Deal In The Works?

There is some speculation swirling that the Flyers might be preparing a roster move to add some defensive help. Fueling this speculation is the move made yesterday to send Lars Jonsson and Alexandre Picard down to the Phantoms. Here is Tim Panaccio in today's Inquirer: What these moves could signal is the clearing of cap space for a deal. Brian Leetch is skating and trying to prepare for a comeback. The Flyers are one of a few teams he would consider playing for. Leetch is 38, but is there any other unsigned player who is better on the power play? Remember, the Flyers' power play is dead last in the NHL with a single-digit rating of 8.6 percent efficiency (6 of 70) before last night's game. A real possibility is Calgary's Roman Hamrlik. The Flames, whose scouts have been around the Flyers lately, are looking to make a deal. Detroit is looking to move Andreas Lilja, but he is not very mobile. The guy who took his job, Brett Lebda, is mobile. Mathieu Schneider is 37, but he would be a huge upgrade for the Flyers. However, Chuck Gormley spoke with interim GM Paul Holmgren about the matter. Holmgren was pretty emphatic with his response: The moves trimmed about $1 million off the Flyers' current payroll, dropping it to just over $40 million, but Flyers interim general manager Paul Holmgren said the moves were not made to clear room under the cap for a big-ticket free agent such as Brian Leetch. "Absolutely not," Holmgren said. "These guys (Jonsson and Picard) need to play. Who knows? If there's an injury, they might be back up. It does the organization no good and them no good if they don't play." Here's what I said about Leetch when the news first broke three weeks ago: This is a move the Flyers would have made without thinking twice in the pre-salary cap days. The problem is we're in a salary cap era with an incredible amount of parity. Take your lumps for a year -- two, tops -- and then go from there. Don't sign a 38-year-old simply because there are no other options out there. I haven't changed my mind.