Could Carolina’s Gleason, Allen Be On Flyers’ Wishlist?
With Chris Pronger out for the season with post-concussion syndrome, general manager Paul Holmgren and the Flyers are expected to shop for a minute-eating defenseman to fill the void and solidify the team’s blue line for the stretch run.
According to Edmonton Journal reporter Jim Matheson, the Flyers won’t have to look outside the Eastern Conference to find that.
“The Flyers will likely deal with Carolina [Hurricanes] to get either Bryan Allen or Tim Gleason because they’ve made about 103 trades with Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford over the years.”
Sure, it seems like blind speculation based on little evidence, and the NHL’s holiday roster freeze will keep the Flyers from doing anything until Dec. 27, but sarcasm aside, Matheson’s guess is educated.
Dead last in the East with a 10-18-3 record, the Hurricanes are not going to the playoffs and will become official sellers at some point during the second half of the season. Also, both Gleason and Allen are unrestricted free-agents-to-be, making them very likely to be available.
Although the two fit with what the Flyers will be looking for, on a team that Holmgren likes to do business with, the most attractive aspect of Gleason and Allen is that they make salary cap sense.
Making $2.75 million, Gleason, 28, is an aggressive team-first defenseman that logs minutes and plays the body. He can gather assists, but isn’t the offensive player the Flyers had with Pronger. However, averaging over 20-minutes per game (which would put him between Andrej Meszaros and Braydon Coburn) and leading the Hurricanes defense in hits with 60, he fits the Flyers’ mold. He’s also American-born, something Holmgren enjoys tapping into.
In Allen, at 31-years-old and making $2.9 million, the Flyers would get a 6-foot-5, 230 lbs. shot-blocking specialist. He isn’t an offensive player, but can work as a shut-down depth guy, averaging a shade under 20-minutes per game. Allen is physical and strong but has the propensity to take careless minors and suffer bumps and bruises.
Age and ability make Allen the less attractive of the two players to move for.
Matheson brought up the Flyers in discussing the Oilers’ need for a top-four defenseman and the competitive market for defenseman. In fact, most of the league is in the playoff-hunt and searching for reliable defensive glue, making it a sellers market for those teams holding extra players and expiring contracts.
That said and regardless of the market, you can bet Holmgren will be sniffing curiously around the two Carolina defensemen from now until the trade deadline.
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