…of the Phillies’ dramatic win,

…of the Eagles embarrassing loss,

…of the 76ers dynamic preseason start (no really, enjoy the wins while we can),

…the Flyers made a minor trade that is worth discussion.

Acquiring Stefan Legein from Columbus for Michael Ratchuk might not post a large number on the Richter scale. Nor do AHL trades get me particularly riled up. However, let’s take a closer look at this deal.

For those who aren’t familiar with the back story, Legein actually quit hockey entirely about 1.5 years ago, which caused somewhat of a stir amongst Canadian hockey circles. He’s a young guy–still only 20–and was coming off of a promising junior career. Watching him play with Canada in the World Juniors, he stood out as the consummate high energy pest with above average skill. As a 2nd round pick of Columbus, the team was caught almost completely off guard when he decide to hang up his skates. Having seen him play at a high level, I too was a bit surprised as his was a name  well known in hockey circles.

However, since the abrupt retirement, he had a change of heart and returned to the organization in the middle of last season. Playing with Syracuse–the Jackets’ AHL affiliate–he had a pretty rough go of it, potting only 1 goal in 26 games. But from everything I’ve read, his conditioning/game readiness was lacking due to taking off half of a season and joining up late. Essentially, it seems to me a classic case of young man temporarily overwhelmed by the pressure to be a star when he’s not ready. I don’t think Columbus was expecting him to step into their lineup right away–in fact, he’s still somewhat in prospect stage. But he’s definitely got upside. It will be interesting to see what type of numbers he puts up in a full season.

Ideally, he projects out to be a Scottie Upshall type player: plus skater, good instincts, average to above average skills and very much an agitator. The type of player the Flyers have missed since they shipped Scottie off to the desert. Legein’s not like Steve Downie with regards to recklessness, but he certainly plays with an edge and he’ll have to walk that line and play smart hockey to be effective. Otherwise, he won’t sniff the ice if he’s playing for a coach who is looking for discipline. That being said, it’s a solid move by Holmgren who is clearly a proponent of second chances.

Ratchuk has a decent skill set and moving him signals to me that Kevin Marshall and Marc-Andre Bourdon are progressing well in the AHL. It’s amazing to look the Flyers’  defensive depth now on all levels. Previously, Ratchuk would have been given more time to develop but apparently the organization feels very strongly that they’d rather have a RW with upside in the pipeline. I can’t argue with them on that. Regardless, this move won’t pay dividends now, but is one worth monitoring in the future.