Call me crazy but

I don’t think the Flyers would be able to trade Hartnell and Timonen without bring back at 6 or 7 million in salary in return. There’s simply no way they would be able to unload either of those guys with their cap hits with 2 full seasons remaining for just picks and prospects, w/o getting totally screwed over in the trade.

Every team knows that if the Flyers are serious about Bryz then they are basically screwed with the cap. The Flyers have little leverage right now and it becomes even worse if Bryz signs before a trade is made. I think like last year Holmgren may have gotten a little impatient and played his hand too early.

The defense is also really thin. Pronger will most likely get hurt this year at some point. I doesn’t mean it will be long-term, but there’s little chance he’ll play 82 games. O’Donnell should not be brought back, but I’m sure they could find someone else at that price point. your counting on Carle, coby and Mez to step up big-time, which could certainly happen, but I wouldn’t want to count on it. Hell, if Pronger has another year it likely own’t matter how well those 3 play.

The group of forwards is strong again, though. I see how you replaced Hartnell with JvR which has some merit, but I’d prefer him to stick with Carter and Giroux to make a power house top scoring line. I’d then put either Versteeg or Gagne with Briere and Ville because those two could use someone who plays defense with them. That leaves Richie to play with Nodl and either Gags or Steeg. Obviously, that line would be the Flyers checking line and face the toughest assignments. The fourth-line is fine as assembled.

As far as Goaltending goes, that’s a fair number to put Bryz at. I like that you held onto Bob, but I think the Flyers would move him and bring in a cheaper veteran. The reason being the cap space savings could allow them to offer more than 2.5 mil to Leino or get a better d-man than OD. Bob could also net return of a pretty good prospect or maybe even a late first round pick too.

All in all, your biggest leap is in the first sentence and the defense is thin, certainly not the worst line up I’ve seen. I’m glad you left cap space available for injury call-ups and had the team carry a 22 man roster instead of a stupid 20 man roster.

I see everything your saying and you make good points, its all hypothetical, i would hate to let go of Bob, but there is a solid argument for it, i thought that the defense was thin but Brzygalov would help that fact, the flyers cap situation is messed up but this is my hypothetical best option, and i appreciate your reasonable response instead of just a stupid backlash

yes, with the emergance of Meszaros i think they can take the hit, and we all know somethings gotta give for Brzygalov to be here, i think the D could take the hit better than the offense, plus Timmonen is currently making a bit over 6 Million, so yeah he makes room with the cap