Flyers Trade Richards, Carter in Blockbusters, Sign Bryzgalov

The Philadelphia Flyers are a new team.

In an attempt to relieve themselves of much needed cap space, the Philadelphia Flyers have traded captain, Mike Richards and consistent goal scorer, Jeff Carter in two separate blockbuster trades.

The first deal involved Carter being shipped off to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek, a first round draft pick (8th overall), and a third round draft choice.

Jakub Voracek, a first round draft pick back in 2007 has been developing nicely, and has the potential to be a first line/second line player in the National Hockey League.

The 8th overall pick may have sealed the deal for the Flyers, as they have a chance to select a premiere prospect tomorrow at the NHL Entry Draft.

Jeff Carter is on a mega million dollar contract, after recently signing a 11 year deal, which will annually pay him 5.272 million dollars a year. However, despite the hefty price, Carter is a very talented two way player and a future 50 goal scorer in this league.

Although the Jackets obviously paid a big price for Carter, they finally (can't emphasize that enough) get a guy to play along side Rick Nash on the Blue Jackets first line.

In the second deal of the day, the Philadelphia Flyers moved captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a second round draft pick.

Wayne Simmonds is a serviceable second line/third line winger who can get the job done when called upon, making him a valuable asset for any team.

Brayden Schenn, a first round draft selection in 2009 is a guy with tons of potential. Having dominated the Western Hockey League for some time now, Schenn recently moved up to the American Hockey League, playing for the Manchester Monarchs. Schenn now has quite the opportunity to crack the Flyers lineup for the upcoming 2011-2012 season.

Mike Richards will be an enormous addition to this King's team, looking to make it out of the first round for the first time in a long time.

However in the city of "Brotherly Love", Richards appeared to be a bad seed in the locker room, often butting heads with bonifide veteran, Chris Pronger.

With that being said, Richards is a complete player, and will surely complement the likes of Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar.

After the conclusion of these deals, the Flyers organization made the much anticipated announcement- the signing of Russian goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov.

The contract was signed for 9 years, for a reported 51 million dollars. At a cap hit of 5.7 million dollars, (OH BOY) the Flyers have potentially, possibly, maybe, not exactly fixed their goaltending problems.

I will go into more detail about the signing of Bryzgalov in a different article.

Stay Tuned!