The word from Tim P. is that the Flyers have interest in Erik Cole, Carolina.
THe Gagne trade was all about dumping a 5 million dollar player who stated he wanted to test free agency, is injury prone, and on the downside of his career. Walker's contract is big for him, but still gives the FLyers flexibility, and they can easily afford him in the minors. Gagne would never have been waived. I didn't like the trade either. But it is hard to argue with the results on both sides. The FLyers are top in the league. Gagne has just now started to show glimpses. And Walker will be a great call up come playoff time for depth.
The Hurricanes are 8th in the East in winning percentage, aka in the playoffs if they had played the same number of games as Atlanta. No way they sell unless the Flyers make an offer they can't refuse.
This could be true but I'm sure they'd like to know they have room for a trade if a good one pops up. I wouldn't mind a guy like Brunette as he can score when you really need one and Glencross is a nice young player as well who can kill penalties....you can never have enough money faceoff guys either so Reasoner wouldn't be a bad guy. I feel bad for Nodl but he may be the guy who gets upgraded.
From what I recall, when he is sent down he has to clear waivers and any team can pick him up for his current salary and we get nothing in return. If we call him back up before the playoffs he has to clear waivers and any team can claim him and we get nothing and only pay half his salary and each team gets half the cap hit for the remainder of the season. Once the playoffs start they do not have to clear waivers and can be called up directly. As mentioned above if they need another defenseman they can probably call up Syvret or Gustavson without needing them to clear waivers. Once the playoffs start you will probably see Walker up as no waiver required and I think cap is irrelevant in the playoffs. I also think this move is not in regards to a Leino extension, as that contract won't kick in till next year, therefore won't affect this year's cap. I think it is just giving maneuvering room to make a deal if one comes up and the potential to slip him through waivers while everyone is at the all-star game.
If he gets put on re-entry waivers after the trade deadline, he would be ineligible for the playoffs for any team except the Flyers. The worst that could happen is a team claims him just so the Flyers' can't use him, and that just means we have $1.7M more to work with next year.