Nikolay Zherdev have been anything but a success for the Flyers this season. He started off in the pre-season playing well, but has tailed off over the coarse of the season. After starting the season playing on a promising top-line with James van Riemsdyk and Claude Giroux, Zherdev now finds himself alongside Blair Betts and Jody Shelley on the fourth line, with the occasional shift with Giroux and Jeff Carter. He has very little power play time as well. He finds himself in Laviolette's dog house more times than not, and communicates very little (occording to Tim Panaccio and Bill Meltzer) with the team besides Oskars Bartulis. So I thought of trade that seems logical to me.

To Washington Capitals: Nik Zherdev, To Philadelphia Flyers: Keith Aucoin and late round pick.

Reasons why this deal would be good:

-Zherdev would fit perfectly with the Caps. They play that type of European hockey that Zherdev is suited for.

-The Caps may be looking for depth scoring. With the departure of Tomas Fleischman, the Caps may looking for some extra help down the depth chart. It's not like the Caps are desperate for scoring (as we all know), but Zherdev would be a good fit on the Caps second line with Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich. Zherdev is a better suited second liner than Jason Chimera, Eric Fehr and Matt Hendricks, whom the Caps currently are rotating as the sixth forward in the top six.

-Aucoin would be a great asset to the Flyers' system. Aucoin is having solid season in the A.H.L., having scored 18 points in 11 games and being a plus 7 with the Hershey Bears this season. He could stay in the A.H.L. and help a desperate Adirondack Phantoms' team.

-This move would give the Flyers cap and roster space. With Zherdev gone, the Flyers would have room to insert Dan Carcillo into the line-up full time. Eric Wellwood would also have a chandce for more playing time with the Flyers, who was impressive during his short time with us. The extra cap-space would give Holmgren some breathign room with a descent amount of money under the cap.