Can't Win With Swedes

You can move right past Rich Hofmann’s moronic piece today in the Philadelphia Daily News (Yes, Rich, we fans want to know if there is cheating in the sports we watch. Nice Floyd Landis joke. Jeez.) and move right to the Peter Forsberg trade.

I never for a minute believed the Flyers weren’t going to trade Forsberg the minute he picked up his game enough to get someone to hand them a bunch of prospects and future considerations. One thing was for sure- they weren’t getting any established talent for a guy who is hurt all the time featuring no contract going forward. In a way, that is sort of proof that Forsberg represents risk- and the Flyers need less roster risk more than anything right else right now. Getting three potential building blocks for 2009 and a current NHL “project” is a square deal.

Look, the Flyers have numerous problems. But the overriding issue is a lack of quantity- they don’t lack pieces as much as a wholesale 24-28 guys who actually belong in the NHL. They need a general infusion of talent- they don’t need a top defenseman as much as they need say, five quality defensemen.

Consequently, I am more encouraged by the prospect of obtaining a potential quantity of NHL players who belong than getting that same “A” defensemen. Or keeping an “A” forward (i.e. Forsberg). A play-off team fills holes. But the Flyers simply could not risk one of their key assets either not returning, or returning at this level of "never ending ennui", if they could add potential solid bodies to the roster over the next three years.