NASHVILLE MOVES CLOSE ANOTHER TRADE DOOR FOR LECAVALIER

The Nashville Predators have gone bargain-hunting this offseason in order to address the center position. Yesterday, the club signed 34-year-old Mike Ribeiro ($1.05 million) and 31-year-old Derek Roy ($1 million) to respective one-year contracts. Back on July 1, Nashville signed 35-year-old veteran Olli Jokinen to a one-year, $2.5 million

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Yesterday, the Philadelphia Flyers signed 2014 seventh-round Draft pick Jesper Pettersson to an entry-level contract. The deal carries an NHL-level cap hit of $575,000. Reportedly, Pettersson’s contract also includes incentive bonuses based on NHL games played.

According to Linköping’s official team web site, Pettersson informed club president Mike Helber yesterday that he is leaving the team

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TRIAL ON THE ISLE

Today is the annual Trial on the Isle in Stone Harbor, NJ as Flyers prospects take a break from on-ice activities during Development Camp. The events are already underway as I write this, but the full schedule is as follows:

8:15 AM – Team Warm-Up, Stone Harbor Volunteer Fire Co., 96th St. and 2nd Avenue
8:45 AM – Team Run & Activities, 96th St. Beach
10:30 AM – Wat

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ZEPP COMES BACK ACROSS THE POND AFTER NINE YEARS IN EUROPE

It has been a long time coming for goaltender Rob Zepp to get his opportunity to play significant minutes at the American Hockey League level. Nine years ago, the Newmarket, Ont., native packed his bags to play in Europe. At age 32, he will finally return to North America to play for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the AHL affiliate of the

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TOP FIVE FLYERS FORWARD PROSPECTS

In recent years, the Philadelphia Flyers have chosen a slew of promising defensemen in the NHL Draft. The organization now has four drafted defensemen — Sam Morin, Travis Sanheim, Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hägg — whom they believe has futures as NHL regulars.

Beyond this core of four, the organization has drafted at least three other defensemen, most

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FRIDAY QUICK HITS

* One area that the Flyers have said they’d like to change heading into next season is reducing the frequency with which they take penalties. The trade that sent heavily penalized Scott Hartnell to Columbus and the free agent departure of Steve Downie will likely reduce the number of times Philly has to go on the penalty kill next season.

Last season, Philadelphia played

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THURSDAY QUICK HITS

* When the Flyers promoted Craig Berube from assistant coach to head coach early last season, one of the first changes he made was to stage frequent skating-intensive practices. Berube made no pretenses about the fact that he felt there too many Flyers players who were not properly conditioned; namely in the skating department. For the rest of the season, the coach frequentl

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A funny thing has happened in the Philadelphia Flyers’ farm system over the last three years: A franchise that has often struggled to draft and develop their own NHL-level defensemen has made a concerted effort to stock up on defense prospects in the last three Drafts. While it may still take a few years to pay dividends at the NHL level, the Flyers have steadily increased the odds that at least a

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2014 DEVELOPMENT CAMP REFLECTS NEW PHILOSOPHY

The Flyers’ 2014 Development Camp at the Skate Zone in Voorhees reflects a new philosophy within the organization. Rather than opening the camp to unaffiliated invitees as well as prospects under the organizational umbrella, this year’s camp exclusively features position players who have been drafted or signed by the team.

It had previously bee

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MONDAY QUICK HITS

* The Flyers annual summer Development Camp will be held from July 10 to 15. The Trial on the Isle will be on July 14. The full list of participants is expected to be released today. When available, I will add the roster to today’s blog.

* One of the more interesting reclamation projects still sitting out on the unrestricted free agent market as of this writing is right wi

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