Lasse Kukkonen = Not Gone

I talked last week about the bonehead move the Flyers made in putting Lasse Kukkonen on waivers. It was a really big gamble, but Paul Holmgren is lucky. It worked.

Nobody claimed Lasse off of the waiver wire in the 48 hours after he was posted on it, so the Flyers retain his rights. If Lasse were claimed, we would've been down to five defensemen for the games against Montreal and Atlanta this weekend, turning two quality wins into potential issues.

But it worked. Lasse is still here, and things are starting to look up on the injury front. From the Flyers' official site today:

The break has proved to be valuable for several of the team's wounded. Ossi Vaananen and Riley Cote took part in the skate today and are hoping to return sooner rather than later. Danny Briere has not yet skated with the team, but is hoping to get back on the ice by the end of the week and has not ruled himself out to play against his old team, the Sabres, on Friday.