Fantasy Analysis: The Philadelphia Flyers have dealt Simon Gagne to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Matt Walker and a fourth-round draft pick.

The Flyers get: their 18th NHL defenseman. Well, not really. But they had to take some salary back. Walker now gives the Flyers the best seven defensemen in the NHL: Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Andrej Meszaros, Matt Carle, Braydon Coburn, Shawn O'Donnell. Solid. The team sheds about $3.5 million in salary and clears a bit of the log-jam in their top nine.

The Lightning get: a talented forward who has lost some of his luster over the years due to injury, but is still probably one of the better second-line forwards in the league. The francophone Gagne, much like the francophone Alex Tanguay from a year ago, is expected to line up with the francophone Vincent Lecavalier. On paper, this should give both Frenchmen an incredible boost offensively, provided Gagne stays healthy and Lecavalier has fully (and finally) recovered from his wrist surgery of a year ago.

Fantasy Players Impacted: The two bubble players for a top six spot were Ville Leino and James van Riemsdyk. This plants Leino firmly in the top six and JVR will see some PP time now. Gagne's arrival in Tampa kills Teddy Purcell's hope at a plum spot on the Lecavalier line. Although, in the final two months of the season Ryan Malone saw a lot of time on the third line while Purcell played with Vinny. So you never know. But the deal certainly doesn't help Purcell any.

Players this deal helps, in order:

1. Lecavalier

2. Gagne

3. Leino

4. van Riemsdyk

5. Scott Hartnell

6. Matt Lashoff

Players this deal hurts, in order:

1. Purcell

Comments (4)

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duballstar014 said:

Gagne Gagne will definitely skate with Lecavalier. According to a Tampa beat writer, Gagne was only willing to waive his NTC to go to TB, leaving the Kings high and dry. This makes sense, considering the French Canadiens Gagne and Lecavalier were good friends growing up, skating together at various camps and tournaments. Downie should still get top 6 time on the #2 line. Tampa will have a great top 6, that's for sure. I'd expect St. Louis to start out on the #1 line, but if they need to shuffle lines, Downie will go to L1 and St Louis down. THAT could get interesting for a short while.

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July 19, 2010
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fzusher said:

	Another player this hurts is ... Bartulis. The kid is now number 8 on the depth chart, but with a one-way contract. He has some offensive upside (not a lot, but some), but this could stunt his development.
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July 19, 2010
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Alex Mullen said:

	Downie I wouldn't think that it would hurt Downie at all. He ended the year playing with Stmkos and St. Louis, Gagne should slide onto Lecavelier's LW so he doesn't have to play with AHLers again this year.
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July 19, 2010
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DaveH said:

	... I've got both Gagne and Steve Downie on my keeper team. Any thoughts on how the Gagne acquisition might impact Downie's status for next season??
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July 19, 2010
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