A large segment of people think that trading Matt Carle and his $3.44 million salary is an attractive option for opening the necessary cap space to sign Ilya Bryzgalov. My view: For hockey reasons, the Flyers cannot afford to trade Carle unless it's part of a larger deal that either brings a starting defenseman back (while also shedding significant salary) or else opens up enough cap room for the Flyers to add not only Bryzgalov but also another top-six defenseman.

There is a significant possibility that Chris Pronger will not ready to play by the start of the 2011-12 regular season after undergoing back surgery following the Flyers' elimination in the second round of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. Unless the team finds a way to resign -- and squeeze another season as a regular -- out of veteran UFA Sean O'Donnell, any absence among the Flyers' top five defensemen will force the team to start two among Oskars Bartulis, Erik Gustafsson and/or Kevin Marshall.

Given the age and increasingly fragile health of Pronger and Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers will need Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and another veteran (Carle or someone else) to carry a significant share of the load in their own right. If they don't, adding even a top-notch goalie like Bryzgalov is unlikely to propel the Flyers further than they got this past season.

Like all players, Carle has his strengths and weaknesses. He's a good outlet passer and reasonably reliable in his own end of the ice (some folks dwell only on the mistakes) but he's not physical, not a shutdown defenseman and not a power play quarterback. There are certainly comparable and superior defensemen around the NHL, but most of them cost as much -- or more -- on the salary cap. The cheaper ones are usually at the end of their entry-level contracts.

I am not opposed to the Flyers trading Carle, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Given the choice between re-signing Carle or fellow impending UFA Coburn, I think the Flyers should (and will) choose Coburn. But before he's dealt, there needs to be both a short-term and long-term plan in place for the Flyers' blueline.

Show me a viable plan to add a starting defenseman to replace Carle this season, while still giving the club salary-cap space for financial flexibility. In the long term, given the team's lack of draft picks and high-end defense prospects, the Flyers also need a method to bring a couple young defensemen into the fold who can reasonably be projected to be 20-plus minute per game players within a few years.

Unless there's a means to trade Carle and bring in a serviceable replacement at a lower cost, I would suggest that any trades the Flyers make this summer need to come from among the forward corps.

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