Round And Round It Goes

The rumor mill is churning and probably won't stop anytime soon. Last week, the Inquirer's Tim Panaccio reported that Calgary might be willing to deal defenseman Roman Hamrlik. Over the weekend, the Courier-Post's Chuck Gormley reported another Calgary rumor: The rumor: This one might be more than just a rumor. There was talk last week the Flyers were interested in acquiring defenseman Roman Hamrlik from the Calgary Flames in exchange for disappointing forward R.J. Umberger. The other rumor: Now, there is talk the Flyers and Flames are working on a much bigger deal involving Simon Gagne and Jarome Iginla. Many believe the Flyers and Flames were very close to making this deal happen last year. Lending credibility to the rumors is the fact that Flyers pro scout Al Hill was in Columbus, Ohio, to see the Flames play the Blue Jackets Friday night. Gormley's take: As much as I like Gagne, I think he lacks the overall game and leadership qualities of Iginla, who has seven goals and six assists in his first 12 games. I agree with Gormley -- if it's between Gagne and Iginla, I'd take Iginla any day of the week and twice on Sunday. As I've noted before, I think Gagne is a bit overrated and would have no problem with him being moved for someone who has played almost half as many playoff games as Gagne yet has one more point than Gagne: Totals GP G A P Shots Pct Simon Gagne Season 439 167 167 334 1270 13.1 Playoffs 65 20 11 31 167 12.0 Jarome Iginla Season 721 293 291 584 2252 13.0 Playoffs 35 19 13 32 123 15.4 Today, both Tim Panaccio and the Daily News' Ed Moran are giving a great big "Hold on a second there, professor." Here's Moran: Here's one that has everyone talking as if it's real: Calgary is going to trade Jarome Iginla and two top prospects to Philadelphia for Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, R.J. Umberger and prospect Claude Giroux. Right. Let's see, the Flames are struggling and want to make lineup changes to wake up the team so they are going to trade their captain Iginla, last season's points leader who leads the team with eight goals and six assists, not to mention his $7 million salary, for Gagne, Carter and Umberger. And, of course, the Flyers, who need more than a single dynamite player to rescue this season, are going to trade their top winger, their top young center, a solid young center/winger and their top junior prospect. Panaccio, meanwhile, goes straight to the source and asks Comcast-Spectacor president and chief operating officer Peter Luuko about what's going on: The Flyers are not actively shopping Peter Forsberg, nor have they been receiving calls about his availability in a trade. That's the straight talk from Peter Luukko, the president and chief operating officer of Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Flyers. "Our plan has been and remains to re-sign Peter Forsberg," Luukko said yesterday, addressing the Forsberg rumors. "At some point, we are going to sit down with him and his agent. He's a special player. Now, will Peter want to re-sign here? That is why we have to sit down with him to talk about it. But we want him back." I would agree with Moran, if what he's reporting is anywhere close to the truth (in his piece, he admits that he has no "inside sources"). I would not trade all of those pieces just for Iginla, although it may depend on what two prospects would be included in the deal. However, if it's just Iginla for Gagne -- man, I hope Calgary is that dumb.