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Meltzer's Musings: 9-8-10

September 8, 2010, 2:33 PM ET [ Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
I remain in favor of the Flyers signing Bill Guerin to a one-year contract. From what I gather, the team would prefer to bring him in on a "tryout" basis (although there's nothing they can learn about him that they didn't already know) while evaluating their roster and salary cap situation. The Guerin camp wants a deal in place beforehand.

One possibility if the club is unwilling to waive seventh defenseman Matt Walker to clear cap space is to put Blair Betts on LTIR to start the season (assuming he's still slated to miss the first month of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery) and then to manage the cap when Betts is slated to return.

In terms of the most common objections to bringing Guerin in:

1) "He's too slow." Guerin has undoubtedly lost a stride in the years since he won the fastest skater event at the 2001 All-Star Game skills competition and he has never "looked" like a speedster, but I'm not concerned about his skating in the least. Look, if a player like Tomas Holmstrom (an outright poor skater) can still be an effective NHL player, so can Guerin.

2) "He'll take Dan Carcillo's spot." Carcillo is the type of player who has to prove himself on an annual basis. He's coming off a good season for the most part but nothing should just be handed to him. If he deserves to play above Guerin, let him prove it. Competition is a good thing for a player, not a negative. Also, I somehow get the feeling that Guerin would not have been a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup Finals this past spring, regardless of how well Arron Asham was playing.

3) "He was only still a 20-goal scorer because he played with Sidney Crosby." Guerin may not score 20 with the Flyers, but the club won't need him to. Besides, he's going to play with a talented center -- albeit not of Crosby's caliber but still fine players -- if he's on any of the top three lines. Frankly, I don't care what Guerin would produce during most of the regular season. I would want him mostly for what he can do in the stretch drive and playoffs. He still has some pop left and as both Guerin and Mark Recchi have shown in recent playoffs, an ancient vet can sometimes still prove very valuable when the chips are down.

******

Random thought of the day: Today, the Boston Bruins announced that they will be partnering with SM-Liiga (Finnish Elite League) team JYP Jyvaskyla. Under the agreement, the teams will be able to transfer players and have them train with the partner club and within the partner club’s developmental system, as well as exchange tactics and scouting information.

The Flyers ought to consider following suit, in my opinion. KalPa Kuopio would be a ready-made fit. Ex-Flyer Sami Kapanen is the majority owner of the SM-Liiga club, and current Flyers Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell own minority shares.

Just as important, KalPa has one of the better developmental programs in Finland, and it could potentially benefit both sides to work together if something could be arranged.

Again, just a random thought.

*****

Today on NHL.com's Across the Pond, I authored a comprehensive season preview of the Swedish Elite League for the 2010-11 campaign. I went team-by-team with short capsule overviews, including key roster additions, key departures and a potential breakout player for each club.

The sidebar to the article looks at one of the hockey world's great traditions: The TV-Puck tournament, which gets underway today in Sweden. Now in its 52nd year, the list of tourney alumni who participated in the competition as teenage players reads like a virtual who's who of Swedish players who went on to make an impact in the NHL and/or international hockey.

SVT will be broadcasting live webcasts of the quarterfinals on Friday, semi-finals on Saturday and the gold-medal and bronze-medal games on Sunday. The schedule is posted here (remember that Swedish time is six hours ahead of Eastern U.S. and Canada time and uses the 24-hour clock, rather than AM and PM).

Lastly, Flyers Swedish prospects Joacim Eriksson (SAIK) and Simon Bertilsson (BIF) are both in preseason action today.
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