A Tale of Two Holmgrens

Over the past few seasons, the Flyers have made some very good moves, some borderline deals, and some flat out confusing ones, I'm going to chronicle the many different types of trades that the Flyers GM has done over past few seasons, and we'll see how good the Flyers General Manager has been, don't get me wrong I am a huge Paul Holmgren fan, but it seems like every move he makes is taken with a grain of salt, let's take a look.

1. Peter Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent, and 2007 1st and 3rd Round picks

verdict: great trade for the new at the time interim GM, Upshall was a fan favorite and a very good energy player, Ryan Parent was an excellent Defensive Defenseman until the back injuries came along and hindered him, and the picks came into play later in another trade, great haul for what turned out to be a rental player.

2. Martin Biron for 2007 2nd round pick

verdict: not a bad trade, Biron took us to the Eastern Conference Finals once and was fairly solid.

3. Alexi Zhitnik for Braydon Coburn 

verdict: amazing trade for the Flyers as Coburn was great that season, had an off year and was stellar this season as a defensive defenseman

4. 1st round pick (aquired in Forsberg trade) for Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell (signing rights)

verdict: would've been an amazing trade if not for the unbelievable contracts the two players were given, Hartnell was a solid player, but does not deserve at all the 6 year, 4.2 million cap hit he received, and Kimmo was an amazing defenseman, but his 6 year, 6.33 million per season cap hit is hindering the Flyers salary cap situation as he begins to age and is becoming increasingly overpaid, too long and too expensive. Overall, an OK trade.

5. Signing Danny Briere to an 8 year 52 Million dollar contract

verdict: not the smartest move for the Flyers, great that we signed a player like Danny, but overpaid for a player off one big season. Another move that is hindering the Flyers cap situation, had a solid season this time around, but that 6.5 million dollar cap hit is just killer.

6. Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle to The Flyers for 2 first round picks, a third round pick, Luca Sbisa and Joffery Lupul

verdict: great trade for the Flyers, the 2 first round picks and Sbisa were expensive, but getting Pronger, a true dominator at the blue line, was a big reason the Flyers made the Stanley Cup Finals, plus getting rid of the chronically lazy and streaky lupul.

7. Sergei Bobrovsky signing

verdict: taking a gamble on a young kid in Russia, turned out to be an amazing move as we have our goaltender of the future.

8. Andrej Meszaros for a 2nd round pick

verdict: spectacular, one of the best moves hes made as the Defenseman blossomed this year as he became a possible number 1 defenseman when Prongers done

9. Scottie Upshall and a 2nd round pick for Daniel Carcillo

verdict: what the...? Upshall was to become a free agent and likely take a pay raise, but you trade him AND a 2nd rounder for Carcillo? Car Bomb has had his moments, but his bad penalties (including once single handedly causing an unprecedented 9 minute Power Play) and bad fighting have been a drag for the Flyers after sending a 2nd round pick and a superior player in every way for Carcillo.

and the final move I look at

10. Kris Versteeg for first and third round picks

verdict: ....why? the one place The Flyers DID NOT need help was at the forward position, of all the moves we could have made we trade more picks for Kris Versteeg, he may be the replacement for Leino but his huge cap hit could cause us to trade a top player like Jeff Carter to make room for a goalie, not a good bet to make with a max 25 goal scorer....

Overall I believe Holmgren has done a great job, but his trades seem to be really good or really bad, and now the Flyers are in a huge hole with the cap that he's going to have to manage, good luck Homer. vote below to show approval or disapproval of Holmgrens work.