Flyers trade Ryan Potulny for young defenseman

The Flyers made their first off-season move today, trading center Ryan Potulny, who played 7 games with the Flyers last season, to the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Danny Syvret.

Syvret is a puck-moving defenseman who spent all of last season in the AHL where he played a total of 63 games for two different teams, the Springfield Falcons and the Hershey Bears. He scored 2 goals and picked up 18 assists while registering a plus/minus of -4. Syvret has played 26 career games in the NHL and picked up one assist. He is 22 and isn't considered a great prospect, but he could he a 5th or 6th defenseman in the future. He is a strong skater but at only 5'11'' and 195 pounds, he lacks size.

Potulny spent most of last season with the Phantoms, netting 21 goals and 26 assists in 58 games. He managed only 1 assist in limited action in the NHL this year, but in 06/07 he played 35 games with the Flyers and picked up 12 points. Potulny, 23, suffered a couple of injuries that slowed down his progress, but he was still seen as a quality prospect who could have eventually developed into a third line center. Unfortunately for Potulny, the Flyers are extremely deep at center, with Danny Briere, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter expected to be locked into center positions on the top three lines for the foreseeable future.

This deal likely came down to the Flyers trading away depth at a position of strength for something of need. Syvret is a long shot at best to play for the Flyers next year, but at the very least they have another young talent that they can groom for the future.

Click here for Syvret's profile page at Hockeysfuture.com