Habs Flyers preparing mega-deal?
According to several sources, the Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers are preparing a deal which could include up to 5-6 players. As reported by http://hockey-leaks.blogspot.com/ and www.hockeybuzz.com, (I KNOW THESE SITES AREN’T THAT CREDIBLE, THATS WHY ITS A RUMOR!), the HABS would sent D Rivet, G Aebischer, F Samsonov to the Philadelphia Flyers in return for D Pitkanen, G Esche and a 2nd round draft pick.
These are several resons which I think this deal could work out. First, although team stray away from trading within their own conference, especially when several significant players are involved, the HABS ansd FLYERS will not play against eachother anymore this year.
Moreover, this rumor was reported before (2:30pm) the HABS announced that Samsonov or Rivet were being HEALTHY SCRATCHES for last nights game.
Also, the salaries for the transaction are not even. The HABS would be giving up (RIVET-$2.2, SAMSONOV-$3.5, AEBISCHER-$1.9 = $7.8M), while PHILLY would be giving up (PITKANEN-$2.0, ESCHE-$1.0 = $3.0M). The HABS would be saving over $3M, unless another player could be on his way to MTL as well.
FORSBERG? CARTER? GAGNE? The HABS did place F Murray on waivers yesterday, and whether another team takes him or not, the HABS will have $750,000 salary of their books as of 12:00pm today, as per RDS. This would give them ~$4.5M in cap space to spend, along with the $1M cap room they already have.
Flyers would get a steady defensive Dman, a speedy F and a “good” G, which they are in need of, while Mtl would get an young, offensive #1-2 Dman which they’ve been looking for. Esche would not be signed in the off season.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? ANY OTHER REASONABLE RUMORS?