Roberto Luongo rumors: Flyers interested, and hockey's officially back

Yep, can't believe I'm writing this. Well, wait, who am I kidding? Of course I'm writing this. Roberto Luongo is the rumor mill player du jour, and when there's a big name out there, the Philadelphia Flyers are going to at least poke around.

That's what they're doing with the Canucks goaltender, it seems. Via multiple reports on Wednesday night:

Philadelphie égalment intéressé a Roberto selon une source chez les Flyers! Source in Phily say Flyers interested in Roberto!

— Enrico Ciccone (@EnricoCiccone) January 9, 2013

Despite some denials, the tweet earlier from @enricociccone is accurate.The Flyers are interested in Roberto Luongo.

— james duthie (@tsnjamesduthie) January 10, 2013

Just heard what everyone else heard: Flyers are now players in Luongo hunt. #gameon

— adater (@adater) January 10, 2013

And of course, Paul Holmgren and Co. are publicly denying having any interest in Luongo.

A few thoughts on what could be unfolding here:

* The Canucks are clearly interested in this becoming a bidding war, and prior to today it seemed as though the Toronto Maple Leafs were the only team interested in Luongo's services. I wouldn't be shocked if the Canucks were out there leaking that other teams are interested, and when it comes to sticking goaltender questions on a team that's always looking at the market, how much further do they have to look than Philadelphia?

* If it's true and the Flyers are interested in Luongo, it would at the very least imply that Homer is thinking about buying out Ilya Bryzgalov's contract this coming summer. BUT THAT'S A BIG IF.

* A trade for Luongo makes absolutely no sense: Both Lu and Bryz have similar numbers over the last ~six years or so. They're just about the same age. And despite what we think of him based on his one year here, Ilya Bryzgalov is a good goaltender and the Flyers have him on board at a favorable cap number. The only issue with Bryzgalov is the length of his contract, and guess what? Luongo's is longer.

* This is the Flyers, though. As long as they aren't out there making insane moves (which they of course have been known to do in the past), I have no problem with them picking up the phone and at least asking about every big name free agent or trade target. At least they're active, right? (... right?)

But hey, the Flyers involved in crazy rumors? That's good news to me. It means hockey's getting back to normal.