Friday, December 3, 2010

Interest in JVR

Tim Panaccio has reported that the Leafs are sniffing around for a JVR trade, and Darren Dreger confirmed that "[a] few teams called, asking about JVR early in the year."

In a down draft year, JVR was the number 2 pick. Most of the drafts in this decade were outstanding overall, producing some damn good players from that slot; Malkin, Doughty, Staal (x2), Heatley, Ryan. Of course every draft year is different, and draft slot is no guarantee of success.

I said previously that JVR is still trying to find his game in the NHL. You can see the assets that made him a high draft pick--the size, the skating, and the stickhandling. While a 35 point rookie season is hardly a disaster, he has done little to make Flyers fans sit up and take notice. I know the Flyers thought he rested on his laurels by playing a second season at UNH instead of going to the AHL, but he did get in shape over this offseason. Unfortunately a promising preseason was for naught after a pretty bad start to the regular season.

It's too early to say much about his NHL career. The Flyers will probably ride out this season, and see how it goes for him. Next year will be more of a make or break season for him. The Flyers tend not to let prospects hang around for very long--the prospect either takes advantage of the chance the team gives him, or the Flyers deal him.

Unless the Flyers get a pretty sweet offer for him (high first pick + other goodies), they should wait and see. Their (lack of) cap space makes getting a roster player back impractical.

As for the Leafs, it is difficult to see what they could offer to tempt the Flyers. The Flyers farm system is pretty bare at the moment, but the Leafs are in rebuilding mode and probably don't want to part with their prospects. Also the Leafs don't have a first pick this year either, so I can't imagine anything happening with the Leafs.

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