The Fourth Period: David Pagnotta, Dennis Bernstein and Anthony Di Marco on Saturday talking the Philadelphia Flyers and the trade deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Pagnotta: “Let’s start in Philly. And we know contract negotiations have picked up steam in the last, looking at the clock here last 30 hours, let’s say with respect to Sean Walker‘s camp. Anthony any new information there?
Di Marco: “Well, I think that this really got the ball moving when you saw Chris Tanev move on Wednesday night and Ilya Lyubushkin move to the Toronto Maple Leafs the following day. And obviously, teams are still circling on Sean Walker and also to a slightly lesser extent Nick Seeler.
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But I think for the Flyers they’re still sitting tight. Like I spoke to someone with the Flyers earlier and they don’t think that the pressure point has quite hit yet for interested teams on Walker and Seeler.
So obviously we know that the Edmonton Oilers are still in the mix. The Toronto Maple Leafs are still circling. We know Tampa Bay is looking for a defenseman in some capacity but would they want to spend assets on rental which they’ve been reluctant to do in the past.
So it feels like we’re maybe back in a little bit of a holding pattern with Seeler and Walker but I’d expect things to pick up next week as teams looking to add to their blue light get presser, get pressed up against the deadline coming next Friday.
Pagnotta: And I wonder if maybe we even see that extension take place. We know that as we said contract negotiations have picked up steam, at least on Walker’s side of things. Philly having some other you know, kind of balls up in the air with potential and maybe a backup goalie?”
Di Marco: “Yeah, it seems that the Flyers are at least keeping that door open. Obviously, Carter Hart is on indefinite leave of absence from the team and they got full cap relief for him. The Cal Petersen experiment did not work. He was waived earlier in the week and assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Felix Sandstrom expected get to the start against the Ottawa Senators.
But the Flyers aren’t prepared to spend a major asset for a backup goaltender but if one could be had on the waiver wire, or potentially via like a late-round pick, a sixth-round pick, it’s certainly something they’re keeping their eyes open for.
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Obviously, the pickings are slim for backup goalies around the league. And you have to make sure that any person coming in would be an upgrade on a Felix Sandstrom or a Cal Petersen, but certainly something that Daniel Briere and the rest of the Flyers front office are is keeping open to a possible addition before the trade deadline.”