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Everybody is congratulating Homer on jumping early and decisively to lock up Hartnell & Timonen. I'm happy to see the Flyers doing something but this uses up quite a bit of the excess cap space and 6 years is a long time for a 32 year old defenseman, Hartnell is injury prone and there are rumblings that he was a clubhouse cancer that has issues with his coaches. Plus, they still need a big time scorer - someone who can score 35+ goals not another 15-25 goal scorer with "potential".
But let's focus on the positives for now:
1. Immediate Improvement to Power Play - Last year Gagne had 13 PP goals and Knuble had 10. The next Flyer scored 3... Hartnell had 10 PP goals and Timonen had 8 PP Goals and 18 assists (more than any Flyer had).
2. Mentor for Young Defenseman - With three young Finnish defenseman in Pitkanen, Kukkonen and Timonen's younger brother, the Flyers hope that Kimmo can straighten out Joni and bring the others along. If Pitkanen can get back to the force he was before being injured 18 months ago, then this move will be one of the best ever for the Flyers.
3. Leadership - Timonen was Nashville's captain and Hartnell still only 25 was thought to be a future captain when he was drafted.
4. Hartnell is a Flyer - a prototypical power forward who loves to crash and bang, can play any forward position and plays defense. Fans are gonna love this guy. Big, fast and tough is the way the Ducks won the cup and Ottawa got to the finals.
5. Young Nucleus - Hartnell, Carter, Richards, Umberger, Upshall, Potulny, Coburn and Pitkanen are all 25 are under with NHL experience. Trying to bust in will be Ryan Parent, Steve Downie and Claude Giroux. Even the less flashy players like Eager, Ruzicka, Kukkonen, Picard, Jones, etc. are all young. This will create competition for playing time and will hopefully bring out the best.
Overall, I'm pretty excited for the mood. The Flyers have improved significantly since before the trading deadline with Kukkonen, Timonen and Coburn on defense, Upshall, Hartnell as well as healthy Knuble, Richards, Carter and Potulny. But I still think the big move is Marty Biron in the net as the clear number one starter. There is still more to be done but this team will likely be way more exciting to watch and should be in the thick of things in a tough conference.
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