Flyers/Bruins Shake On It

  For a couple months now speculation around the Philadelphia Flyers organization has been running rampent, whether it be focused around talks regarding what the team plans to do with management, or the on ice personnel.  Well after a full house cleaning of the management staff took place, it then came time to focus on the players within the organization.   So the rumors have just been flying around this Flyers team, and in fact the rumor mill almost broke down a couple of weeks ago when word broke on the street that the Flyers were considering and listening to offers on 27 year old, 6'3" Anze Kopitar from Jesenice Slovenia.  Well now, after a couple of weeks of rumors swirling around about the star center, which had several teams interested and a couple were in the mix to land him, a team has been able to acquire Kopitar as he is taking his talents to Boston.

     Sometime yesterday in the afternoon, the league approved and made the deal official between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins.   Anze Kopitar, who was the Flyers #1 center along with Craig Smith are both headed to Boston to join the Bruins.  The Flyers Gm and Team President Wes Mucyk had these words this morning regarding the trade.  "First off, we wish both Anze and Craig all the best going forward, and would like to thank them for their efforts both on and off the ice.  Now, we didn't want to move Anz, like he was our team's 1st pick in the EHE's inaugural draft, the guy's only 27 years old, I mean that's what, at least another 14 season's of EHE hockey, and many of those are of good, solid years left in him.  When it all came down to it, I took over the team and wanted to take a few days to evaluate and get a feel for the league.  We then as an organization decided with this group it was time to win now, so I started making some calls, checking out the market to see if we could improve our team, but the guys other GMs wanted were our top 2 center's, or Landeskog.  Well Landeskog is not going anywhere, and trading those centers would just leave us worse off.  We then thought maybe we could improve through free agency, but we would probably just end up trying to fix  holes with scotch tape.  We were built to win last year, but ended up finishing near the bottom of the league, so clearly we have some major holes to fix.  So we figured rather then maybe tape up a hole or 2 via free agency, and risk the chances of just finishing 20th-24th again and starting a vicious cycle that goes on for a couple of years only to end up with the same result in the end, and that being to trade Anz a few years down the line (which he'd then have less trade value) and start a rebuild then, it made sense to us to just start the process now.  As for the return we got from the Bruins in this deal, of course we're really happy and excited.   We talked with several other Gm's, weighed a number of offers, thought them all over for a few days and this one just made the most sense to us."

     "We've seen it countless times before.   In every draft there is always that one special, talented player who could be in on the discussion for being that 1st overall pick if it weren't for the "Russian Factor"  This year's culprit is Valeri Nichuskin"      That was what current head scout for the Philadelphia Flyers had to say the year that Nichushkin was draft eligible for the NHL, which like all of the top end hockey talent, Nichushkin  has chosen to come play in EHE.  Nichushkin is a big body, with excellent skating ability and tremendous skills.   Hockey's Future say's "He's like a bull on skates."  The kids upside is that of a superstar top line winger.

   As part of the deal Philadelphia will also receive a 1st and 3rd round draft picks to go along with Dman Stefan Elliot.  "We look forward to seeing what he can do, he's got a ton of offensive talent, he just needs to improve on his defensive play.  We fully expect him to be up with the big club within the next season or two."  That was head coach Claud Julien on Elliot.

  Philly wasn't done there as earlier in the day they struck a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins bring into town the Russian Hulk, or as some compare him to Ivan Drago from Rocky 4, Nikita Tryamkin.  Tryamkin, a Dman, stands 6'7, clearly a big body who possesses a canon of a shot.  Headed back to the Penguins will be Gustav Olofsson and a 4th rounder.

     The Flyers have some solid pieces already in place for a rebuild with Nurse, Landeskog and Draisaitl.  The rumors (check my trade block) continue to build around this team as Mucyk looks to put his stamp on the Flyers organiztion. "We're still looking to move some guys, currently in talks with a few of the Gms from around the league.   No rush, we're going to be patient in moving some of our higher end talent, of course trying to maximize our return.  If need be me and my managemnt team do not have any issues waiting until the trade deadline to move a player if we at this time currently are not getting what is felt is a players true value" Wes Mucyk