Flyers Acquire Hamhuis' Rights

			2009-2010 NHL Statistics				2011 Cap Info
To Philadelphia	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Dan Hamhuis	Defense	27	78	5	19	24	0	UFA
2011 Conditional Pick
--------------
To Nashville	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Ryan Parent	Defense	23	48	1	2	3	0	RFA

The Philadelphia Flyers made a splash on Saturday afternoon with a trade for the rights to Dan Hamhuis, a potential unrestricted free agent in less than two weeks. Hamhuis, a veteran two-way defenseman, was going to be a highly sought after player in this off-season and now the Flyers have given themselves a chance to sign him before anyone else can talk to him.  The Flyers also acquired a little bit of insurance in this deal, picking up a conditional draft pick, without a doubt hinging on whether or not Hamhuis signs a deal with the Flyers after this deal has been done.

According to Pierre LeBrun's Twitter account, the Flyers have no contract in place with Hamhuis, nor should they this early after the deal, so nothing is imminent.

In return, the Predators re-acquire Ryan Parent, their 1st pick in the 2005 draft, but was dealt to the Flyers in 2007 in the deal that sent Peter Forsberg to Nashville.  Parent is a restricted free agent in two weeks and has yet to really reach his potential as a top end blueliner.  Nashville has a great program of developing defensemen, so he should be able to find his niche again after this deal, giving the Predators a decent replacement for Hamhuis, who they were likely going to lose to free agency anyways.

Since the Flyers need to sign the veteran defenseman, it's fair to look at what they have to play with in terms of salary cap ceiling room. Currently, the Flyers have 14 players signed on for next season, see their Pool Outlook for the list, which has an annual salary cap hit of $47.2 million.  A deal for Hamhuis is likely to top the $4 million mark, which potentially leaves the Flyers with $6 to $8 million in cap space left, depending on the announced salary cap ceiling number, which should be due here any day now.  If the Flyers sign Hamhuis long-term, I would expect that more deals are coming down the line at the Entry Draft.