The saga rolls on: Flyers give Gagne, agent permission to speak with other teams

Step one, solving the issue of the no-trade clause.

Step two, finding a team willing to trade for player.

Step three, negotiating a return on player.

Step four, completing trade.

While the Flyers may have skipped step one (or maybe not, we don't really know for certain) in the Simon Gagne trade mess, they've officially moved on to step two. According to ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun (probably the hardest working man in the national hockey media this summer), the Flyers have given Simon Gagne and his agent, Bob Sauve, permission to speak with other teams about a trade.

LeBrun also points out that a deal is not close, but this of course is another step in the process. The wheels continue to spin. Also, Sarah Baicker passes along the translation of yet another French interview today by Gagne. According to her, Gagne said "the more it goes, and the move we see the chances to stay in Philly are slim."

Like has been the case for several weeks now, it appears it's just a matter of time before Gagne leaves Philadelphia for good.