Wow how many defensemen do we need?

Following up on the news that Bryan Berard's been invited to camp (I still think it was a good idea to bring him in for a tryout), it would now appear that the Flyers have upwards of twelve players battling it out for a spot on the blue line. Competition is good, it brings out the best in people and means that we start the season with the six or seven best guys from camp. But, wow, twelve guys?

On September 20, the Flyers will start training camp with these players at the back, plus my prediction of where they'll end up by October 11:
Kimmo Timonen (lock)
Braydon Coburn (lock)
Randy Jones (lock)
Ossi Vaananen (lotta a's in that name...lock)
Tim Ramholt (Phantoms)
Danny Syvret (Phantoms)
Steve Eminger (lock)
Derian Hatcher (it looks as if he's going on LTIR because of his knees)
Lasse Kukkonen (most likely will be a healthy scratch, but should play a lot this year)
Ryan Parent (Phantoms. Not quite ready yet)
Mike Rathje (LTIR. Flyers can't cut him, they'll eat what's left of his salary)
Bryan Berard (I'll say lock. Hard to see him not making this team)

I got a top six defensive corps of Timonen, Coburn, Jones, Eminger, Vaananen, and Berard with Kukkonen as a scratch. Parent will get called up, maybe Ramholt if the injury bug hits. My line pairings would be:

Timonen - Coburn
Eminger - Berard
Vaananen - Jones

Of course, we'll find out during camp what will become of Berard's tryout. Like I said, I can't see him not making this team, especially if he can contribute on the PP unit along with Kimmo.

...oh yeah, Joe Sakic is coming back for his 20th season with Quebec/Colorado. 20 years with one franchise is simply amazing, especially with free agency, so big kudos to Joe. According to the Denver Post, Sakic will make $6 million with a no-trade clause.