First, the Flyers received news that Daniel Briere would return to the line up early. Next the Flyers made a move to shake the team up. The name that continue to pop up was forward Brendan Shanahan, but earlier today the Flyers went a different route.
They acquired 6'0" 205 lbs defenseman Matt Carle and San Jose's third round pick from Tampa Bay for defensemen Steve Eminger, forward Steve Downie, and Tampa Bay's original fourth round pick.
“Matt Carle is a good young defenseman and we are thrilled to add a player with his abilities to our roster,” said Holmgren in making the announcement. “He will add skill and speed to our lineup and should fit in great with our team.”
“I also would like to thank Steve Eminger and Steve Downie for their professionalism as players here and we wish them nothing but the best in the future.” [Flyers.com]
In 163 career NHL games, Carle has recorded 17 goals, 48 assists, and 76 penalty minutes. During the 2006-2007 season, Carle was named to the all-rookie team. Carle's cap hit is $3.438 million.
Carle had a bad season last year, but he is still young and under contract until after the 2011/2012 season. He is definitely an upgrade over Steve Eminger and Holmgren considers Carle to be a top 4 defenseman.
Eminger has been everything we should have expected him to be. We gave up a 1st round pick this year for Eminger and he was the bust that Washington wrote him off to be.
Steve Downie was a head case that was often taking terrible penalties and turning the puck over. Downie, though still young, became expendable with the acquistion of guys like Hartnell, Upshall, and Lupul. Truthfully, there is just no room with Giroux and JVR a year or two away as well. Downie was never able to maintain a spot on the top 3 lines and there's no point to keep him if he's just going to be a 4th line winger.
So, in the end, we virtually traded a first round pick and Steve Downie for Matt Carle. I hope it works out, but that remains to be seen.
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