Homeward Bound

I’ll gladly admit that it was one of my favorite movies during childhood. Three pets in the wilderness, surviving against all odds… and then there’s even a happy ending! I wonder if I still have the VHS lying around somewhere.

Oh, and in other news, the Flyers made a move earlier this week, picking up former Flyer Václav “You can call me Vinny” Prospal.

It’s a solid if unspectacular move. Prospal was hardly the best player to change sweaters before Tuesday’s trade deadline, but with Peter Forsberg turning down the Orange and Black, and Simon Gagne sitting out the rest of the year, My Cousin should provide some badly needed offense to a struggling team. Unfortunately, Paul Holmgren was unable to procure a defenseman, so the Flyers will have to make do with what they’ve got for the rest of the year.

Perhaps the best big picture analysis I’ve read about this deal came from Phil Sheridan in, ironically, an article about the Eagles:

“That isn’t the exciting news that fans yearn for at roster-magic wand time. Still, it is better than either team’s making the wrongheaded, short-sighted moves that create an immediate splash at the expense of long-term improvement…

…That doesn’t mean the Flyers wouldn’t be better with Hossa or Brian Campbell or Brad Richards, all of whom were swapped yesterday. It just means they aren’t ready for that one over-the-top move, especially if it costs them a significant part of their future.”

This jives with what we wrote last week: that as good as things looked for much of this season, the recent slump and spate of injuries has basically eliminated any chance of a playoff run for the Flyers this year. So kudos to Holmgren not just for making a decent acquisition, but for refusing to mortgage the team’s future in order to lose a first round series 4-2 instead of 4-1.