no early morning bill blog today?
- Don'tForgetTocchet

He is waiting for the bomb to drop this morning.

Nashville walks away.

Nice try, Bill.....

You say a package of Voracek, Mezaros, a young d-man & a #1 would be a reasonable package for arguably the best defenseman in the league in his prime ?

It's not a horrible package, but let's look a little closer"\;

Voracek - solid, hardworking player, can probably play on the 2nd line with a good centerman....1st line ? Well, if this deal went thru he would have been traded twice before his 23rd birthday...and the fact that the Flyers apparently have no qualms whatsoever about tossing him into the deal says a lot. Good player - but when I'm trading my superstar, I want better than good players.

Meszaros - as noted, Flyers best defenseman a year ago - not so great last year, or else they would want to keep him (especially after losing Carle). Also, if traded the Preds would be his 4th team in a 7 year career - can anyone say "journeyman" ?

The young defensemen - decent prospects, but are they better than the defense prospects the Preds already have ? Questionable....

A (low) #1 pick - your chances of picking up a Top 6 forward or Top 4 defenseman in the 20's is pretty low....another reason the Flyers didn't hesitate to risk 4 #1s to sign Weber.....

It's still true in any sport that the team getting the best player in a deal wins the deal, even if the other team gets lots of useful spare parts.....It looked for a while like Scott Howson realized this with the Nash negotiations, but then he folded and Columbus will struggle to compete in the Western Conference with no difference-makers.....It appears that Poile does understand this, and is not even asking for proven stars - simply players like Schenn or Couturier who at least have the promise of becoming top players.