Having already acquired Kris Versteeg to add an offensive weapon for Mike Richards and Nick Boynton to replace injured defenseman Oskars Bartulis, the Flyers remained relatively quiet today, the NHL trade deadline.
There were rumors that the Flyers would make a trade with the Florida Pantehrs for one of either goaltender Tomas Vokoun or third-liner Marty Reasoner, but any trade would require draft picks (which they really don’t have), top prospects (which they really don’t have), or current players on the roster. Not wanting to endanger the existing chemistry of the team, the Flyers decided not to make any major deals.
The only trade they made sent Phantoms forward Greg Moore and center prospect Michael Chaput to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for center Tom Sestito.
Moore, 26, is a veteran AHLer but was a good presence in the Phantoms locker room. He was snakebitten like many of his teammates for the first half of the season, but picked up his game recently. He was responsible for the lone regulation goal and the shootout game-winner on Saturday against the Worcester Sharks.
Moore, along with Eric Wellwood, looked very good in the Phantoms’ return to Philadelphia earlier this year.
Chaput, the 2010 third round draft pick, has a 6.5C rating from hockeysfuture.com. This basically means he has the potential to fall somewhere between a second and third line center, but may never actually reach that potential. In other words, he’s a crapshoot.
Sestito, 23, is a former third round draft pick. He has 11 goals and 21 assists this year with the Springfield Falcons. While he will be a decent centermen for the Phantoms, the real appeal for upper management is his 192 penalty minutes, which rank him 5th in the AHL. The Flyers don’t need any more fourth line centers at the moment, but he is a better option to serve as a call-up than bat crazy Zac Rinaldo.
I don’t know much else about Sestito, but these two tweets from earlier in the day have me pleased:
“Rumor has it Philly likes seeing an $#% kicking! Hope to see you soon and will give you what you want!”
“Don’t they call Philly the #CityofBrotherlyLove? So #Flyers fans am I supposed to be easy on my #Devils bro Tim? %$^& NO! Let’s go Flyers!” His brother Tim plays for the Albany Devils, who coincidentally will be the Phantoms opponent in the next three games.
The Flyers don’t play again until Thursday, when Versteeg faces his former teammates, the Toronto Mapleleafs, at the Wells Fargo Center.
