PHILADELPHIA, PA. – The Philadelphia Flyers and Chris Pronger, like chocolate and peanut butter, they are two great tastes that go very well together. The only real question regarding the two parties is: Is it too little too late, or is it the timing perfect between the two? The Flyers sent a boatload of their future to the Anaheim Ducks for another crack at the cup. As usual, the Flyers are once again “going for it”, meaning that instead of being patient and building their team through the draft like every other Stanley Cup champion has done over the past few years, especially with the salary cap now in the NHL. Of course, even before their was a salary cap in the league the Flyers have been “going for it” by spending money on overpriced free agents like a sailor on shore leave. The Flyers haven’t won a title since 1975 which begs the question, why should now be any different? <P> People will remember that the Flyers religiously bring in people over age 30 who were past their primes. Some of the most notables were: Paul Coffey, Adam Oates, Jeremy Roenick and John Vanbiesbrouck. Pronger will turn 35 in October, but he is still one of the top defenseman in the league. None of the other players that Philly brought in late in their careers were still at the top of their game mentally and physically. In fact, it is hard to remember who the Flyers have ever brought in Even if the Flyers can get 3-4 good years out of Pronger, if he can help deliver a title to Philadelphia the way he did for Anaheim, then the deal is a bargain. That is the key to the trade. ONLY if Pronger helps bring a parade down Broad Street will this deal become a success. Forget how well Luca Sbisa or the other first round draft picks the team gave up turn out to be. This about winning a championship. Period, end of story. For those of you in the media and in the Flyers fan blogosphere who have hailed this as a great trade and have literally “dared” the rest of us to prove that the trade was a “bad” trade, again I say, it all depends on if the Flyers win the Cup. That said, let’s look at the case for and against. One thing we know about the Sidney Crosby’s of the world is that they have made a living in recent days of going to the Flyers net and scoring from within the face-off circles. Well, those days are over. Not since Derien Hatcher was relatively healthy has anyone put the fear of God into the hearts of opponents while wearing a Flyers uniform. Just ask Crosby what it was like to play against Hatcher. Most of what he would say im sure would not be able to be printed for fear of the overuse of foul language. Hatcher got under Crosby’s skin. Pronger gets under everyone’s skin, which is what makes Pronger effective. That is also why he will more valuable to the Flyers than Coffey ever did at the end of his career. When a player loses his speed and agility, he has to resort to his ability to be physical. Coffey was a one dimensional player who was all offense, even going back to his Edmonton Oiler days. Pronger will be physical until the day he dies, that give him an edge over Coffey and those like him who have come into Philly hoping to be the last piece of the Flyers puzzle. That also makes him worthy of a contract extension, and you can bet he will sign one for at least another 4-5 years which should take him up to at least his 40th birthday. The people who are against the trade will say that he is a penalty machine, just like the rest of the Flyers who led the league in penalty minutes. While that might be so, one also has to wonder when will he begin to break down physically. So far so good on that front. For the most part, the only reason Pronger has been out of the Ducks lineup over the past few years has been due to suspensions, not injuries. Still, one day even the great Chris Pronger will eventually break down, but for the Flyers sake they better hope it is later rather than sooner. Also, the trade is bad because of the salary cap. Why would the Flyers once again give away 3 players (Sbisa and the two first round picks) who would have been a part of the Flyers future and would not have cost the team a lot of money? For those of you who like to bark out loud that draft picks sometimes don’t pan out should do something, like look at the rosters of some of the most recent Stanley Cup champs. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik and Marc-Andre Fleury were all taken in the first round of the draft. The Penguins have also done well in the lower rounds as well. Dustin Jeffrey however was taken in the sixth round (2007), Tyler Kennedy was taken in the fourth round (2004), Maxim Talbot in the eighth (2002), Alex Goligoski in the second (2004), Kris Letang in the third (2005), Rob Scuderi in the fifth (1998). That’s 11 players, half the team’s roster, all home grown, all had an impact on winning the Stanley Cup. The year before that Detroit had 19 Red Wings draftee’s paly for the wings at one time or another play on their 2008 cup winning team. The Ducks had six of their own draftees and im sure that if we went over the rosters of Tampa and Carolina’s cup winning teams we’d find that they had more home grown players than Anaheim did. For teams like the Flyers that have religiously spent money in order to win a Stanley Cup, should take heed. To ignore the draft as though it were a virus is something that every team, regardless of how much money they spend, would be folly in this day and age, especially with the salary cap expected to slowly go down over the next couple of years. If you include Friday’s trade, the Flyers have now traded away four first round picks (two of their own, one from the Peter Forsberg deal, and one from last year’s Steve Eminger deal), as well as two former first round picks of their own in Sbisa and Steve Downie. just in less than a year. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to those of us who have watched teams build a championship. It looks more like a team that hasn’t won a title since 1975. As I mentioned before, the bottom line as if the Flyers win the cup and Pronger is a huge reason why, than the trade was worth it. If not, Flyers fans better get use to seeing Sid the Kid hoist the cup over his head for years and years to come. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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