The Philadelphia Flyers are stepping up their efforts to acquire defenseman Jay Bouwmeester from...

The Philadelphia Flyers are stepping up their efforts to acquire defenseman Jay Bouwmeester from the Florida Panthers, but salary cap constraints are rearing their ugly head. The Flyers are bumping up against the cap and they are working hard to try to free up some space.

Sources say one of the options is trading goaltender Marty Biron and turning the number one job over to Antero Niittymaki. One potential scenario has the Flyers trading Biron to the Phoenix Coyotes as part of a plan that would see the Coyotes flip Biron to another team.

But the Coyotes aren't going to make that move unless they have the other deal already set up. It should be noted, however, that Biron has a no-trade clause and would have to be on board with any move that is made.

- Bob McKenzie, TSN.ca

UPDATE - The Buffalo News has Derek Morris coming back to the Flyers from the Coyotes. Five For Howling has more on Morris, a strong, aggressive defenseman with a cap hit of almost four million. In other words, this wouldn't be the only deal and it wouldn't be to clear cap space.

UPDATE 2 - The Flyers have not yet asked Biron to waive his no-trade clause, Ed Moran reports.

almost 3 years ago Travis Hughes 16 comments 0 recs |

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All this crazy speculation has to be killer for the players. I do wonder though if these rumors are part of the reason Niitty gets the start tonight.

Swing by The Flyer Frequent if you have nothing better to do.

by Ben Rothenberg on Mar 3, 2009 6:46 PM EST reply actions

Am I the only one who actually LIKES Biron?

Awful trade….we could use depth…but not at that cost….no way

by Ivan Monteiro Prado on Mar 3, 2009 7:02 PM EST reply actions

Ivan, no you are not. I like him, too. Like Pat Burrell, he is maddeningly inconsistent…but awesome when he’s on. Also, I feel if we trade him and force Nitty to be the No. 1, he will falter. He’s a bit of a headcase that way.

by doubleh on Mar 3, 2009 7:59 PM EST reply actions

I love that comparison to Burrell. Perfect way of understanding it.

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by Travis Hughes on Mar 3, 2009 8:25 PM EST up reply actions

What if we turned...

Biron + Lupul + vanRiemsdyk

into

Guerin + Bouwmeester ?

That sort of seems the way the wind is blowing…. Unless we kept Derek Morris, in which case sub Guerin for Morris. Our D gets a lot better for Niitty in both scenarios, at the expense of a good goalie and two great youngsters…. I gotta say, I don’t like it

by Alon on Mar 3, 2009 8:53 PM EST reply actions

Something like that makes sense.

If that could work under the cap, I think I’d do it. Our defense would be so good with those two, although there’d be a serious log jam and we’d have to get rid of Alberts and Jones too. There’d just be no room. Again though, I hope there’s no move made for J-Bo unless he’s signed long term first.

I want no part of Guerin though.

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by Travis Hughes on Mar 3, 2009 9:45 PM EST up reply actions

good thing your name isnt paul… trading Van-Rmdyk would be as tragic as forsberg for lindros. Van is in line to take the first line roll from Knuble

by fitzy first on Mar 3, 2009 9:46 PM EST up reply actions

I look at it this way: Bouwmeester was a 3rd overall pick, and he’s proven in the league as one of the best two-way defensemen around, and he can still play the shutdown role. JVR was a second overall pick and he hasn’t proven a darn thing and he hasn’t exactly been steamrolling through college hockey.

I wouldn’t trade him for anybody. I was furious at the JVR for Lehtonen rumor. He’s going to be a good player, but if you can get a proven guy that you know is VERY good, I think you do it.

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by Travis Hughes on Mar 3, 2009 9:53 PM EST up reply actions

he has proven plenty my friend, have you seen Van play in world juniors? he was the leading scorer playing against kids like tavaris and giroux. he needs to get tough though, that’s about it… his skills, speed and size is flyers’ hockey.

by fitzy first on Mar 3, 2009 10:06 PM EST up reply actions

I’m talking at the NHL level… he’s done very well in the WJC, but he hasn’t in college and obviously nothing has been proven in the NHL. Like I said, I wouldn’t do it for someone like Lehtonen because I think JVR is worth more than that. But for, like njh said, a guy who is widely considered the best dman in the league at age 24? I’d do that for just about any prospect.

At the same time though, Florida has said numerous times that for J-Bo, they want players that they can “sell to the fanbase” and guys that will “help them now.” Holmgren offering up JVR wouldn’t do much to sweeten the deal, I don’t think.

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by Travis Hughes on Mar 3, 2009 10:23 PM EST up reply actions

i honestly beg the question…was trading forsberg for lindross all that tragic? I know we gave up a lot more than just forsberg in that trade but Lindross was a pretty damn good player himself. injuries and Prima donna disease robbed him of a truly great career but for a while He was the most dominant player in Hockey.

by njh3293 on Mar 3, 2009 10:07 PM EST up reply actions

hey- dros is great… but we traded who? Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Kerry Huffman, Steve Duchesne, picks for Jocelyn Thibault and Nolan Baumgartner…

for big E

and he was great… but guys like forsy were snubbed by an extreme pro-canada oraganization.

i guess it’s all about the cup in the end… but, hey, i’m sitting on a couch, what do it know.

by fitzy first on Mar 3, 2009 10:17 PM EST up reply actions

oh dont get even get me started about that extreme pro-canada business…its very frustrating. as much as i love bob clarke his refusal to bring in skilled european players is the reason those teams never won the cup.

by njh3293 on Mar 3, 2009 10:30 PM EST up reply actions

Why a good thing?

I’m saying I don’t like those deals b/c I don’t like trading vanRiemsdyk, which seems to be what you are saying as well.

by Alon on Mar 3, 2009 10:18 PM EST up reply actions

i like the move to dump marty. but they’ll need a compensate a backup that is not scott monroe…

guys, like it or not… jones and alberts are staying put this year.

by fitzy first on Mar 3, 2009 9:50 PM EST reply actions

im really on the bouwmeester band wagon…hes widely considered the best defenseman in the NHL right now. while yes our defense is very solid right now, the playoffs are a whole different game. the games tighten up so much, failing to clear the zone just once can result in a loss. clearing the zone is something our defenseman can really struggle with at times. while I dont want to see the flyers mortgage the future for a half season rental player, something like Lupol+Carle+Draft Pick would probably get the job done. It would actually free up some cap space to resign him this off-season. worst case scenario with that deal is we lose bouwmeester to free agency this summer and we have JVR and Sbisa waiting in the wings.

And I agree with travis, Id probably trade JVR in a package for bouwmeester but only if we had bouwmeester locked up.

you may say we dont need him, but imagine our defensive pairings in the playoffs:
timonnen-parent
bouwmeester-coburn
jones-alberts.

nobody is scoring on that top 4 pairing.

by njh3293 on Mar 3, 2009 10:04 PM EST reply actions