Flyers Set Press Conference For Friday Morning

[kermitology]

Stay tuned for more details!

[JiriHrdina]

The Minnesota Wild have also called a press conference for Friday morning. Could another deal between the Wild and Flyers be in the works? Ooooh the intrigue.

[kermitology]

http://www.philly.com/images/logos/site/philly/inquirer/main_header.gif


FLYERS DEAL FOR WALKER

Friday July 30, 2004

This morning Philadelphia Flyers GM Dan Lemmon announced that he has yet again struck a deal with the Minnesota Wild. Going to Minnesota are forwards Vaclav Varada and Jason Wiemer along with a fifth round draft choice in the 2006 CPHL entry draft, coming to Philadelphia is forward Scott Walker and a third round draft choice in the 2006 CPHL entry draft. Lemmon said that "we were looking very hard to find a good deal to bring in a second line right winger to go behind Todd, Scott fits that bill perfectly for us." When asked about why he gave up Wiemer Lemmon was rather off the cuff stating "Jason and I don't see eye to eye, I had close ties with the Calgary Flames organization when he was playing in the NHL, and I was not impressed during his time there. Frankly I think he's a selfish player and a cancer in the dressing room. I wanted him gone, and Farhall agreed to take him."

This is the third time in less than a month that Lemmon and Farhall have struck a deal together, which brings us to the interesting part of the deal. Apparently the Minnesota Wild have what they like to call, a Frequent Trading Program. Teams that trade with the Wild on a regular enough basis, can earn points towards special rewards. When Lemmon was asked about this program he had this to say "Yeah, Grant told me about the program when I was hired, when we made our first deal I got about a hundered bonus points just for signing up, so after all the deals we've now made, I had enough to cash in and get a really nice set of Wildco Ninja steak knives. I saw an infomercial on TV about them and just had to get them. Did you know you can cut a Pinapple in half while it's in the air? These things are great, I'm heading back to Calgary to go do some barbequing and try them out!"

With this latest deal, Lemmon said he likes the looks of the forward ranks stating that the probable line up would be similar to this:

Whitney - Lindros - Bertuzzi
Modin - Marleau - Walker
Barnaby - Peca - Klatt
Kapanen - Andreychuk - Willsie

Lemmon's next task is to try and find either a new suitor for injured defenseman Teppo Numminen, or find some way to clear enough salary cap room to bring him back into the lineup.

[JiriHrdina]

Additional report:

Wild GM Grant Farhall offered these comments on the deal.

"When we acquired Scotty Walker we had him pencilled in on our second line which made a lot of sense. But with the unexpected acquisition of Mike Knuble, Walker was now going to skate on our third line. We felt that at his salary he was an expensive guy to have given the limited ice time he was now going to get. By getting two solid forwareds like Jason and Vaclav we were also able to address a roster issue we had, without adding to our payroll"

Farhall did express regret over one aspect of the deal

"The tough part of this deal was giving up those steak knives. Those were some damn good knives."