SATURDAY QUICK HITS
* The Philadelphia Flyers reportedly have interest in unrestricted free agent forward Peter Mueller if the team can find a way to free up some cap space to add a forward. Now 26, the former eighth overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft spent last season in the Swiss National League A with the Kloten Flyers. Mueller led the league in goal-scoring with 24 goals and finished third in total scoring (46 points) behind former NHLer Matt Lombardi and Swiss forward Roman Wick (who briefly played for the Ottawa Senators a few years ago).
At the NHL level, Mueller has struggled with injuries and prolonged offensive slumps. His best season was his rookie campaign of 2007-08, when he notched 22 goals and 54 points for Wayne Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes.
The Flyers have also reportedly been interested in still-unsigned UFA forward Steve Ott.
* Yesterday, the Flyers re-signed unrestricted free agent forward Chris VandeVelde to a one-year, two way contract. The deal will pay him $575,000 at the NHL level and $150,000 for playing for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the American Hockey League. Last season, VandeVelde dressed in 41 games for the Phantoms (10 goals, 24 points) and 18 for the Flyers (one assist, average 7:43 of ice time per game). In 46 career NHL games, VandeVelde has scored one goal and four points. Primarily, he is likely to play next season for a veteran-led Phantoms forward corps that also includes the likes of recently signed Andrew Gordon and Blair Jones.
* Legion of Doom left winger John LeClair celebrates his 45th birthday today. It would make the subject for a great debate whether LeClair or Tim Kerr was the best net-front forward in Flyers history.
Whenever people talk about "puck possession oriented hockey", the first image that comes to mind is of LeClair, Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg keeping opposing teams hemmed deep in defensive zone for 45 seconds or longer while the Legion cycled the puck at will. The inevitable result was a Flyers goal, an opposition penalty or a desperation icing (in an era when teams could still make a line change after an icing). In addition to his bullish strength and ability to pile up goals on rebounds and crease scrambles, LeClair could also unleash a 100 mile per hour slapshot that could overpower goalie from higher in the zone.
* Other Flyers alumi birthdays: Chris Gratton turns 39. Ryan Potulny celebrates his 30th birthday. Defensemen Michal Sykora and Brad Tiley turn 41 and 43 respectively.
* Last summer, I wrote a
blog that chronicled the Flyers' struggles in scouting and drafting (or signing as free agents) future NHL players in Swedish leagues over the period of 1995 to 2012.
In a nutshell, over that period of time, the Flyers failed to produce a single notable NHL player who was drafted or signed out of a Swedish league. This was a significant failing. Since the mid-1990s, the Swedish leagues have become the NHL's third-leading source of talent after Canadian and U.S.-based leagues.
Over the last year, however, there have been signs that the Flyers have corrected the issue and are now back on the right track. The organization hired a couple of full-time scouts specifically dedicated to covering Sweden and/or Finland during the season.
The early returns have been promising.
Last year, good initial reports during the season and a strong World Championships performance by Michael Raffl (an Austrian playing for Swedish team Leksand) gave the Flyers a leg up to sign a free agent who is now an NHL contributor. There is the potential for similar success with older French forward Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare (who has played in recent years for Swedish team Skelleftea AIK), whom the Flyers recently signed. The Flyers were also in the thick of the scouting hunt for Dennis Rasmussen, who ultimately signed with Chicago.
In terms of the NHL Draft, the Flyers have selected three players from Swedish leagues over the last two drafts. Last year's second-round pick, Robert Hagg, is now under entry-level NHL contract.
This year's two selections, fifth-round pick Oskar Lindblom and seventh-rounder Jesper "Pitbull" Pettersson, fit the mold of "Flyers-type" players in that both bring grit as well as skill. Lindblom is working on his skating and consistency and Pettersson is a stocky 5-foot-9 defensive defenseman but both have a pretty good chance at a career in North America at some point.
For the first time in many years -- going back to the early 1990s when scout Inge Hammarström (now with Vancouver) hit a few home runs in recommending the likes of Peter Forsberg, Mikael Renberg, Finnish defenseman Janne Niinimaa, and late-round drafted goalie Johan Hedberg -- it finally feels like the Flyers are competitive again in the realm of identifying draft-worthy talent playing in the leagues of Northern Europe. That bodes well for the depth of the prospect pool going forward.
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Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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