Hard to know whether James van Riemsdyk trade rumors are anything more than that

philly

 

AFTER HEARING his player’s name kicked around in trade fodder over the last few months like a shingle in a hurricane, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said he addressed the rumors with James van Riemsdyk.

His advice?

“He should take that maybe as a compliment that he keeps reading his name like that,” Holmgren said. “I like James. I think he has a tremendous future in the league. He’s one of our most gifted goal scorers.”

For the most part, van Riemsdyk has shrugged off the rumors. He told the Daily News last week that although he has enjoyed his time in Philadelphia and has been treated well by management, he would not want to be in a city where he is not wanted.

Nonetheless, it’s been a strange offseason for the 23-year-old. Holmgren announced in May that van Riemsdyk was due for hip surgery to repair a torn labrum. Last week, a report from NBC10 suggested van Riemsdyk purposely delayed surgery to avoid being traded. Van Riemsdyk said surgery was pushed back on account of an infection in his foot, which crept up after surgery to repair a fracture on March 2.

Holmgren announced late last week that van Riemsdyk would not need surgery, after all, and was seeking alternative treatment to prepare himself from the slog of a rapidly approaching 82-game season.

“I just assumed, when we made the announcement at the end of the year, that’s the way we were going to go,” Holmgren explained Monday. “And after [consulting doctors], we decided to go the way we’re going now. We wanted what’s best for James. There’s an area of concern [in the hip] that’s been identified and we’re just going to move forward right now and deal with it.”