The Philadelphia Flyers have taken some major hits this offseason, and most of those punches have hit their defensive corps square on the jaw.
The future of former captain, Chris Pronger, has appeared to slowly fade into the darkness.Pronger’s former partner, Matt Carle, jumped ship and signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning during free-agency. The Flyers did try and patch up their defense in the form of an offer-sheet for Shea Weber, but the Nashville Predators ended up matching it and robbing them of another asset.
Most recently, it was reported that Andrej Meszaros, the player that was projected to carry the Flyers’ heaviest load, will likely miss the entirety of next season recovering from Achilles surgery.
These developments could help the Buffalo Sabres in their hunt to get Bobby Ryan away from Anaheim. The Flyers have been rumored to be the front runners in the chase for Ryan, but with the big steps backwards their defensive core has taken, that pursuit may be forced to the backburner. They are going to almost certainly have to trade for some defensive help, rather than wasting assets on more offense.
The Flyers’ misfortune and possible change in needs could leave the door wide open for the Sabres to step in and trade for Ryan. Buffalo is in need of a true offensive force and Ryan is that player. Ryan has eclipsed the 30 goal mark in each of his four seasons with the Ducks, and has recorded 259 points in 332 games since coming into the league.
The addition of Ryan could be the final piece in the revamping the Sabres’ roster has seen this summer. And to think, this move might not have even been possible until Meszaros went down.
I think the Sabres could give up a piece of their core. They have a good amount of talent coming through the pipeline and Ryan would be an instant factor that would carry over until players like Girgensons, Grigorenko, and Armia are NHL ready and effective.
If it means Hodgson, Ennis or Vanak then no thanks. Ryan is only valuable with those pieces in place.
Im on the fence with Ennis, I was anti trade for quite some time. I even wrote about how they should lock him up long term. But I’ve started to think that depending on how fast the G boys come in Ennis may become expendable, and now would be a good time to offer him while his trade value is quite high.
I still think Ennis has upside and the line he was on with Foligno and Stafford was no fluke. I would rather unload Leino and/or some of the other veterans and bring more kids up. Maybe a 3 way deal would work where we send a defense-man to Philly and end up with Ryan.
Ennis has yet to prove himself. He is injured too often and plays a soft game. I can’t understand why he hasn’t signed a contract with the Sabres yet. Apparently, since he is a RFA and could receive offers from other teams, no other teams have shown an interest in signing him.
A trade for Ryan would involve trading away part of the Sabre’s future core, unless they’re willing to take Stafford, picks and prospects. I think a more likely scenario is trading someone like Sekera or Leopold in return for Briere, which would give Buffalo its 1C and act as a stop gap until Hodgson, Ennis and Grigorenko are ready for top center duty.
This may also open up the door for a trade between Buffalo and Philly. The Sabres are very deep on the backend so they’d be an ideal trade partner for the Flyers.