Flyers Land Legein

			2009/2010 NHL Statistics		2010 Cap Hit
To Philadelphia	Position	Age	GP	Points	Years	Per Year
Stefan Legein	Forward	20	0	0	2	$846,000
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To Columbus	Position	Age	GP	Points	Years	Per Year
Michael Ratchuk	Defenseman	21	0	0	2	N/A

The Blue Jackets and Flyers made a swap on Tuesday morning, seeing a former 2nd round pick in 2006 get dealt for a former 2nd round pick in 2007. It was a straight swap of prospects, in general, but what we all know of Stefan Legein, the Flyers managed to pick up a player that fits their mould quite well.

Legein is a gritty young winger that has a lot of speed and some reasonable hands, someone who I think is not unlike current Flyers player, Claude Giroux. Both players have enough speed to be dangerous offensively and gritty enough to play along the boards at both ends. There seems to be a pattern emerging in Philadelphia.

I don't know a great deal about Michael Ratchuk, so I'm going to have to go by some numbers and look him up a bit. As a smaller American defenseman, he does have some quality offensive numbers, including 17 points in 77 games in the AHL as a 20-year old in 2009. He did go through the American junior program, so that should indicate some good training, so this may not be a bad deal for the Jackets, who are getting into the puck moving business.

Both players are under their original entry-level deals, so they are more than likely going to figure into their team's minor system for the time being. With two-way deals, they won't figure into the salary cap number until they are finally in the mix with their new NHL club.

I think the Flyers came away with a pretty good deal here. I have a pretty good feeling that we'll be seeing Legein more and more as the years move forward. I will be interested to see how Ratchuk plays out. The Jackets already have a guy like Kris Russell, who is already in the league as a smaller, puck moving defenseman, so I'd be weary. It can be said that you can never have too many puck moving defensemen though.