Once wasn’t enough?

ESPN.com began All-Star weekend by reporting that the Flyers had already traded for Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Sean Burke but were waiting until after the game to announce the deal. Quickly backpedaling off of that, they then reported that a deal was in the works, but that nothing was imminent and that the Rangers may have been thrown into the mix. Neither of the local papers picked up the scent, and only the Inquirer filed a small online post, which was the original ESPN.com report. Both papers have the story today -- apparently Ed Moran and Bob Ford took the weekend off as well -- and offer different views of the story. According to Moran, the Flyers basically have a done deal: And yesterday from Las Vegas, where he is attending the league's general manager meetings this week, [GM] Bob Clarke confirmed that while details of the trade being reported are not fully accurate, that unless something goes wrong, Burke will be a Flyer by the middle of this week at the latest and maybe as early as today. Further confirmation came between the second and third periods of yesterday's All-Star Game when Phoenix part-owner Wayne Gretzky told some of the players in the Eastern Conference dressing room that he had traded Burke to the Flyers. "Gretzky was in here between periods," Flyers captain Keith Primeau said. "He told [Mark Messier] that he had made the trade.” Ford, meanwhile, reminds everyone of Clarke general way of doing business: deny, deny, deny and then do. Where there is smoke screen, there is generally a pretty big fire breaking out somewhere, so it was evident from all the sincere denials yesterday that the Flyers were indeed trying very hard to trade for Phoenix goalie Sean Burke. "I won't comment because there is no trade," Flyers general manager Bob Clarke - no stranger to smoke screens - said from Las Vegas, where the league's GMs are meeting today. . . . Clarke's denial was a beauty, of course, because it was true enough, but only failed to include that "yet" word. The deal is said to have the Flyers sending forward Mike Comrie and injured defenseman Dennis Seidenberg to the Coyotes for Burke and right wing Branko Radivojevic. Lost, I think, in all of this will-they-or-won’t-they hoopla is that Burke -- while being a capable goaltender -- is 37 years old! The Flyers have had him once already, way back at the end of the 1997-1998 season for 11 regular season games (7-3, 2.56 GAA) and an embarrassing five game playoff loss to Buffalo (1-4, 3.60). This is the guy you’re going to bring in to get you a Stanley Cup? I quote Bobby Clarke on July 1, 2003, after announcing the Flyers had signed goalie Jeff Hackett: “Our scouting staff, our coaching staff, our whole organization feels that Jeff Hackett will give us the solid and steady goaltending that we will need to take a run at the Stanley Cup." Jeff Hackett, he of the career 156-234-50 record when he was signed -- at 35 years old! Jeff Hackett, he of the 12 career playoff games and three wins -- at 35 years old!! Mr. Snider, please -- let Clarke go. I don’t want to be as disenfranchised by you as I am now by the Eagles. From the heart of every Flyers fan, please let Clarke go.