Flyers acquire Simon Gagne, Read and Meszaros due back soon

The Philadelphia Flyers traded a fourth round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for struggling winger Simon Gagne. The Flyers bring back the fan favorite from the 2000′s in hopes that his career can turnaround in the place where he started. Simon Gagne has a lot of hockey left at age 32, but he just was not in the right system. Darryl Sutter, the coach of the LA Kings, has a system built on physicality. As we all remember, Gagne’s game is not built on physicality, but based on finesse. Gagne is a good fit for the Flyers, and if he is still in good shape, (which he says he is) this is a very good move for the Flyers. With Tye McGinn out for a few weeks with a broken bone suffered in a fight, the Flyers needed to make a move. Bringing Gagne back is not only a jolt for the Flyers offense, but he has a great shot and can help bolster the second power play unit.

With Gagne back and McGinn out, expect the lines to look similar to this:

Scott Hartnell Claude Giroux Jakub Voracek

Brayden Schenn Danny Briere Mike Knuble

Wayne Simmonds Sean Couturier Simon Gagne

Zac Rinaldo Maxime Talbot Ruslan Fedotenko

As you can see, Gagne adds a legitimate scoring threat with Couturier and Simmonds. The third line may be able to finally produce some goals!

The most exciting part of the Gagne move, is how the Flyers will look when they are healthy. Hopefully Peter Laviollete scratches Knuble for McGinn as nearly everyone believes should occur, then Matt Read will be back in a month from his rib injury. If the Flyers can win some games and get back in the playoff picture, we could be looking at one of the deepest scoring teams in the NHL. Take a look at the healthy Flyers lines and pairings

Hartnell Giroux Voracek

Read Briere Schenn

Simmonds Couturier Gagne

Rinaldo Talbot McGinn/Fedotenko

Then once Andrej Meszaros comes back healthy, the defense looks a lot better as well.

Braydon Coburn Nicklas Grossmann

Kimmo Timonen Luke Schenn

Bruno Gervais Andrej Mezsaros

The Flyers need to stay afloat and win some games in the next three weeks, because once this team gets healthy, I think it can go a long way.