Chicago-Philadelphia-Florida: Let's Make a Deal, Three-Way Edition

We're now just a couple days away from the NHL Draft, and the trades continue to surprise.

On Tuesday, new Florida GM Dale Tallon continued to grow his stockpile of draft picks, sending Nathan Horton to Boston in a deal that brought Denis Wideman and the 14th overall selection back to the Panthers. Tallon now has five of the top 50 picks in this weekend's draft.

The move, however, leaves Florida with a serious need for scoring on their roster. They now have just two players on their roster who scored over 20 goals last year, but they have a lot of cap space to play with on top of their bounty of picks.

Florida now has 20 players under contract for 2010-11 at a cost of only $48.75M; they have roughly $10M to play with right now and almost a full roster.

So how does Tallon get some scoring on his roster? Well, one way would be to overpay a free agent like Ilya Kovalchuk. But if Tallon learned anything from his time in Chicago, or has read a Blackhawks message board anywhere on the web in the last seven days, he probably won't be throwing any huge contracts at a free agent this summer.

There is a way that he could continue the evolution of making his team younger and add some offense to his roster at the same time.

In the NHL, unlike the NBA, multi-team deals don't happen because of all the contractual issues that present themselves. It's hard enough to get a deal done in the first place, but getting more than one person to agree on a bigger deal is nearly impossible.

However, in the case of Tallon and the Panthers, there's a good chance he could find himself in the middle of a three-team deal that could dramatically change the future of the Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks , and Philadelphia Flyers.

Let's take a look at the proposed deal:

To Chicago:

• C Stephen Weiss
• G Scott Clemmenson

To Philadelphia:

• G Tomas Vokoun
• F Andrew Ladd (RFA rights )
• 1st round pick (from CHI via FL )

To Florida:

• C Jeff Carter
• F Kris Versteeg
• G Cristobal Huet
• G Brian Boucher

Let's break down how this deal works, and why each team would pull the trigger.

For Chicago

The Blackhawks would be sending Huet, Versteeg and the rights to Ladd out the door with a first-round draft choice in exchange for Weiss and Clemmenson.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Burn some salary, get a good center back and a backup goalie. Perfection realized!

The Blackhawks would save $5.408M in this trade, which, in their cap situation, is well worth the last pick of the first round.

Weiss could step in as a second- or third-line center, allowing the Hawks to move Patrick Sharp back to wing with Marian Hossa.

This would give the Blackhawks a fantastic trio of centers: Jonathan Toews, Weiss, and Dave Bolland.

Clemmenson's nothing to write home about, but he has one more year left on a contract with a $1.2M cap number.

If the Hawks don't want to have Corey Crawford backing up Antti Niemi next year, bringing in the 32-year-old Clemmenson would be a cheap alternative.

For Philadelphia

The total sum of the deal for the Flyers would be trading Carter and Boucher for Vokoun, the rights to Ladd and Chicago's first round draft pick (30th overall). The net cost of the deal would save the Flyers $225k on their 2010-11 payroll, with the exception of Ladd's new deal.

The Flyers don't have a first round pick in this year's draft because of the Chris Pronger trade last year, so this move would essentially get them back to where they would have been... if they hadn't lost to Chicago in the Finals. (Sorry, had to take a shot. )

There has been talk that Philly might not be thrilled with Carter, despite GM Paul Holmgren giving his young center a public vote of confidence amidst the rumors on Tuesday.

He's their most tradeable asset, and might have to go if the Flyers are going to re-sign Braydon Coburn and Dan Hamhuis.

Ladd could step in and be a physical power forward for the Flyers who can also score at times; he would likely be a second or third line forward for Philadelphia, who could send him to arbitration to limit their financial exposure.

His two rings would add championship experience to their locker room as well and, at only 24, he has plenty of good hockey yet to be played.

This deal isn't about Ladd or a pick, however. It's no secret that the Flyers need a legitimate No. 1 goalie, and this deal would accomplish that in acquiring Vokoun.

Vokoun would be a significant upgrade between the pipes for Philly over anything and everything they played last year.

Adding Boucher and his injury concerns to the deal wouldn't be anything more than a salary dump for the Flyers, who could actually turn around and sign a smaller-ticket free agent to backup Vokoun.

What makes this deal intriguing are two kids playing in Sweden. The first is a 20-year-old goalie named Joacim Eriksson who happens to be the second-ranked Swedish goalie and top-ranked prospect in the Flyers' organization right now.

By bringing in Vokoun, who has just one year left on his contract, the Flyers are buying themselves a season with a professional goalie to either serve as a mentor to Eriksson or to give Eriksson time to continue his development.

We'll talk about the other Swedish youngster in a moment.

For Florida

In total, the Panthers would be trading away Vokoun, Weiss and Clemmenson for Boucher, Huet, Carter and Versteeg. The sum of the deal would add $4.633M to the payroll of the Panthers for the coming season.

The top-ranked Swedish goalie prospect (ahead of Eriksson) is Jacob Markstrom, who happens to be the top prospect in the Florida organization.

Both could be ready for a taste of the NHL in 2010-11, but not quite ready for the starting gig with their teams as just 20-year-olds.

Which is why Florida is acquiring two goalies in this deal.

In Boucher, who has just one year left at $925k, the Panthers would likely be acquiring their Opening Night starter.

In Huet, perhaps the scarlet letter on Tallon's career in Chicago, the Panthers would be not only eating salary, but adding a veteran backup with two years left on his contract.

Because Boucher has injury issues (ask the Flyers), Huet would be an adequate backup until Markstrom proved he was ready.

When Markstrom was ready, Huet would stay the backup; Boucher's cap number and limited time remaining would make him easy to stomach for just one season.

While adding two goalies feels like a lot, and Huet's contract is rat poison, the reason the Panthers make this deal is to add two young forwards to reshape their offense for the future.

In Versteeg, 24, and Carter, 25, Tallon would be acquiring two young players with worlds of talent and experience in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Versteeg had 44 regular season points (20 G, 24 A) and 14 playoff points (6 G, 8 A) in 2010, including two postseason game-winning goals.

He has two more years left on his contract with a cap number of $3.083M. His deal, along with Cam Barker's, were the two disputed offer sheets last year that Tallon was ultimately blamed for; whether or not it was actually Tallon is debatable.

Carter led the Flyers with 33 goals in the regular season and added 28 assists before missing the end of the season with a couple of injuries.

He has one year left on his deal with a cap number of $5M, and re-signing him would undoubtedly become Tallon's top priority.

Putting together a line with dynamic young scorers in Versteeg and Carter is something the fans in Florida haven't seen in years.

With the bounty of picks the Panthers have in the top two rounds, Markstrom coming to play goalie and these two centerpieces, the Panthers could turn around nearly as quickly as the Blackhawks did under Tallon's leadership.

In total, this deal would move almost $24M around the league in a deal that would solve Chicago's financial problem (a little), Philadelphia's goalie problem, and Florida's overall talent/marketability problem.

Could it happen?