old Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare will also be fighting for a spot in the Flyers' lineup.
Where does all of this leave Lecavalier? The Flyers have had discussions with his agent, Kent Hughes, about the player's willingness to waive his no-movement clause and accept a trade. Asked yesterday about Lecavalier's future with the club, Hextall said, "I anticipate, right now, Vinny Lecavalier being on the Flyers right now."
In reality, the Flyers would still probably to prefer to trade Lecavalier. In discussing the Hartnell for Umberger swap, Hextall pointed to Umberger as the better skater and also praised Umberger's two-way game. As part of continued improvement of the two-way ability
and increased mobility of the forward corps, the Flyers may still want to bring in a faster and more defensively sound forward than Lecavalier. It should be noted that Umberger did not skate especially well this past season while dealing with some physical problems.
If Lecavalier does stay put and Schenn plays top-line left wing, the second line spot would be Lecavalier's. In any case, the Flyers would still seem to be in the market for at least one more proven top-six forward.
Of course, all these projections can change based up what else the Flyers do on the trade and free agent markets between now and the start of next season. Free agent season starts on July 1.
My hunch is that the Flyers aren't done yet making significant moves. Then again, I didn't foresee a Hartnell-for-Umberger trade in the first place.
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HARTNELL'S CONTRIBUTIONS AND UMBERGER'S ROLE
On May 12, I wrote a
lengthy assessment of Hartnell's 2013-14 season and what I think are his strengths and weaknesses as an NHL player. To me, Hartnell's critics did not give him deserved credit for his positive contributions while his most ardent supporters perhaps underplayed some of the drawbacks.
A seven-time 20-plus goal scorer, Hartnell is a good complementary piece of an NHL team's puzzle. He is not a centerpiece, despite his two 30-plus goals seasons with the Flyers. On the other hand, it is both unfair and wrong to give no credit to Hartnell for being part of several successful first-line and second-line combos in Philly. He meshed with different types of linemates: Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul, Danny Briere and Ville Leino, Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr (later Jakub Voracek).
Yesterday's trade could not have been made without Hartnell's approval. He had a no-movement clause in his contract and quietly waived it. Whether it was the Flyers or Hartnell himself who initiated that discussion is not known for certain, but really doesn't matter in the bigger picture. The bottom line is that what's done is done.
What can be fairly is this: They usually seemed to coexist successfully, but there may have been some things that Craig Berube and Hartnell would have changed about each other's styles if they had their druthers. The same thing can be said for many players and many coaches, of course.
Despite his enforcer role during his playing days, Berube is highly structured as a coach with strong emphasis placed on players' conditioning and discipline both of the penalty and puck-management varieties. Hartnell, who is quite laid back off the ice and sometimes runs more on emotion than structure on the ice, did not always seem to be fully on board although he always said the right things publicly.
One thing that Berube and Hartnell had in common: They both hate to lose.
It had been known for awhile for that R.J. Umberger wanted out of Columbus and a divorce between the player and team was imminent. He submitted a list of 10 teams to whom he would not accept a trade. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen did better for his team than anyone would have expected by landing Hartnell in exchange for Umberger.
Umberger, who has scored 20 or more goals five times in his NHL career (topping out at 26 in his first year in Columbus) despite often playing a third-line role, went through a tough season in 2013-14. He dealt with some injuries and also spent stretch as a healthy scratch; the first time that had happened to him at any level of hockey. Nevertheless, he still managed to scrounge up 18 goals and 34 points in 74 games.
For most of his career, Umberger has been known as a hard-working and team-oriented forward who plays a two-way game, offers some size and above-average skating and provides some supporting offense along the way. This past season, Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards described Umberger's play as "OK" but said he thought the player had "more to give" than what he was contributing.
It is questionable how healthy Umberger actually was this past season. Players never want to be seen as making excuses. What is known is that Umberger played through the Blue Jackets' first-round playoff series loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins with a broken finger, separated shoulder and herniated disc, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch reports.
Hartnell has almost exclusively played left wing in his NHL career, Umberger has played all three forward positions and has shown an ability to adapt. Left wing is the area where he probably best fits the Flyers' current needs.
Umberger's cap hit ($4.6 million) is not that much lower than Hartnell's ($4.75 million) and his contract runs through 2016-17, so this trade cannot be characterized as one that has significant cap-related advantages in the short term. Hartnell and Umberger are both 32 years old.
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FORSBERG MAKES THE HALL, LINDROS SNUBBED
The names of Peter Forsberg and Eric Lindros seem forever tied to one another in any discussion of Flyers and NHL history. They are the same age and were both drafted in the 1991 NHL Draft. They were traded for one another a year later in a blockbuster deal. Later, both men played for the Flyers and spent stints as the team's captain. Both also had injury-plagued careers.
Yesterday, Peter Forsberg was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Lindros was snubbed for the third straight year. I feel that both retired players are deserving of the honor despite all the games they missed. In Lindros' case, concussion issues curtailed his career. In Forsberg's case, foot problems and ancillary injuries related to his foot condition plagued him in his latter career.
Revisionist history has it that the Flyers "didn't know what they were trading" when they included Forsberg in the massive trade package it took to acquire Lindros' rights from Quebec one year after the ultra-hyped center refused to sign with the team that took him first overall in the 1991 Draft.
That is categorically false. The Flyers knew full well that in 1992 Forsberg could become a special NHL player in the years to come. However, they also knew they would have to wait at least one more year (two as it turned out) for Forsberg to leave Sweden to play in the NHL.
Very reluctantly, they included Forsberg's rights in the final trade package with Quebec. The Flyers had no choice but to include Forsberg because general manager Russ Farwell made both Mark Recchi and Rod Brind'Amour untouchable in any trade package discussion.
Now let's go back to the weeks leading up to the 1991 NHL Draft. The Hockey News, which bases its Draft Preview Rankings on discussions with a cross-section of scouts from around the NHL, had Forsberg rated 25th overall. Yes, THN had 24 players rated ahead of Foppa, including the "legendary" likes of Mike Pomichter.
TNH described Forsberg as "solid second rounder who could sneak into the first round." A scout said, "I'd compare him to Tomas Steen in terms of style, though I don't think he'll be as good as Steen."
As a matter of fact, the Flyers were roundly criticized for "reaching" to take Forsberg at #6 overall in a deep Draft. They did so at the strong recommendation of the club's chief European scout Inge Hammarström, who may have been the first person to see Forsberg as a future NHL superstar. TSN's Bob McKenzie had a tip that Forsberg was the Flyers' top choice, but few others believed Philly would actually take the player that early.
Over the next two years, the player exploded in his development and also added considerable muscle. He tore apart the 1992-93 World Junior Championship to a staggering extent (in seven games, Forsberg compiled a record 31 points that may never be broken) and then led the Swedes to a gold medal at the 1994 Olympics. By the point, pretty much everyone in hockey knew Forsberg was going to be a dominant NHL player when he finally came over to North America.
Forsberg's combination of finesse, physicality, wolf-like killer instinct and supreme playmaking ability made him a can't miss NHL star within a few years of being drafted. But few NHL teams saw that sort of upside back in 1991. Everyone knew that about Lindros, even years prior to the 1991 Draft.
Some of the same pundits who pilloried Philly for drafting Forsberg so early in 1991 were hypocritically among the Greek chorus that later taunted the Flyers for dealing Forsberg's rights to Quebec. Of course, they did not have the guts to do so during the years while Lindros won a Hart Trophy, was a Hart finalist the next year and then led the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Their crowing in 20/20 hindsight only came later after the Lindros family had a falling out with Flyers management and the concussions piled up.
The fact that Forsberg was part of two Stanley Cup winning teams in Colorado -- built largely but far from entirely because of the return from the Lindros trade -- was a reflection of the fact that Colorado had superior goaltending and a better blueline than the Flyers. They also had another bonafide franchise forward in Joe Sakic to form the centerpiece of their attack, along with Forsberg. The likes of Brind'Amour and John LeClair were excellent players in their own right, but Lindros did not have a teammate of the same once-in-a-generation caliber as himself, Sakic or Forsberg.
By the time Forsberg finally got to Philadelphia, signing as an unrestricted free agent after the canceled 2004-05 lockout season, he was still a special player but his own injuries were starting to take a toll on him.
People forget that Forsberg led the NHL in scoring at Thanksgiving of 2005, which was when he suffered the first of several groin pulls (later revealed to be related to his foot issues) that forced him out of action for several weeks. Over the rest of the season, he was in and out of the Flyers lineup, but played through the discomfort for Sweden en route to a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics.
Forsberg was the fulcrum of a formidable top line for the Flyers, flanked by Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble. The Swedish superstar was limited to just 60 games during the 2005-06 regular season, but racked up 75 points (19 goals, 56 assists) along the way. Had he played a full season -- something he only managed once in his NHL career -- Forsberg's prorated production of 1.25 points per game would have come out to about 103 points.
When the 2006 playoffs rolled around, Forsberg played through the groin and foot issues to elevate his game to a staggering level. Plain and simple, he was almost the singlehanded reason why the Flyers even took the Buffalo Sabres six games.
In Game One, Forsberg spearheaded a Philadelphia comeback while goaltender Robert Esche stood on his head in turned out to be a double-overtime loss. In Game Three and Four in Philadelphia, Forsberg took over the game to heights that even Lindros in his prime touched only sporadically.
Most memorably, in Game Four, Forsberg authored one of the greatest single-shift display of individual skill ever seen in Flyers history. Dangling with the puck around all five Buffalo Sabres on the ice, Forsberg circled all the way around the offensive zone until he found a passing lane. He then feathered a beautiful pass to a wide-open Eric Desjardins, who hammered home a shot from center point.
During the 2006 off-season, Forsberg was initially slated to have reconstructive surgery on both feet to cure a problem with his ankles that made it increasingly tough to keep his foot properly in a skate and made him prone to a variety of groin and sports hernia issues. He was slated to have the right foot (the worse of the two) done first, followed by the left.
The initial timetable was for Forsberg to be out until Christmas 2006. Instead, the player opted to only have the operation on the right foot and decided to postpone the procedure on the other foot. The timetable was moved up first to mid-November and then got moved up even further to allow Forsberg to attend training camp and start the regular season with the club. He was named the Flyers new captain.
In retrospect, Forsberg's greatly expedited return from the right-foot surgery and decision not to have the surgery on both feet in 2006 may have contributed to how the rest of his career played out. He was forced out of the Philadelphia lineup for long stretches. When he did play, Forsberg was still a bonafide first-line center (posting 40 points in 40 games) but did not play up to his own lofty standards.
Forsberg's frequent absences and ongoing uncertainty over his contract -- he was slated to become an unrestricted free agent again in the summer of 2007 and, due to his iffy health, refused to consider a contract extension of even one year -- were frustrating both to the player himself and to the team. In the meantime, the Flyers as a whole were surrounded by turmoil in what proved to be the worst season in franchise history.
With Forsberg unable to commit to an extension and the team in need of restocking its depth, the Flyers traded Forsberg to the Nashville Predators near the 2007 trade deadline. As it would turn out, Forsberg would only dress in 28 more NHL games over the remainder of his career.
Forsberg posted 15 points in 17 regular season games for the Preds and then chipped in four points in five playoff games. An unrestricted free agent, Forsberg then underwent another foot surgery and sat out much of the 2007-08 season. There were rampant rumors that he would rejoin either the Flyers or Avalanche, ultimately signing with the Avs. Forsberg dressed in nine regular season games (posting 13 assists and 14 points) and seven playoff games (five points).
In the years that followed, Forsberg made three more comeback attempts in Sweden and the NHL after undergoing additional foot surgeries, physical therapy regimens and scores of customized skate designs and inserts. Each comeback ended abruptly, but Forsberg did manage to play a limited role for Sweden at the 2010 Olympics.
Late in the 2009-10 season, with the Flyers in danger of missing the playoffs, the team offered Forsberg (who would not have been eligible for the playoffs) a contract for the rest of the regular season. He appreciated the offer but declined.
Forsberg made one final comeback attempt with Colorado during the 2010-11 season. It ended after two pointless games in which the former Hart Trophy winner was a minus-four. He realized he could no longer be anything close to the player he used to be and that he had exhausted all options for physically being able to play pro hockey anymore.
He retired again after the two-game stint with the Avs. This time, it was permanent.
Along with Forsberg, the Hall of Fame class of 2014 includes Dominik Hasek, Mike Modano, Rob Blake, the late Pat Burns and longtime referee Bill McCreary. Maybe one of these years, the HHOF selection committee will do the right thing and put Lindros in the Hall, too, despite the controversies and injuries that sometimes overshadowed his greatness on the ice.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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