Nicklas Grossman Traded to Flyers: Philadelphia Bolsters Defense in Smart Trade

The Philadelphia Flyers have traded for defenseman Nicklas Grossman of the Dallas Stars to help fill the void on defense created by the season-ending injury to captain Chris Pronger, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

The Flyers only had to surrender a few draft picks to acquire Grossman from the Stars, and did not have to part with a first-round pick, according to CBC Sports.

Grossman is a physical player who excels in his own end and should not find it too difficult to fit in with the Flyers. Philly needed to add some size to their team down the stretch to have a chance at another deep playoff run.

The Flyers are fourth in the Eastern Conference standings but needed to add a quality defenseman before the deadline if they wanted to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.

Grossman will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

The Flyers would have liked to acquire Nashville Predators star and upcoming unrestricted free agent defenseman Ryan Suter, but the Predators have been unwilling to trade their star blueliner with the team poised for a deep postseason run.

According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Flyers have had interest in Grossman for a while. For Stars fans who are wondering why the team would give up an attractive trade chip in Grossman for just draft picks, Dreger tweeted why.

The biggest question now is if the Flyers are done adding talent before the trading deadline. They could still use another defensemen even after acquiring Grossman, and with James Van Riemsdyk having suffered a concussion this season, adding another forward for some depth would help too.

Van Riemsdyk has previously been rumored in a possible swap with Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn, whose brother Brayden plays for the Flyers.

NHL fans certainly hope that this trade will kick start the slow-moving trade market that has made the past few weeks a bit boring in terms of player movement.

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