Not long after getting a beatdown from the Pens' Gary Roberts, Ben Eager has been traded to the Blackhawks for former Flyer Jim "Varsity Blues" Vandermeer. Vandermeer isn't much of an impact player on defense and has been a healthy scratch several times this season in Chicago. Eager led the league in penalty minutes last year and has his share this year as well. He doesn't score and isn't the league's toughest enforcer, but moving him leaves a void in the pain-in-the-ass capacity. Paul Holmgren described the reasoning behind acquiring Vandermeer as follows:
"Well first of all it strengthens our defense," said Holmgren. "Jimmy
is a guy who kind of grew up in our system. [We] traded him away a few
years ago for Alex Zhamnov, when we really tried to make a Stanley Cup
run in 2003-04. We feel that he brings a lot of experience, and he’s
been a real good player."
The Flyers also dropped their fourth straight game last night and are below .500 over the last month. The defense has looked flat (not sure Vandermeer is a fix there), and Marty Biron has looked fairly beatable lately, although he's seen a lot of tipped/deflected shots and uncollected rebounds in front. He gave up three goals last night, but the Flyers let up 42 shots in front of him. On the bright side, if you're going to slump, this is the time to do it.
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Up next are back-to-back games with the Sabres, Friday in Buffalo, and Saturday at home.