With the Flyers still closing in on signing Nikolai Zherdev, they are still working on that little matter of clearing some salary off the books to make room for the enigmatic winger. While it seemed like a foregone conclusion last week, it appears that Simon Gagne won't be the player that is moved off the roster.
In a video that's in French on RDS.ca, Gagne apparently talks about how he has not waived his no-trade clause. I say "apparently" because I don't know French, but I'm going with what those on Twitter like Dustin Leed (@HockeyGuy_DLEED) are saying when they relay that a rough translation of what Gagne says is "I have a no trade clause and I did not waive".
So, if Gagne refuses to be traded, which he has every right to do, what will the Flyers do now to move salary? With high-priced forwards Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell having no-trade clauses and Mike Richards getting one soon, that doesn't leave many players left for the Flyers to trade. Short of getting Hartnell to waive his no-trade clause, it's looking more and more like Jeff Carter is going to be moved. Given how center-heavy the Flyers are and how much they could likely get for him in a trade, moving Carter's 5 million dollar salary might have been the smart thing to do all along.
I would say Carter for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete- Carter, Richards, Giroux, and Briere all need to play center. They are all better with the puck on their stick. With 4 centers like that one has to go, so you can't just move one or two to wing.
- Carter is a very good player (scored 40-some goals a year ago). But he is inconsistent.
- He only has one year left on his deal in a year that Gagne, Giroux, and Leino will be free agents.
- He doesn't have a NTC and would bring in a nice group of prospects and picks for the future.