Flyers Trade Legein to Free Contract Space

The Flyers announced earlier this afternoon that prospect Stefan Legein and the Flyers’ 6th round draft pick for 2012 have been traded to the Los Angeles Kings for “future considerations.”

There is no clear definition for “future considerations.” The Kings may eventually provide either a draft pick if certain conditions are met or, the likelier option, absolutely nothing. In other words, the Flyers asked the Kings to take a prospect off of their hands and bundled him with a draft pick in order to resolve the contract limit issue that has come to light in recent days.

In the grand scheme, it is a shrewd move that solves an immediate roster problem at the minor expense of another future prospect in the system. Although recent 6th round draft pick Petr Placek has a lot of potential upside at this stage of his career, any draft picks after the 2nd round are more or less crap shoots.  The only time this will come up again is in June 2012, when one may ask, “Who did the Flyers draft in the 6th round? Oh yeah, they traded that pick last year. Whatever.”

As for the loss of Legein, it has no bearing on the farm system.  Legein was originally drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft.  He was a highly touted prospect in their system and competed for Canada in the World Juniors Tournament (which happened to win the gold medal).

Then he retired from hockey.

Then he un-retired from hockey.

The frustration that followed the melodrama of his career ambitions eventually resulted in the Blue Jackets trading Legein to the Flyers for defenseman prospect Mike Ratchuk.  There were hopes that Legein could benefit from the change of scenery, but he was in the dog house for much of last year with the Adirondack Phantoms.

That’s not to say Legein is a bad player- his career in Philadelphia was just never going to pan out. It’s the reason I suggested the other day he be bundled in a trade (although a 6th round pick for nothing is still better than Matt Read for Eric Belanger).

Today’s news further cements what many were already thinking- Sean Couturier has solidified his position on the roster.

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