It’s never a dull moment for the Philadelphia Flyers in the offseason and this summer is already shaping up no differently.
NBC Philadelphia’s Howard Eskin reports the Flyers are upset with forward James van Riemsdyk for delaying getting his torn labrum operated on. This delay is reportedly screwing with the Flyers’ desires to make a big offseason trade and the main man they’re taking an interest in is Columbus captain Rick Nash.
There’s no secret the Blue Jackets have been exploring trades for Nash. They’ve been doing that since before the trade deadline and the offseason is expected to see things fire up again. While the Jackets are looking at possibly hiring John Davidson to potentially rebuild the team’s relationship with Nash, it seems clear things have soured there enough so moving Nash is almost expected at this point.
The Flyers’ interest in Nash is nothing new as they were believed to have interest but had no need to go blowing up a team that was rolling into the playoffs. After getting bumped out in the second round of the playoffs and GM Paul Holmgren’s willingness to make radical changes, doubting how serious Philly is in exploring acquiring Nash would be unwise.
For what it’s worth, Philly has enough of the potential pieces in place to appease Columbus in a deal. They have forward talent (van Riemsdyk among others), a goalie (Sergei Bobrovsky), and an available first round pick (20th overall). Columbus and Philly also have trading history swinging the big Jeff Carter deal ahead of last year’s draft.
Update (11:12 a.m. ET): Holmgren tells Sarah Baicker of CSNPhilly.com van Riemsdyk’s surgery was delayed because of a foot infection and all other speculation is false.
Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch says any talk of a deal being held up by injury is “totally bogus.”