Best Flyers Trades Since 1990 #3: Back With A Vengeance
Fans of the Philadelphia Flyers will still bring up losing Patrick Sharp, Justin Williams, or Sergei Bobrovsky before their prime NHL seasons. However, the conversations don’t include the best trades in Flyers history often enough.
The Flyers haven’t won a Stanley Cup in half a century. However, their competitive history in the top tier of the NHL has required some savvy moves.
You know plenty about the worst, but what are the best trades the Flyers have made since 1990?
- #8 Landing Chris Pronger
- #7 The Wildest Trade Tree You’ve Ever Seen
- #6 Ron Hextall’s Savviest Set of Moves
- #5 Rod “The Bod” Brind’Amour
- #4 A Polarizing Pair Of Moves: Jeff Carter, Mike Richards Dealt In Summer Stunners
- #3 Back With A Vengeance: Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen Trades
- #2 The Eric Lindros Trade: The Biggest Blockbuster in NHL History?
- #1 Mark Recchi Moved For 2 All-Time Flyers
Paul Holmgren Takes Action
February 15, 2007
Flyers Get: Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent, 1st-Round Pick in 2007 (traded back to Nashville Predators), 3rd-Round Pick in 2007 (traded to Washington Capitals)
Nashville Predators Get: Peter Forsberg
June 18, 2007
Flyers Get: Rights to pending UFAs Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen
Nashville Predators Get: 1st-Round Pick in 2007 (sent to Flyers four months earlier)
Bobby Clarke resigned as general manager early in the 2006-07 season. Paul Holmgren stepped into a mess that would become the worst finish in franchise history.
The 2007-08 Flyers came back with a vengeance and reached the Eastern Conference Final. Holmgren’s roster overhaul restored a competitive spirit after the franchise’s only season without a playoff berth between 1994-95 and 2011-12.
His savviest moves came in a series of deals with the Nashville Predators. Holmgren took a world-class player in Peter Forsberg who never fully got his feet under him in Philadelphia and utilized him as a major trade chip.
The initial deal sent a first-round pick to the Flyers in February 2007, but an offseason move with the same partner (coincidence?) gave Holmgren the opportunity to sign two high-impact free agents.
Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen were perhaps the most appropriate microcosm of the reshaped Flyers core that went on five consecutive playoff runs that all held realistic Stanley Cup hopes.
Scott Hartnell & Kimmo Timonen
Holmgren didn’t wait until free agency. He acquired the rights early to ink sandpaper winger Scott Hartnell and puck moving defenseman Kimmo Timonen to six-year deals worth a combined $63 million.
Hartnell scored 157 goals and added 169 assists in 517 games over seven seasons with the Flyers. He brought intensity on the ice and personability off of it to become a beloved player inside and outside the organization.
The Flyers might’ve even designed their mascot to look like him.
Timonen sits third in franchise history among defensemen in points and assists and 11th in games played. He won the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s best defenseman five times, second most in history behind only Eric Desjardins.
The smooth Finnish blueliner logged ice time on the top units of contending Flyers teams in 71 playoff games in orange and black.
Scottie Upshall also provided decent depth scoring in a short stint with the Flyers while Ryan Parent played a depth role on the blue line through 2010.
Peter Forsberg only played 28 more NHL games after the deadline deal in 2007. He finished with 115 points in 100 games with the Flyers. Although they never achieved their Stanley Cup hopes with their long lost prospect, they executed the deal at the perfect time.
