Flyers Draft Talk And Fun With Pierre McGuire

The Flyers have been wheeling and dealing during tonight's first round, so let's take a look at what they've done.

They kicked off the night by sending RFA C R.J. Umberger to Columbus along with a 4th round pick for their first rounder, 19th overall, and a third rounder. Holmgren must not have felt they were making progress in contract talks, or he really just wasn't interested from the beginning. The fact is, the Flyers have too many forwards and really can't invest any more money in them. It's great that they were able to get a couple picks out of him, but I wish they could've used him to upgrade the blue line and maybe not do what they did later.

With that 19th pick, the Flyers took Luca Sbisa, a defenseman from the WHL. He was one of the points leaders in the WHL postseason, and he's described as a very mobile player. He's good at starting the rush and is compared to fellow Swiss D-Man Mark Streit. Streit's not exactly a glowing comparison, but he can definitely score some points. He's also compared to Kaberle, a player the Flyers were very interested in. He'll probably player in the junior league for another year or two, and then we'll see how he handles the pro game.

Instead of using their own 27th overall pick, the Flyers traded it to Washington for D Steve Eminger and a 3rd round pick. I'm not sure I'm a fan of this. Eminger was a former 12th overall pick, but he has not come close to living up to his expectations since joining the professional ranks. He has not shown the offensive ability that made Washington take him so high. He has also not proven himself in his own zone, so unless the Flyers' coaching staff sees something they can correct, I'm not sure how much he'll help.

The Flyers picked up a 3rd round pick and essentially traded up from the 4th to the 3rd for tomorrow. It wouldn't surprise me if they took a goalie with one of these picks, but I'd never expect that player to become good. We'll see. I doubt Holmgren is done upgrading the blue line.

Also, Pierre McGuire. What's with this dude? Let's take a look at some of his reviews of picks tonight.

On first overall pick Steven Stamkos: "It's about his level of excellence."

On third overall pick Zach Bogosian: "This is a gigantically positive move for Atlanta. This guy's got it all going on, and I can't say enough good things about him."

On fifth overall pick Luke Schenn: "Toronto wins huge here. This is the start of the re-build and there's no better place to start than on the shoulders of Luke Schenn. He is the Human Eraser on defence. A one man search and destroy defender. This is a franchise player."

On fourteenth overall pick Zach Boychuk: "Perfect! Tremendous move."

On fifteenth overall pick Erik Karlsson: "He's the Swedish Brian Rafalski."

On twenty-second overall pick Jordan Eberle: "Perfecto for the Oilers."

Did anyone make a bad pick? This is like that episode of the Simpsons where Homer is a food critic, and his worst review is six thumbs up.