The fast-approaching NHL trade deadline plus the Flyers' inconsistency over the last couple months is a surefire recipe for tension and rampant debate over whom the team ought to target and whom the team should make available.
It is clear the Flyers need to make some changes to their mix on the blueline. I am in favor of the team going out and acquiring a defenseman and/or a proven checking forward with good size. But I am not expecting miracles here.
I do not think there is a defenseman whom the Flyers could realistically acquire within the next couple weeks who will make a major difference by himself. Norris Trophy candidate Shea Weber is not available right now. While there are defensemen out there who could help out the Flyers in certain ways, expectations have to be kept realistic.
Defensemen like Chris Pronger don't come along too often. When you lose a player of his caliber, it basically takes TWO players -- a power play threat and someone more defensive minded -- to approximate his value on the ice. His absence also hurts in the locker room.
It is unfair NOT to expect that Pronger's loss for the season and playoffs would not eventually have an impact on the team. We saw it last season, too.
The club thrived during a brutal road stretch after Christmas without the services of Pronger, who was out with a broken foot. Some folks hastily proclaimed that the team would be fine without him. But there was a cumulative effect to losing Pronger last year.
Other defensemen had to play more -- and tougher -- minutes, which eventually wore them down by the stretch drive, before the playoffs even started. Meanwhile, Pronger kept getting injured (broken hand, back problems) and he was not able to be nearly as effective as his normal standard when he did play.
The Flyers' hope coming into this season was that Pronger and Kimmo Timonen would hold up another year, the acquisition of Ilya Bryzgalov would help to cancel out a lot of defensive breakdowns and, meanwhile, the trio of Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and reigning Barry Ashbee Trophy winner Andrej Meszaros would play at a high level on a consistent basis. This combination would have to make up for a lot of roster changeover and youth up front, as well as mitigating the risks of icing a forward lineup that (on the whole at least) is strictly average defensively.
We see how that's worked out so far. Pronger has been lost for the season and possibly for good. Bryzgalov, Sergei Bobrovsky and the defensemen other than Timonen have lacked consistency. The team starts two rookie defensemen regularly. The forward corps scores it share of goals but is short on proven defensive stoppers and has numerous rookies in the lineup.
The Flyers are still a pretty good team but they have clear-cut weaknesses that top team can exploit. That's just the reality.
The grass always seems greener on the other side, especially where defensemen are concerned. All players have their strengths and weaknesses, including All-Star caliber players. Defense in particular is an extremely difficult and often thankless position to play.
Do you want the team to get a "big, physical defenseman"? Then don't be surprised if the guy will be vulnerable to getting out of position, getting beaten off the rush and/or taking a lot of minor penalties. When a team has a big defensemen who can skate, hits aggressively but knows when to pick his spots, the team keeps him and pays him a lot of money. The next step down are role players.
Do you want Philly to add a puck-moving specialist or power play defenseman? Then you might have to get someone who is undersized, turns over a lot of pucks and/or gets outmuscled around the net.
Do you want to "trade veterans and give the young players a chance to develop"? Then expect mistakes and inconsistency that may or may not resolve itself over time. The Flyers chronically struggle to develop homegrown defensemen because they have difficulty sitting through several years worth of growing pains until the player finally figures out what it is he does well at the NHL level and how to minimize his limitations.
In looking at the Flyers defensive personnel without Pronger, the top four are still OK but, if the team is going to go anywhere in the playoffs, it needs Timonen to constantly be at his best and for at least two of three among Coburn, Carle and Meszaros to be playing well at the same time. That still leaves rookies Marc-Andre Bourdon and Erik Gustafsson, both of whom have played well in stretches and had their fair share of struggles.
It is what is, folks. Hal Gill, Nicklas Grossman, Bryan Allen, ex-Flyer Mark Eaton, and every other name out there in the Flyers trade rumors all have certain assets they can offer. But not one of them is going to be 20-minute stopper for this team.
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To illustrate my point, I'll use Gill and Grossman as examples of the give-and-take that comes with virtually any defenseman the Flyers could acquire at the deadline. I chose them because Gill appears to be the most popular current choice around here and Grossman is a player I watch every game in blogging for the Stars here at HockeyBuzz.
Gill is huge and usually has moderate penalty totals. He blocks a lot of shots (118 so far this season, good for 15th in the NHL). His hitting game is sporadic, both because of the rule changes and due to the need to play a good positional game to compensate for his weaknesses. He knows what he's doing out there, which is how he's still in the NHL at age 36 in an era where similar players were largely forced out within a year or two of the lockout season.
The 6-foot-7, 240 pound Gill is a slow skater who can get beaten wide at times, but has the advantage of tremendous reach. When refs relax even a little on clutching and grabbing, Gill can be highly effective in tying up a man and preventing him from scoring.
On the flip side, Gill is a subpar puckhandler. Despite not being relied upon to be a puck-mover, Gill has averaged nearly a giveaway per game (51 in 52 GP) and is the only strictly defensive defenseman who ranks in the NHL's top 20 (he's 15th) in unforced turnovers this season.
Grossman is nine years younger than Gill and has good size at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds. He's an average skater, an underrated physical player despite low penalty minute totals and nearly as good of a shot blocker as Gill.
The Swede has tended to be quite injury prone thus far in his career. When he's in the lineup, it's an absolute must to pair him with a puck-mover because Grossman is not very good with the puck on his stick. With the Stars, he has averaged nearly 19 minutes (18:59) of ice time per game this season and he saw a lot of time against opposing top lines last season, but I see him as more of a 16-minute player on a deeper blueline.
When players such as these suit up for other teams, Flyers fans often clamor for their acquisition. Once the player gets here, suddenly the focus shifts to what they don't do well as opposed to their strong suits.
Think back to all the people pining for a Luke Richardson trade at the 1996-97 deadline, for instance. When he came here as a free agent that summer, a lot of folks soon wanted to see him run out of town. Over time, the majority eventually started to appreciate that he added toughness and grit but was not someone the Flyers could frequently use against top-line attackers.
That's the nature of role players. They do particular things well. Defensemen come at a premium; even the role-playing ones. The stars cost an arm and a leg and still need the right surrounding cast. If a team is in the market to acquire defense, be prepared to overpay, both in trade return and salary. The Flyers spend a lot of salary cap space on their blueline and are still dissatisfied.
The only other alternative is to develop your own defensemen in the farm system, exhibit tremendous patience through their formative years. Also recognize that there's still a pretty good chance that the benefits will ultimately be reaped by the player's NEXT team and not yours.
Do you want to know why the Flyers paid so much to pre-empt Braydon Coburn's unrestricted free agency with a long-term extension? Because he is a big guy who can skate and is still relatively young. A comparable replacement next season would have cost even more money. In fact, Coburn probably sacrificed some money on the open market in exchange for the security of staying put.
Coburn has always been a rather streaky player in his Flyers' career -- excellent for stretches, average in stretches. The same goes for Carle and Meszaros. Guess what: That's the nature of much of the middle class of defensemen throughout the NHL. That's why they are a cut below the perennial All-Stars at an extremely difficult position to play.
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