Giroux back up with the suddenly healthy Flyers

Much to the delight of Flyers fans, Claude Giroux's trip to the minors was short-lived. With Kimmo Timonen returning to the ice tonight, the Flyers were able to send down defenseman Nate Guenin, along with forward Jared Ross, and re-call Giroux from the Phantoms. Giroux was sent down just a few days ago because the team needed to clear cap space to call up Guenin to replace Timonen in the lineup.

These moves show just how close the Flyers are to the cap and how this whole cap situation has robbed them of having any depth. GM Paul Holmgren has done a masterful job assembling the key pieces to this Flyers team but he has made some mistakes in terms of handling the cap. Losing Glen Metropolit for nothing was one of the first real blunders that Homer has made.

On the bright side, the Flyers will now take the ice with a fully healthy roster for the first time in months. With Danny Briere back in the lineup, the team will finally be able to roll out 3 quality scoring lines. The defense isn't too shabby, either, although the Flyers are still looking to upgrade the blueline at the trade deadline.

Here are the Flyers lines for tonight:

Gagne - Richards - Knuble
Hartnell - Carter - Lupul
Upshall - Briere - Giroux
Cote - Powe - Asham

Timonen - Parent
Coburn - Carle
Alberts - Jones

It will be interesting to see if the Flyers keep Briere on the 3rd line or if they bump him up to be a winger on the 1st or 2nd line. The 3rd line listed above appears to be a little undersized, although it will have a ton of speed and playmaking ability.

The team that we hoped to see from the beginning of the season is finally taking the ice tonight. Depending on what happens at the trade deadline tomorrow, though, this could be the only time you get to see it.