Adios, Riley: Flyers waive Cote, position themselves for trade

It's going to be a crazy week in the NHL. With the trade deadline approaching on Wednesday and players rushing back to their teams after the Olympics, the NHL is hitting the ground running as it gears up for the playoffs.

The Flyers are certainly a team interested in making a few tweaks to their roster at the deadline. They probably won't do anything major but they would like to add a solid player or two at forward or on the blueline. In anticipation of a move, the Flyers started clearing some cap space yesterday by waiving Danny Syvret. They took one further step today by waiving forward Riley Cote.

Even though Cote is only making 550,000 this season and next, waiving him makes a ton of sense, both for salary purposes and his on-ice play. When added with Syvret's waived salary, the Flyers now have over 1 million dollars of extra money to use against the cap. Plus, it's not like they will lose anything on the ice since Cote hasn't really done anything but fight in the rare times he has actually suited up this season (last game played: December 21). I doubt that any other team will bother to pick him up unless they are really desperate for a fighter that doesn't win very many fights. Cote will likely be in Adirondack for the remainder of the season.

Rumors of who the Flyers might be pursuing at the deadline are already swirling. I've heard the names Raffi Torres and Dan Hamhuis thrown around but we will just have to wait and see what Paul Holmgren has up his sleeve. Neither would be earth-shattering moves but both would add solid depth. If either were acquired, the Flyers would have to ship out even more salary to make it work. Expect another current Flyer player or two to be traded out should the Flyers bring anyone in.