Eklund was first on this. Flyers asked Gagne to waive NTC. He agreed.
Deal with Kings, I believe, to land $$ to sign Turco but multiple scenarios being discussed,
**
Below is a transcript of Paul Holmgren's conference call this evening, courtesy of the FLyers:
Q: Can you talk about the day and whether you’re pleased, very pleased, just OK?
“We’re very pleased with what we did. We significantly upgraded our defense with adding Andrej Meszaros and Sean O’Donnell and we feel we have a guy who can play a role for our team that we haven’t had in quite some time, play a third or fourth line role, he’s a bigger body – I’m talking about Jody Shelley – so we’re very happy with what we did today.”
Q: Can you talk us through how the trade for Andrej Meszaros transpired?
We like Andrej as a player and he had four years left on his contract. I don’t believe he’s 25 years old yet. I believe he turns 25 in the fall once the season starts. He’s a younger guy. We figured the marketplace was going to be north of 4 [million] for the defenseman that we were looking for. We really like the player. He’s still got a lot of upside. I think fitting in with our group here, it’s just a real good fit. We’re very pleased to have him. We jumped on that.
Q: Where do you see him fitting into your defensive six?
Some of the guys we’re counting on being a part of our roster right now, with O’Donnell and Bartulis being our sixth and seventh guy, we could throw a whole bunch of different combinations. We have three guys that are right around the 25 year old range [carle, coburn, meszaros], and obviously you’ve got Oskars who is actually younger than that, Oskars is 23 or 24… and then you’ve got the three older guys. I think you put Meszaros in there, he could play with Pronger, he could play with Kimmo, he could play with Coby, Matt Carle… he could play with Sean O’Donnell, he could play with Oskars… . There’s any number of combinations you could have. Andrej is a very good skater … and he’s got a big shot.
Q: Is there any chance you’ll shed some salary and perhaps revisit adding another goaltender?
Right now it’s not high on our priority list. I said at the end of the year, I think Michael had a strong year regardless of what happened in the final and even in the last game. I think Brian Boucher played very well. He had a tough year with injuries, with being behind Ray at the very start he did not get a chance to play early in the year. He won a big playoff series for us. We’re comfortable. Does that mean we’re not going to look around and see if there’s something else out there that makes us better? We’ll certainly continue to do that. But if the season were to start tomorrow, I’d certainly feel comfortable right now with our goalies.
Q: Were you surprised at the goaltending market and that Nabakov and Turco are still out there?
Not really surprised. [Rest of answer inaudible.]
Q: Now that you have Jody Shelley, where does that leave Dan Carcillo?
Well, he’s on our team right now. I don’t think you can compare the two really. Obviously they’re both tough players. Danny’s shown the ability at times to play up and down our lineup. To say Dan Carcillo is a first-line player is probably a little bit of a stretch, but he played it at times this year and actually produced some points for us when he was in that situation. In our viewpoint, I think they’re both in our lineup, and those are awful tough guys… we’ll be a hard team to play against. I think our fans are certainly going to take to Jody Shelley just the way they took to Danny Carcillo.
Q: Do you have to do something to comply with the salary cap?
“We’re still in good shape right now. It’s July 1. We have plenty of time to work it out.”
Q: How far over are you allowed to be and for how long?
“I think it’s 10 percent over until you file your roster to start the year, probably around October 1.”
Q: Meszaros had a really strong rookie year. Do you think his development stalled after that?
“I’m not really sure what happened. The one thing I will say is since he was 19 years old, he’s been on a team and he’s been the top four defense on that team, every year. He put up good points with Ottawa, at the time Ottawa was a very good hockey team. He played with Chara one year, the next year he didn’t play with Chara, I think he played with Wade Redden, they went to the Stanley Cup Final. Shortly thereafter he was traded to Tampa Bay and I know he had a fairly severe injury to his shoulder I believe, and missed a significant amount of time, probably 25 games or so. Last year he played 81 games. He’s still a young player who’s developing in the league. We know he’s going to be a good player… he’s going to help us a lot because of the way he skates, the way he can move the puck, and the way he can shoot. John Paddock was in Ottawa, he had him, he coached him, he knows him quite well. We just believe he’s a really, really good fit for our team.
Q: Did you make a pitch for Volchenkov?
“We made the trade before the free agency started, so no, we never really got involved with any defensemen after that.”
Q: Do you think you’re done here for a little while or do you think something might come up in the next day or so?
“There’s always another wave that happens, whether that’s through trade… a lot of times it spreads out over the next month or so. There’s still guys out there. We’ll continue to look around and listen and see if there’s a fit, whether it’s a trade or through free agency, but we’re always looking to make our team better. W think we made our team better today, but we’ll continue to look.”
**
Well, the FLyers are pretty deep 1-6 in front of the goal.
But most of you would agree they still have a hole in goal. They're not strong enough.
Dan Ellis went to TB and I was told the Flyers were talking to agent Mike Liut before the Bolts signed him.
Bottom line is, the Flyers didn't address a prime need and that's very discouraging. A couple agents said at the draft that a lot of teams looked at CHI winning the Cup and feel if you have a really strong supporting cast, all you need is better than average goaltending to win.
And the Flyers had that ... until the Cup Final. Then it became below average goaltending.
If today is how FA ends for them - I think are trying to move salary - it remains disappointing the organization didn't upgrade in net for the umpteenth time.
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Jody Shelley replaces Riley Cote. What about his minutes? Arron Asham? Won't be bac either. Shelley and Dan Carcillo on a line?
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From a pure "class" standpoint, it doesn't get much better than Sean O'Donnell:
"First of all my game, I think I’m a steady guy. I think if something needs to be addressed as far as toughness out there, I don’t mind doing that. I used to do it more than I do now, but I don’t mind doing it.
"I know it’s something the people in Philly enjoy and kind of expect from some of their players, but I think it’s more of a calming thing. I think I can really bring a steady presence to that last defensive unit, and I think I can help on the penalty kill. I’ve been a plus-player pretty much my whole career, so I’m responsible in my own end.
"I think I calm things down. You’re not going to see a lot of flashy stuff, and I think it’s going to be one of those games where you don’t notice me, but that’s a good thing – after 10 or 15 games, you’re like ‘you know, we’ve never really talked about this guy, but he’s been there every game.
"He kind of flies under the radar, but he’s just a solid stay at home guy who hopefully doesn’t make too many mistakes, and is a good addition.’ As far as character, I think if you talk to teammates I think I’m well respected for being a teammate and standing up for the guys. I don’t say a whole lot in the room… I like to kind of let my actions do things. But I’ll definitely address things that I think need to be said.”
Not bad, eh?
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Here's all player reaction on CSNPHilly.com...
click here
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I was told very early this morning that the Flyers will make a bid for Dan Ellis.
The fact negotiations w/MTL ended without an offer last night, made it clear he'll test the market this afternoon.
Here's my story on CSNPhilly.com:
click here 
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