The dominoes continue to fall, as Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren has traded the 2nd round draft pick acquired from the Kris Versteeg trade and a fourth round draft pick in 2013 for Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina, per TSN’s Pierre Lebrun.
UPDATE: Per Darren Dreger, the Flyers were believed to be sending an “ECHL player” under contract back to Tampa Bay to handle the contract limit issue. Per Frank Seravalli, Jon Kalinski did not travel with the Phantoms after their loss tonight to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Apparently the delay in the deal was to wait until the end of the Phantoms game to inform Kalinski he should pack his bags to head to Norfolk.
Kubina, 34, was reportedly told a few days ago by Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman to provide him with a list of five teams he’d be willing to be traded to. The Flyers were supposedly “in” on Kubina, and following another afternoon disaster against an Atlantic Division rival, Holmgren must have felt compelled to “do something.”
Now here is the very, very interesting part- the Flyers already have 50 players under contract (51 if you count prospect Marcel Noebels, who falls under the “slide rule”). Unless there is another player moved in this trade that has not been reported, the Flyers will be violating league rules. This suggests that yet ANOTHER trade may be happening tonight.
The other theory is that it could be Phantom Jon Kalinski on the move, as he was a very late scratch in tonight’s Phantoms game, according to Tim McManus of the Post Star.
According to Tyler Altemose of The Hockey Guys, the Flyers will have until 5:00 PM tomorrow to settle the contract issue. “Nashwatch” is officially on.
As Flyers Faithful wrote on twitter, tomorrow is very much looking like a “Meet the Flyers” panel more than the Flyers Wives Carnival.
For the latest Flyers news and updates, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Pavel kubina is 6-4 258lbs and a stay at home Defenseman for those not familiar with.. He’s a 13 Year Veteran who has played 953 Career Games and has a 110 Goals sio he ais not an Offensve threat and will give the Flyers another big Blue line Defense for the stretch run..He becomes an unrestricted Free-Agent in July..
The Flyers have now Traded 4 Draft Picks from next Years Draft
2 2nd Rounders, 1 3rd Rounder and 1 4th Rounder for aquiring the 2 Veteran Defenseman in Grossman & Kubina…
Actually Paul, he is a right handed shot which is very effective from the point on the power play. We don’t have many of those since our defensive line up is heavily left handed.
another terrible and shoot from the hip deal by Holmgren….
if this team was close to a stanley cup run, then this trade would be solid, but they are sooooooooooo far from a cup run……Bryzgalov BLOWS was a terrible signing that will kill this team for 8 yrs…..good job Holmgren!
Hey Jott, people said that the Tim Thomas deal was the same thing. They almost traded him here for Gagne. Boy, i guess Boston wish they had. Good grief. Let the man get a year under his belt. Miller let in some soft ones too. And he is pretty good. It happens.
My gut reaction is that, while this trade will immediately help the Flyers’ blue line, there were rumors that Kubina wanted a contract extension Tampa Bay wouldn’t agree to. He currently makes $3.85 million, so who knows if he figures into the Flyers plans next season.
If you think this trade will help the Flyers win the Stanley Cup this season, it’s a step in the right direction but isn’t going to be enough until the goaltending at least becomes “adequate.”
If you think this trade helps bring a veteran in who will play next season for less money, than perhaps this trade has potential to improve the team long-term.
I’ve been told here that I need to stop being so melodramatic about draft picks (which is completely fair), but if Kubina just becomes just a rental player, that’s two more potentially cheap prospects lost for two-three months of a solid defensive hockey.
@Josh – agree.
both defenseman they traded for are free agents after this season.
2 older Rent a players for the next 2 months of play cost the Flyers 4 Draft Picks.. Are the Flyers a serious contender for Stanly Cup run, absolutely not this year with the shaky Goaltending, and up and down play of so many young players.. Can Grossman & Kubina help, sure they can, but will the loss of these 4 Draft picks to obtain them (2 2nd’s,1 3rd & 1 4th) further hinder the acquisition on young talent to compete for the long run, probably so… I’ve stated my positon a few time that the Flyers should be sellers and look to shed some older Vetrean players who are on the downside of their Careers where they can get some solid players build for the long term.. How much time does Briere,Hartnell and even Jagr have at the NHL Level. How much in return could they get from a serious contender looking to make a Stanley Cup move that can help the FLyers with young Talent for the next 3-4-5 Seasons…
This team is extremely young, 19, and 20 yr old making major contributions, read, rinaldo, voracek,simmonds, hartnell is only 30 so hes got 4 good yrs left minimum. The flyers r acting like the teams of the past, they need to continue as they are and not waste picks, theyve got great years ahead of them. I dont know why they would trade for rent a player like kubina, they should stay put especially with how bryz is playing. Play for next year, the only key player this would affect is timmo, who is on his way out especially how he plays although i love the guy and hope im wrong. Its as if mgmt thinks they have to make a move every yr. Mgmt should draft all defensemen and goalies in the upcoming draft. Come playoff time anything can happen so we’ll see, but im so tired of soft goals! What is it here that every netminder lets one in!
Pman, that is not the mentality of this franchise especially when they team is in the hunt for the playoffs. So they gave up 4 picks. They didn’t give up any of their young players which are gonna carry them for the next 5 years. These moves will sure up the blue line for this season without making any long term commitments to these guys. I don’t love the Kubina move, but I can’t blame Homgren for trying to win.
And if you wanna make a case to trade some of the vets,stop including Hartnell. Dude will turn 30 next month, so he will be here helping this team for the next 3-5 years.
Mentality or Poor judgemeny ???. The Results will be the same, which will be an early exit from the Playoffs.. The Flyboys are now Seeded 5th (Penquins are seeded #6 but tied in points and will most likley move ahead of them by week’s end) putting the Flyers down to 6th and who knows, even Ottawa at 68 Points may be able to catch them knocking them down to a 7th Seed which means they will face the Bruins/Rangers in 1st Round and be home early for the Off-Season… With shaky Goaltending and new Defenseman to pair up and get acclimated to the Flyers System and 20 games left, the Spring does not bode so well for the lovable Flyers..