As trade rumors continue to swirl around Rick Nash, one of the few things we know is that the Columbus Blue Jackets and general manager Scott Howson are working with a limited number of potential trading partners for their unhappy star winger, who has a no movement clause that he's only willing to waive for a certain set of destinations.
One of those destinations is Philadelphia, where he could potentially play with Claude Giroux and/or Danny Briere on a team that remained in the hunt for the Atlantic Division title into the later stages of the 2011-12 regular season. The Flyers are undoubtedly eager to shake things up, as evidenced by their trade of forward James van Riemsdyk to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade that united Luke Schenn with brother Brayden, and the addition of a star like Nash would certainly make noise.
The question, however, is whether the trade really makes sense for the Flyers.
The team that trades for Rick Nash is going to be looking for a Stanley Cup win in the next two to three years. That's the only kind of team that can justify paying the kind of price that Howson has been asking. Yes, getting Nash means giving up significant future assets, but if the deal translates into a Cup, it's easier to stomach if and when those traded players go on to become stars (in Dallas or elsewhere).
The question, then, is whether the Flyers are that kind of team.
The Flyers have certainly spent like a team that has serious Stanley Cup aspirations. They had the highest team salary last season according to CapGeek.com, and while they have enough space to absorb Nash's salary cap hit (even if they don't give back the full value), they're relatively close to the announced cap of $70.2 million (which, of course, could change later in the new collective bargaining agreement).
The Flyers may also have a short window in which to make a move. Danny Briere has three years left on his contract. Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timmonen are unrestricted free agents next summer. Claude Giroux will be a restricted free agent in 2014, and if the Flyers aren't in a good place, they could find it tough to sign Giroux to a long-term deal. The Flyers can certainly justify a need to go for it now.
The question, however, is Ilya Bryzgalov. Perceived as a missing piece last summer when he came to Philadelphia from the Phoenix Coyotes, the enigmatic goaltender hardly played to the value of his contract last season, posting a pedestrian .909 save percentage before falling apart in the playoffs, finishing the postseason with a 3.46 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage in 11 games. If Bryzgalov isn't going to be the kind of goaltender the Flyers are paying him to be, then the question of whether Nash can bring the team closer to a Stanley Cup is moot.
This uncertainty means that the Flyers are in the best position to handle Howson's position that he will wait as long as it takes to get the right deal, even if it means going into the 2012-13 season with Nash still a Blue Jacket. The Flyers can take something of a "wait and see" approach, evaluating whether they're really the kind of team that can justify going for Nash, or whether they're going to find themselves needing to rebuild with the pieces that Howson wants to rebuild his team.
Of course, the Flyers could also pursue Anaheim Ducks winger Bobby Ryan - perceived as the younger, less costly alternative to Nash - and given his roots in Cherry Hill, N.J., bringing a local boy home can be a useful move both for the present and the future. If that doesn't work, however, expect the Flyers to stay in the hunt on Nash either until someone else gets him or the Flyers decide that their team is strong enough to justify adding him and going for the Cup.