Earlier today, the NHL approved a trade between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Flyers will trade Vaclav Prospal to the Lightning for Nashville's seventh round pick (196th overall) and a 2009 fourth round pick if Prospal signs with the Lightning this offseason.
"After assessing the pending free agent market and receiving a great deal of input from our prospective new owners, the decision was made to attempt to pursue Vinny Prospal for a return engagement to Tampa,” Lightning GM Jay Feaster said.
“While we realize some of the risks involved in this strategy, we also know that Prospal and [Vincent] Lecavalier have a very special chemistry together and getting Vinny back in the fold early would enable us to focus our time, attention, and resources on other critical areas this summer while leaving our successful top line virtually in tact.
"At the end of the day, we felt that reacquiring Vinny now and attempting to negotiate a contract with him sooner rather than later was in the best interests of the organization."
Prospal was traded to the Flyers earlier this season, and helped replace the injured Simon Gagne. Along with Danny Briere, he helped lead the Flyers to the Conference Finals, only to lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After joining Philadelphia, he recorded four goals and 14 points in 18 regular season games. He also recorded 13 points in the Flyers' 17 playoff games.
This trade will help the Flyers, who probably would not have been able to resign Prospal due to lack of cap space. However, I believe that they could possibly have gotten more than a seventh and fourth round draft pick. Maybe they could have gotten a second or third round pick in return for this top line player.
Either way, this is a great way for the Flyers to stock up on young players, especially since Prospal will most likely demand and receive upwards of $5 million.
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3 months ago
Great article Alan!
3 months ago
agreed on getting more for prospal...he was a 30 goal scorer and we only got a 7th and a conditional? on top of giving them a young d-man in picard...we should have gotten more
3 months ago
Re: "However, I believe that they could possibly have gotten more than a seventh and fourth round draft pick. Maybe they could have gotten a second or third round pick in return for this top line player."
Not at all. They were very lucky to get anything for him. I have to shake my head when people say that we got fleeced in this or that we traded Picard and a 2nd for a 4th and 7th. It's nothing like that. This was always a rental. The two trades are not related in any way, shape, or form. This is much like the Tkachuk trade a season earlier, except Atlanta did get fleeced and got nothing back when he returned to St. Louis. I'm very happy that we got two picks out of it. This is a win-win for both sides - Tampa gets to start negotiating with Prospal early and we get a few draft picks for absolutely nothing at all. He was gone anyway - we essentially traded nothing and got two picks in return. I'll take those two picks over him walking in July and us getting nothing in return anyday.
Remember, Zetterberg was a 7th round pick. ;-)
3 months ago
Didn't get much for him, did they? No one must have expected him to re-sign.
3 months ago
they really could have gotten more for him...
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