Well, after the news that the Predators matched the flyers 14 year- 110 Millon Dollar offer, this off season may seem like a bust for the flyers. They lost two of their top wingers, Jagr and JVR ( when he was healthy ) while adding no younger talent on offense. They also lost Matt Carle with an aging defense.
Now, not all is lost. The flyers did add 22 year old Luke Schenn on defense and veteran Ruslan Fedetenko. They also added a few other two way pieces to the puzzle.
This team really could have benefitted from landing Shea Webber in free agency but unfortunately he will atleast be a Predator for the next year. Where do the flyers go from here?
There are not many big names left in free agency and after Columbus traded Rick Nash to the Rangers the flyers really need to beef up on some part of their team. There are a few options on the trade market that the flyers could possibly pick up.
Bobby Ryan: Bobby has specifically asked for a trade to the flyers but since he does not have a NTC or NMC in his contract he doesn't have much of a say in where he goes. The ducks are supposedly asking for eitiher schenn or couturier or both of them in a package deal, which quite frankly isn't a fair deal because both of them had great seasons last year and are only getting better.
Keith Yandle: The flyers tried to get yandle either in the year but they backed off because just like Ryan and Nash the asking price is to high.
Alex Semin: Now this is a tricky situation because while Semin has great skills on the ice he is known around the league as a "coach killer" and he is also a lazy player. The flyers may not be willing to take a chance on a player like this.
Shane Doan: Last but not least there is FA Shane Doan. Doan has specifically said that he would want to stay in pheonix, but if he were to leave where would he go? Rumor had it that if the flyers had landed Weber, The Flyers would have been 2nd on Doan's list, presumably behind Pheonix. There is also another problem, there is an unknown team that offered Doan 30 million for 4 years. That would be a tall order for the flyers to match with Giroux in need of a big raise in the future.
All of this and more is due to be answered with time. By the time the season starts I would not be surprised if holmgren pulled the trigger on one or more of these deals.
