Meet the new Flyers

Right, now that I've got a little free time, it's time to recap the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The most glaring need for the Flyers going into next season was on defense, so naturally Paul Holmgren and co. decided to look in that general direction. Along the way, we picked up a couple of goalie prospects and a center, not to mention trading for Caps blue-liner Steve Eminger. Apparently, we did Steve a favor by getting him out of DC. Anyway, here are the newest Flyers:

1. Luca Sbisa, D - 6'2", 190, Lethbridge (WHL)
2. Marc-Andre Bourdon, D - 6'0", 206, Rouyn-Noranda (QJMHL)
3. Jacob DeSerres, G - 6'2", 195, Seattle (WHL)
4. Zac Rinaldo, C - 5'11", 169, Mississauga St. Michael's (OHL)
5. Joacim Eriksson, G - 6'1", 189, Brynas Jr. (Sweden Juniors)

I wouldn't expect to see any of these guys wearing orange and black for at least three years, if that. Holmgren and John Stevens are true believers in allowing young players to fully develop in the minors before getting thrown into the mix. Sbisa would be the logical choice to be the first one called up to the NHL, especially if Derian Hatcher decides to call it quits. The one major worry I have is that these guys aren't exactly big. Granted, six feet and two hundred pounds is nothing to sneeze at, but there's no one here that can be called intimidating. I hope that the organization isn't leaning to far towards the mobile puck-moving defenseman and too far away from the big, knock-you-on-your-butt bruiser we've been known to have around.

Rumor out of South Philly is that the Flyers are close to re-signing both Riley Cote and Jeff Carter. It sounds like Carter's deal is just waiting for a final dollar amount. I'm hoping this goes OK because I don't want this dragging on past July 1, when another GM can raise Carter's asking price knowing that we're pressed as far as the cap is concerned. There has been talk on message boards that Philly is looking at veteran D-men such as Brian Campbell, Mark Streit, and John-Michael Liles, but that all depends on how much cash Holmgren has to work with. Campbell's going to want a lot of money, plus I think we're done raiding the Buffalo Sabres for their best players.

Now that the draft is over and Pierre Mcguire can stop gushing over EVERY SINGLE PICK THAT EVERY TEAM MADE (Seriously, how can you like all 211 players?), we now get a bit of a break until the silly season kicks off on the 1st. The cap is projected to be around $56 million, so we've got some wiggle room, but not much.

Draft Day!!!!

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

Hey folks, how we doin'?

Finally, the 2008 NHL Draft gets underway today in Ottawa. The Flyers have the 27th pick in the first round, so unless they make a trade or two, I don't expect them to pick until 9:30 or so. Not that the Flyers haven't been busy this offseason. First came the announcement of Sami Kapanen's retirement (so long, Sammy). Rumor has it that he didn't like the fact that the team wanted to go younger. Oh well. Then we traded Ryan Potulny, who couldn't get a spot on the team since we're loaded with centers, to Edmonton. And on Wednesday, we shipped Vinnie Prospal back to Tampa for the Lightning's 7th round pick this weekend and a conditional pick next year.

As far as the potential free agents are concerned, it looks like Jeff Carter will be here for some time, at least according to both John Stevens and Paul Holmgren. R.J. Umberger's name just came up on TSN regarding a possible trade with Columbus, so the jury's out on him. UPDATE - Umberger's just been traded to the Blue Jackets along with our 4th round pick for Columbus's 1st round pick (19th overall) and their 3rd round pick.

So now we have two 1st round picks...

8:28 - Wayne Gretzky steps to the podium and gets a standing O. Poor Gary Bettman probably thought it was for him.

Do the NY Islanders WANT a draft pick this year???

8:36 - And the Isles finally make a pick. No doubt he'll be signed to a 40-year contract.

9:41 - Flyers draft D Luca Sbisa (Lethbridge, WHL).

Holmgren decides to go with defense with our first pick. According to his bio, Sbisa's a puck-moving defenseman who needs to toughen up a bit for the North American game. He better toughen up if he wants to make it on the Flyers' roster. I guess this means that we've reached the end for Derian Hatcher in Philly.

10:16 - The Devils, who traded down to get this pick, draft Mattias Tedenby from HV 71 in Sweden. I figured I'd keep track of what the rest of the Atlantic Division is doing tonight (I missed the Rangers' pick 'cause I was getting some coffee). We've got the 27th pick, which is the final pick for our division. The Pens don't pick until the 4th round, or early Monday morning the way this draft is going.

10:35 - Flyers trade pick #27 to Washington for D Steve Eminger and 84th overall pick

Pierre McGuire on TSN is saying that Eminger wanted out of DC, so this sounds like a good move. No doubt Flyers fans wanted either John Carlson or Jakob Markstrom...

11:00 - That's it for the first round. Still a lot of good talent on the board, but unless the Flyers can move back into the 2nd round, most of it may be gone by the time we select at 67th. From what was done tonight, the Flyers wanted to solidify the blue line, and they may have done it with Sbisa and Eminger. Now just get a good goalie prospect and I'll be happy.

D'oh!!!

OK, I've been saying that the NHL Draft is on June 12th now for about three weeks. My apologies for the brain fart. The draft is on June 20th. The NHL Awards Ceremony is on June 12th. Please make a note in your calendars. Thank you.

Congratulations to...

(Photo: The Canadian Press)

...these guys.

Yup, for the 11th time and fourth since 1997, the Detroit Red Wings are the Stanley Cup champions after defeating Pittsburgh 3-2 in Game 6. They should have won it on Monday, but the Pens won a triple-overtime marathon after Petr Sykora called his shot and won the game (which was pretty cool, by the way). Congrats to the Wings on a great season. And Pittsburgh, of course.

In Flyers news, Sami Kapanen has finally decided to call it quits after 12 seasons. He retired on Monday and reportedly signed with a Finnish team, though I'm not sure which one. Anyway, we'll miss you Sami, especially your heroics in the 2004 playoffs after nearly getting killed by Darcy Tucker in Toronto which led to Jeremy Roenick's OT game-winner. This should free up about $2M in salary, money the Flyers can use to re-sign Jeff Carter.

Although tonight officially marks the end of the 2007-08 season, the 2008-09 season gets underway in about a week with the NHL Draft in Ottawa, followed by the start of free agency in July. That should satisfy my hockey needs for a while, plus I got the Phillies (who are playing ridiculous right now) and the European Championship kicking off this weekend (my money's on the Germans), so I got my sports fix covered.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are now officially on the clock...