Holmgren wanted a hammer. The fans wanted a hammer. Why is there so much to complain about when we see the check at the end of the meal?
When looking at the bill for a healthy dose of destruction on the blueline it doesn’t exactly look like the Flyers should have been interested. This year’s first rounder cost them a nice little crack at Jordan Schroeder, John Moore, Kyle Palmieri, and Carter Ashton. This year is supposed to be the deepest draft since 2003 (think of Fleury, E. Staal, Horton, Zherdev, Vanek, Coburn, Phaneuf, Carter, Brown, Seabrook, Parise, Getzlaf, Burns, Kesler, Richards, Perry, Bergeron, and Carle just to name a few). Now we currently have to wait until round 3 to hear from the Flyers again barring any trade. On top of that add Joffrey Lupul (pronounced Jeffery according to Gary Bettman), a young 50 point forward capable of 25-30 goals a season. Then throw in our 1st last year, Luca Sbisa, who played very well for the Flyers as an 18 year old defenseman before being shipped back to the WHL for the remainder of the regular season. Oh, and of course tack on our first rounder in 2010 for good measure. Also, if Pronger re-signs with the Flyers we have to give Anaheim our 3rd rounder after the contract is signed as well.
So what does all of this give us in Pronger? Let me quickly point out that Pronger is under contract for only one more season at $6.25m. Let me also point out that he will be 35 on October 10th this year. Doesn’t give you all that much hope based on what we gave up right? It looks terrible yeah?
Well, you’re wrong.
Is Pronger the hammer we needed? Yes.
Is Pronger the hammer on the blueline Holmgren talked about? Yes.
Is Pronger an aggressive defenseman who can move the puck and score from the blueline? Yes.
Is Pronger a veteran with plenty of Stanley Cup playoff experience and a trophy to boot? Yes.
Anyway you look at it, even at the ripe old age of 34 Pronger is a top 5 defenseman in the NHL. He also has a mean streak that we certainly could use on the blueline. Remember the Pittsburgh series when the Penguins wingers were just allowed to take runs at Timonen all day? We outplayed the Penguins in that series. Even TSN admits it, but we couldn’t protect ourselves in front of Biron. It’s good to say in theory that this is what Hartnell and Carcillo should have been doing from the get go, but forwards are more focused on other forwards. On the blueline there is a totally different battle; one we were losing all year because we weren’t mean enough. Think Emery or Pronger will sit back and take it? I don’t think so.
That said we are certainly a penalty risk, but we’re not necessarily more of a penalty risk than we were before. The orange and black will always get their fair share of penalties set aside at the beginning of the game. It’s not a question that reputation calls exist so in my opinion if the league is going to operate this way, why not give them a reason to? I promise that we won’t have as many “lazy” penalties next year with a guy like Pronger on the team. The roughings, boardings, cross-checkings, and hits from behind will pile up, but if they’re not outlandishly dirty I’m not against that.
We need to be a tougher team. Holmgren has seen that. We’re also a team that’s too young to be allowed to judge itself. Knuble and Timonen were and are great guys, but Pronger is certainly a wake-up call.
Don’t forget also that Pronger can move the puck. He hasn’t posted less than 40 points since 1997-98 during a full season of action. For those keeping track at home, Pronger has been a dominant force for over a decade; let alone the Norris, All-Star Bids, and Stanley Cup appearances.
The Flyers just acquired a top FIVE NHL defenseman. You know how everyone says how underrated Timonen is for his defensive abilities? Well, Timonen is at best a top 10 NHL defenseman. Add some height, weight, anger, and skill to Timonen and then you have the freak of nature that the Flyers just acquired.
Right now our defense looks a little something like this:
Timonen (6.33) – Coburn (1.30)
Pronger (6.25) – Parent (0.86)
Carle (3.44) – Jones (2.70)
We have two first pairings and a 2nd-3rd pairing on back end. I would consider that a pretty good defensive lineup if not the best in the entire east. I also don’t expect Carle and Jones to be on the roster much longer, but I’ll explain that later.
We lose some offensive without Lupul, but our top lines currently look like this:
Gagne (5.25) – Richards (5.75) – Briere (6.50)
Hartnell (4.20) – Carter (5.00) – Giroux (0.82)
I have absolutely no problem with that offense either.
So what did the Flyers really give up to get Pronger? A 1st round selection in this year’s deep draft, a first rounder next year, a 50 point forward who had consistency problems, a young stand out defenseman who the Flyers organization toyed with a little too much for my liking, and $2m in cap space.
If Pronger re-signs in Philadelphia you can of course chalk up another 3rd rounder to Anaheim, but whatever. Holmgren has mentioned he would be taking Pronger and his agent right to the table to sure him up for a while longer.
Let’s wait and see how the long term issues work out. For next year though…I don’t think we could do much better. Everyone who wanted JayBo you can consider him a lesser version of Pronger. While Bouwmeester is younger and will certainly be a better asset in the long run, Pronger is quite possibly the best player on our team right now. He very well could be for 3-4 more years. He’s certainly better than Bouwmeester right now.
As for our 6.14m stuck in Randy Jones and Matt Carle, I think it’s safe to say the Flyers might seek other homes for these two. They are both defensively lax while providing offensive capabilities. Unfortunately the Flyers don’t need PP specialists at all. There’s no room of this team for either of them. Maybe one can stay, but personally I’d like to see Carle moved (not to mention he currently takes up Pronger’s number 25). He can still fetch a decent price at the draft, and we could certainly use the picks as well as the cap space. Jones on the other hand could be on a one-way trip to the AHL, and I would be more than thrilled.
Today was just Act Two. Get ready for the final installment of draft weekend tomorrow.
P.S. This is the 2nd time Lupul has been traded in order to acquire Chris Pronger. That’s your little fun fact for today.
