Today marks the end of an era for the Philadelphia Flyers; but was an essential day nonetheless.

Signature athlete of his generation and top scorer in the league by a very comfortable margin, Alex Ovechkin, was sent to Atlanta Thrashers today along with Theo Peckham, Jim Vandermeer, Glen Metropolit, and prospect David Wohlberg.

In return the Philadelphia Flyers recieves Eric, Marc, and Jordan Staal. The organization looks very brightly ahead to the future with every spot in their lineup secured for next season and several million in cap space to work with as well.

GM Rex Leak feels the trade helps on 3 levels:
1) Eric Staal's production for this season matches that of Ovechkin's in the NHL. I also don't think this will be an issue 2-3-4 years down the road during one of eric's UFA years that i have to buy out.. as opposed to one of ovechkins at a simlar price..
2) Jordan Staal provides the very important missing piece on THIS seasons edition of the Flyers by providing a shut-down center to check the other teams top line and also provide some additional offense far exceeding that of what Little had been providing there this season alongside Malkin/Havlat and a combination of Higgins/Stafford..
3) Marc Staal upgrade over Theo Peckham for next season and the future pushes all my dmen down further on the depth chart... with a top 6 featuring Pronger, Pitkanen, M. Staal, D. Girardi, PK Subban, and I. White for next season at a very nice price of 17.18 million total.

Season Stats for this NHL season:

Player

Team

Pos

GP

G

A

P

+/-

ESP

SHP

PPP

HmP

RdP

DvP

ODvP

P/G

Alex Ovechkin

WSH

L

61

24

38

62

14

43

0

19

28

34

23

39

1.02

Theo Peckham

EDM

D

56

3

8

11

-5

11

0

0

5

6

1

10

.20

Jim Vandermeer

EDM

D

39

1

8

9

4

8

1

0

6

3

1

8

.23

Eric Staal

CAR

C

60

27

31

58

-15

34

2

22

30

28

16

42

.97

Jordan Staal

PIT

C

22

6

8

14

1

8

1

5

4

10

2

12

.64

Marc Staal

NYR

D

61

7

16

23

8

9

4

10

11

12

9

14

.38

We are sad to see Ovechkin go and now with no Russian connection Malkin may soon join him.. but we feel these great Canadian players joining Luongo, Pronger and several other key contributors to our lineup this season and next will strongly enhance our chances at the ultimate prize, Lord Stanley's Cup.


Thank You for your time!

Rex Leak