Dissecting Chris Pronger

The first day of the draft featured only one trade that involved actual players - but this one trade will surely be one of the biggest this offseason. The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired Chris Pronger (and career minor-leaguer Ryan Dingle) from the Anaheim Ducks for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, two first-round picks (2009 and 2010) and a conditional third-round pick.

GM Paul Holmgren seems to be focusing on winning now. The 34 year old defenseman will be the second Norris Trophy winner on the Flyers all-time roster - Paul Coffey, who won it with the Oilers and Red Wings, is the only other one. He definitely makes the Flyers D better - they will be able to split him and Kimmo Timonen, when the opponents use two top lines (e.g. Crosby and Malkin) and pair them in tough situation. Pronger will be also the physical presence on the blueline that the Flyers were lacking.

The trade gets harder to defend, when you look at Pronger's contract situation and the assets the Flyers had to give up. Pronger's contract is only for the next year and although he stated that he would like to open negotiations on an extension and there are rumors that he chose the Flyers as his new home, it is still possible that Philadelphia could lose him next year. By trading Lupul (who was also traded for Pronger in the Oliers-Ducks deal) for him, the Flyers lose an additional $1 million in cap space. Thus the Flyers still have to trade someone (Briere?) for cap relief.

Lupul - a monster contract coupled with consistency problems was the perfect player to trade. By giving up Sbisa, the Flyers have given up their best defensive prospect - a 19 year old, that already has experience in the NHL and is by far a better talent than anyone in the Flyers system. If you add two first round picks - and the Flyers recently have a high success rate in the first round, the Flyers have given up a big part of their future.

Can the Flyers win the Cup with Emery in goal? If they will, it will be only because of the D - if Pronger leaves town without the Cup, the trade will be a bust.