Scottie Upshall or Daniel Carcillo: Trade or Not to Trade

The initial thought was trading Scottie Upshall and a second round pick for Daniel Carcillo was a horrible deadline transaction by Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren.

Let us look a little further.

Upshall is the type of player that has never really maximized his seventh overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft up to this point. He has tremendous speed, rated a 9.37 by NHL magazine, a lofty skill attribute that he needs to take more advantage of.

I hate to see a player with Upshall's skill-set just flounder on a third line and play 12 minutes a game, but that was the case in Philadelphia. He never could get out of John Stevens' dog house.

Why?

With that kind of talent you have to either produce tangible goals and assists or intangibly through grit, edge, toughness, locker room chemistry, and collective synergy.

Neither of those took place and he was shipped to Phoenix, where he may be able to harness his speed and make another run at redemption.

Daniel Carcillo, a rugged throw back who was drafted third by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, is now a Flyer. Carcillo's value has and will never be measured by his tangibles, which is speed, shot, creativity, his ability to score, and point production. Although he can do all of these to a lesser extent.

Carcillo is what I call an intangible piece to a larger puzzle. He allows the tangible pieces and other intangible pieces to become better utilized by his mere presence on the ice.

Sturdy on his skates, strong and balanced with the puck in the corners and along the walls, tremendous vision, physically and mentally tough, gritty and ferocious is everything Carcillo stands for.

He is the perfect piece for the Flyers; a square piece in a square hole. Carcillo will allow Briere and Giroux to create jump passing lanes, and swarm like hyenas on a dead carcass.

Carcillo creates space and limits space in transition with his incredible hockey sense and vision.

He knows when to commit and when to rotate back. Giroux and Briere will have plenty of room to see the ice and make plays in space.

So, we say the untapped potential of the speedy Upshall versus the total intangible value of Carcillo.

You be the judge.