Flyers Trade Richards And Carter

In an effort to clear cap space to sign Ilya Bryzgalov, today the Flyers traded Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets for first and third round draft picks in this year's draft and Jakub Voracek. The Flyers also traded Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds and a second round draft pick in this year's draft.

By trading away Richards and Carter the Flyers have cleared a lot of cap space. The trades also give the Flyers more options in this year's draft as they now have now earned the 8th overall selection, a second round pick, and another third round selection.

With the surplus of draft picks the Flyers now have a lot of flexibility in the upcoming draft. They can either try to draft a lot of youth to replenish their minor league system or trade some of those picks for proven NHL players.

Obviously the Flyers now have suffiecent amount of cap space to sign Bryzgalov so look for a deal between the Flyers and the goaltender to come within the next few days.

As for the players the Flyers acquired according to Barry Melrose of ESPN, "Brayden Schenn has the potential to be a star in this league and Wayne Simmonds is a solid and proven NHL player." As for Jakub Voracek, he is young and has a lot of potential.

Check the blog in the upcoming days for more coverage on these trades and the possible signing of Bryzgalov.