Here is the televised schedule of preliminary-round Olympic games involving Flyers' players as well as games involving Team USA and Team Canada. All times in EST.
WED FEB 12
Czech Republic (Jakub Voracek) vs. Sweden: Noon (USA Network)
Switzerland (Mark Streit) vs. Latvia: Noon (MSNBC)
THU FEB 13
Finland (Kimmo Timonen) vs. Austria (Michael Raffl): 3:00 a.m. (NBCSN)
USA vs. Slovakia (Andrej Meszaros): 7:30 a.m. (NBCSN)
Canada vs. Norway: Noon (USA)
FRI FEB 14
Czech Republic (Voracek) vs. Latvia: 3:00 a.m. (MSNBC)
Sweden vs. Switzerland (Streit): 7:30 a.m. (NBCSN)
Canada vs. Austria (Raffl): Noon (USA)
Finland (Timonen) vs. Norway: Noon (MSNBC)
SAT FEB 15
Slovakia (Meszaros) vs. Slovenia: 3:00 a.m. (MSNBC)
USA vs Russia: 7:30 a.m. (NBCSN)
Czech Republic (Voracek) vs. Switzerland (Streit): Noon (NBCSN)
SUN FEB 16
Austria (Raffl) vs. Norway: 3:00 a.m. (USA)
Slovakia (Meszaros) vs Russia: 7:30 a.m. (USA)
USA vs. Slovenia: 7:30 a.m. (NBCSN)
Finland (Timonen) vs. Canada: Noon (USA)
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TRADE DEADLINE RENTALS LIMITED ON D
As the 2014 NHL trade deadline approaches following the Olympic break, there will no doubt be a lot of hand-wringing over what the Flyers will do. Many will clamor for the team to add another defenseman; preferably one of the puck-moving variety.
What many Flyers fans seem not to realize is that the pickings nowadays tend to be slim on the unrestricted free agent market for defensemen -- teams leaguewide tend to lock up most of their desirable impending UFA blueliners. By extension, there is not much to be had this season on the trade deadline rental market.
On a league-wide basis, there are only four rental defenseman candidates who are averaging 20+ plus minutes of ice time this season: the Islanders' Andrew MacDonald (age 27), the Devils' Marek Zidlicky (age 37), the Hurricanes' Ron Hainsey (age 32) and the Panthers' Tom Gilbert (age 31).
An additional five are averaging 18+ minutes of ice time per game this season. The ranks include career-long Ottawa Senators blueliner Chris Phillips (age 35), Buffalo's Henrik Tallinder (age 35), Florida's Mike Weaver (age 35) and New Jersey's Mark Fayne (age 26).
The pickings are also slim in terms of proven puck-moving defensemen. MacDonald, who will be sought by many clubs if the Islanders move him, offers some mobility, blocks a lot of shots and can eat a lot of minutes. MacDonald, however, is something of a tweener -- not quite a top-flight puck mover and not quite a high-end shutdown defender. In the meantime, Raphael Diaz was recently traded from Montreal to Vancouver, and is likely to stay put in Vancouver as a rental for the rest of the season.
Given the options that are out there, the Flyers may ultimately decide their best option is to hope Erik Gustafsson has a good stretch drive and carries it over to the postseason. The club may also elect to hang onto Andrej Meszaros for depth and occasional offensive pop, since defense injuries have a way of piling up.
The Flyers will have a lot of decisions to make on defense in the near future. I personally think that any major trades will wait until the summer. In the short term, there is nobody on the rental market that is likely to make a significant (i.e., top-pairing caliber) impact on a new team's blueline.
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