Saturday, August 19, 2006

Naslund to Philly heating up

Various sources are stating that Vancouver and Philadephia continue to try to hammer out a deal to bring Markus Naslund to Philly. At first I didnt think this deal would happen, but word out of Vancouver is that Naslund isnt completely happy with the direction of the team and would welcome a change. Philly is seeing this as a chance to make Forsberg happy long term in Philly. Any trade would include Simon Gagne going back the other way to Vancouver. Other parts including players and draft picks would be needed to make this happen. Ill keep an eye on this and update when more information becomes available.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Total BS. The Flyers are not trading Gagne, especially not in a deal for a guy making more money and five years older.

Anonymous said...

I can't see it happening either, but you need to remember that Gagne had a career year playing with Forsberg, and now he wants to be paid like a 50 goal scorer. Naslund had a bad year and Gagne had a career year, and they both finished with 79 points.

The age thing doesn't matter anymore with so much free agency. If Naslund retires in 2 years when his contract runs out then the Flyers can replace him with another Free Agent. Forsberg only has 1 year left and this might incent him to stay longer if one of his best friends is brought in to play with him.

What lends some credence to this is that Naslund has been almost silent this summer. As the Captain you'd thing he would have weighed in to show his support for the new direction, but he has not.

I think if Gagne would sign for $5m then Clarke would lock him up, but if he's asking for $5.5 or more, than they may have trouble signing him. For the Canucks, it is a way to completely change the direction of the team, because you'd have to think that they'd love for their new coach to name a new captain, and there is no way that they'll strip his captaincy from him. If this does happen, I would think that they would make Willie Mitchell captain....good, hard-nosed BC and Canadian boy who is locked up for 4 years.

Just my thoughts.....

Anonymous said...

I think both comments are very accurate and credible. But, I believe that the people who created this site is only providing us with facts they here. Not saying they are all true or not. But with this New NHL, and the craziness we've already seen in regards to break out players and nutty trades and signings, I just would not over look the idea of make some sort of trade to acquire naslund to play with foresburg,I just wouldn't be surprised, and how could you?

Thank you for your insiders scoop..
-Big Leafs fan

Anonymous said...

It would be very interesting to see the deal if there is any fire behind all this smoke. The only trouble I have with trading Naz is that he makes a line. With Gagne, we'd need to keep or get another offensive player for him to play with to get the most out of him. Much like Jarome Iginla. With Naz, you know exactly what you getting night in night out, a consistant threat with the puck. Gagne is a damn good player dont get me wrong. I would love to see this happen just to see all the drama unfold around the team. If only just to be that up and coming team with a heart burning for success again. I loved those days.