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Quick Hits: Brind'Amour, TIFH and More |
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Quick Hits: June 18, 2021
1) Congratulations go out to Flyers Hall of Famer Rod Brind'Amour for winning the Jack Adams Award for the job he did coaching the Carolina Hurricanes this season. Brind'Amour and Bill Barber (Flyers, 2000-01) are the only two Flyers Alumni players to win the Adams. However, Terry Crisp (Calgary Flames, 1988-89) and Craig Berube (St. Louis Blues, 2018-19) won the Stanley Cup as NHL head coaches.
2) My favorite player name in the 2021 NHL Draft class: Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL) defenseman Cameron Whynot: a teammate of Flyers center/wing prospect Elliott Desnoyers.
If ever there was a ready made reply for why a team selects a player where he eventually gets picked, it's with him. Why not, indeed.
Whynot is projected to be selected somewhere from the late second round to latter third round of the Draft. He is typical of many players in this year's Draft who are hard to peg where teams will rank him. There are some obvious attraction points -- above average wheels, offensive upside, decent size -- but relatively limited viewings due to the staccato season and inconsistency issues.
3) June 18 Flyers Alumni birthday: Antero Niittymäki (1980).
4) Today in Flyers History: On June 18, 2007. the Flyers flipped Nashville's 2007 first-round Draft pick (acquired months earlier in the Peter Forsberg trade) back to the Predators in exchange for the rights to impending free agents Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell. The same day, the Flyers announced the signings of Timonen ($6.3 million cap hit) and Hartnell ($4.2 million cap hit) to six-year contracts.
Consequently, the Predators essentially rented Forsberg for about six weeks in exchange for post-playoff acquisitions of Timonen and Hartnell and the immediate additions of Scottie Upshall and defense prospect Ryan Parent.
Forsberg, due to chronic foot problems that made him reluctant to re-sign with the Flyers in the first pace, would only eventually play 11 additional NHL games with Colorado over two short-lived comeback attempts. The Timonen and Hartnell acquisitions, along with the free agent signing of Danny Briere and the 2006-07 in-season trades that brought Braydon Coburn and Martin Biron to the Flyers were major driving forces in the Flyers' instant turnaround from the NHL's worst record in 2006-07 to being in the Eastern Conference Final one season later and the Stanley Cup Final two seasons after that.
5) Today in Flyers History: In basically the reverse version of the Forsberg rental to the Predators, the Flyers reacquired impending unrestricted free agent Vaclav Prospal from the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2007-08 stretch drive and playoffs in exchange for young defenseman Alexandre Picard and a 2008 second-round pick. Prospal waived a no-trade clause to accept a short-term return to Philadephia with a handshake agreement that he could go back to Florida (where he'd settled at the time with his young family) after the season.
Prospal lived up to his end of the bargain. The playmaking Czech was a valuable contributor down the stretch, posting 14 points (4g, 10a) in 18 games and then adding 13 points (3g, 10a) in the playoffs in his return to the Flyers. In the offseason, general manager Paul Holmgren upheld his part of the agreement.
On June 18, 2008, the Flyers acquired a 2008 seventh-round pick (goalie Joacim Eriksson)and a 2009 conditional pick from the Lightning for the rights to impending unrestricted free agent Prospal. Taking advantage of the advanced negotiating window, the Lightning re-signed Prospal to a four-year contract that raised his salary from $1.9 million to $3.5 million.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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