Flyers in contract discussions with Arron Asham

Just when you thought he was gone, the Flyers might be pulling him back in. According to John Boruk of CSN, the Flyers have entered contract talks with unrestricted free agent forward Arron Asham, who many thought was going to be an ex-Flyer after the team signed Jody Shelley on July 1st. While Asham made $640,000 last season with the Flyers, he's looking for a raise and has been in contact with several teams, including the Sharks, Kings and Coyotes.

That the Flyers are suddenly interested in bringing back Asham is somewhat curious. Given that the Flyers already signed Shelley for just over a million a season, he seemed like the logical choice to replace Asham's grit but not his skill. Well, as much skill as Asham provided with his 10 goals. What the discussions with Asham could signal, though, is that the Flyers have soured on the idea of bringing back restricted free agent Dan Carcillo, who filed for arbitration and is looking to make a million bucks next season. The Flyers might be thinking that if they are going to spend a million bucks, they might as well give it to Asham.

No matter how this shakes out, I can't see the Flyers carrying three "grit" forwards like Shelley, Carcillo and Asham; there simply isn't enough skill there to play them all. With Shelley already on the roster, that means the Flyers are going to choose between whatever arbitration brings with Carcillo or trying to convince Asham to spurn other suitors and come back to Philly. Of course, as they are making that choice, there is still that little matter of clearing some salary space. Things on the Simon Gagne trade front have been a little too quiet if you ask me.....