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.

R.J. Umburglar Arrested For Second Degree Canadien Murder

Last night's post-series victory celebration was short lived, at least for one Flyer.

Shortly after the handshakes at center ice, R.J. Umberger was escorted out of the arena by Canadian police. It turns out he was a person of interest in four murder cases, ranging from April 26th to just last night. After rounds of questioning in custody, charges were officially pressed against Umberger.

"It turns out he was in fact the guy that scored eight goals this series. One of them was even a game winner. He is a serial goal scorer, and guys as sick as him need to be locked up for a very long time."

The detective went on later to say that Carey Price is being investigated as an accomplice. Neither Umberger nor Price's lawyers had any comment on the situation.

Some Wednesday Evening Flyers Notes

First, Chuck Gormley on The Sporting News, US style.

Peter Forsberg says his foot is feeling good after a couple days of skating. It's still too early to tell, but if he can continue skating and maybe play for Team Sweden in the LG Games, he could be looking at an NHL return. If he does, my money is on the Flyers landing him. Forsberg has a lot of pride, and I think he feels like he owes the organization something. The Flyers aren't exactly weak on the power play, which is one of Forsberg's greatest strengths, but any time you can add talent, you do it.

Paul Holmgren talks about the deadline and offseason, courtesy of the Courier Post.

A few of the key points from it include:

- Shooting down the ridiculous Carter/first round draft pick for Sundin rumor.

- He will try to re-sign free agents Jeff Carter, R.J. Umberger and Jason Smith.

- The Flyers could be players come the deadline because they have as good of a chance as anyone to win the conference.

I'm sure I'm going to say this many times in the coming months, but there's no reason to trade Carter and a pick for a rental. This team is young and talented. There's a great core of guys here, and there's no reason to break that up for someone like Sundin. It's not worth it.

Some people worry about cap room in regards to signing players like Carter and Umberger, but I'm not concerned about it. Holmgren is confident there will be enough wiggle room to get it done, and there's no reason not to believe him. I think Smith is expendable. He's a great leader and does a great job for standing up for his teammates on the ice, but there's plenty of leadership on this team, and he logs the fewest minutes of any of our defensemen.