Defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen is in town today undergoing a physical with the Philadelphia Flyers, and should he pass that exam, the team will sign him to a contract. Anthony SanFillippo of the Delaware County Times first reported the news this morning, also mentioning that Tollefsen "would be part of the NHL plans, and not as a defenseman for the Phantoms."
Tollefsen, currently an unrestricted free agent, has played for the Columbus Blue Jackets since being drafted 65th overall in 2002. He played in just 19 games last year before a January knee injury ended his season. He is a big, bruising defenseman who accumulated 37 penalty minutes in those 19 games last season, and 111 PIM in 2007/08. He plays a physical game, is very aggressive in the defensive zone, and has good defensive instincts. Some say that he hits too often, however, and that he needs to learn how to reign in his physical game.
Signing Tollefsen could lead to a trade of one of the Flyers current defenseman, presumably Randy Jones and his expensive $2.75 million cap hit. Tollefsen had a cap hit of just 675k last season and would be a serious discount over Jones, and the extra cash could be used to go after another offensive player such as Petr Sykora, Todd Bertuzzi, Miroslav Satan, or Brenden Shanahan.