NHL Draft Open Thread

And, huge news right off the bat. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks just traded Chris Pronger to the Flyers for RW Joffrey Lupul, D Luca Sbisa, and 2 1st round picks. With Scott Neidermeyer reportedly returning to the Ducks at probably $6 million a year, they had to trade Pronger to fit under the cap. Lupul does fit their need for a top 6 forward because he is a potential 25-30 goal guy and gives them 5 legit forwards (Ryan, Perry, Selanne, Getzlaf and now Lupul). But, this is a big hit to their D . I imagine they will do everything possible to re-sign D-men Francois Beauchemin and James Wisniewski to a combined total of about $7-8 million annually. Sbisa was the Flyers first round pick last year, and with 2 more first round picks coming their way, they essentially traded Pronger for 3 1st round picks and a top 6 winger. In the short term, it hurts them. Long term, they win this deal.

As for the Flyers, this is an absolute steal in the short term. They have some of the best depth in the league at forward and could get away with trading Lupul. With Pronger, their top 5 D-men (Kimmo Timonen, Matthew Carle, Randy Jones, and Braydon Coburn) is easily one of the best in the game. Pronger is one of the top 4 D-men in the game who still has 2-3 real good years of hockey left in him, and brings a physical presence that is almost unmatched in the game today. But, with the trading of one of their top prospects and two additional 1st round picks in the coming years, this is clearly a win now move. High risk, high reward for the Flyers. Now, they need a goalie.

Update: And, with their first round pick, the Wings traded it to Tampa Bay for the 32nd pick and the 75th pick. They did this a few years ago and acquired Shaun Matthias and Cory Emmerton. Matthias was the player traded in the Todd Bertuzzi deal back in 2007 and is considered a legit top 50 prospect in the NHL. Emmerton also has the potential to be a good contributor down the line. So, history suggests this will work out just fine for us, and this is a deep draft so a quality player will most certainly be available at #32. Draft resumes tomorrow.