Flyers claim Oduya off waivers
VOORHEES, N.J. » Ron Hextall looked on as most Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference competitors added a piece or two here or there to give them an edge for the stretch drive and playoffs.
Hextall also made a move before Monday’s 3 p.m. league trade deadline ... if you call it that.
Well-traveled defenseman Johnny Oduya, 36, was plucked off the waiver wire by the Flyers, who then promptly lost defenseman Mark Alt, 26, a career minor leaguer who recently had been acting as the team’s press box defenseman.
Not only is Oduya 10 years older, he’s also that much more accomplished. The Swedish native won a pair of Stanley Cup championship rings with the Chicago Blackhawks (2013 and ‘15), a steady blue line presence capable of bringing it from the point on a power play.
“We like Johnny. We like the playoff experience,” Hextall said of the veteran now joining his sixth NHL team. “He’s won; we felt like it really added to our depth on defense, so we’re excited about that acquisition.”
Oduya’s best years were with New Jersey (2006-10) and with the Blackhawks in his first tenure there (2011-15). He rejoined the Hawks last season, being
Senators defenseman Johnny Oduya, 29, scores past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist during a game Feb. 17 in Ottawa.
shipped from Dallas at the 2017 trade deadline. He signed as a free agent with Ottawa in the offseason and considering the Senators’ drop in the standings this season Oduya has been a relatively solid player. In 51 games he had four goals and eight points and was a plus-2.
Hextall, while also touting the recent progress made by Travis Sanheim - he’s compiled 15 points in 15 games and is a plus12 since being sent down to the Phantoms Jan. 22 - indicated he’d identified other needs for his team but nothing so severe as to move him to shuffle his real assets on deadline day.
“If we could have added something that made sense in a number of ways we would have tried,” Hextall said. “Probably the first year for that. But again, we felt on defense we were a little concerned about our depth . ... Now we’ve got Johnny, we’ve got Travis, we’ve got a couple of more guys (with the Phantoms) that can play. So we feel more comfortable with our depth now than we did prior to today.”
Up front, Hextall feels he bolstered his depth there, too, if only by bringing back failed Flyer Matt Read from the Phantoms. He’s on hand to help fill the void caused by the injury to Wayne Simmonds, who likely will be back on another week to 10 days. But Hextall indicated Read will be here to stay in keeping with the depth needs for the season stretch drive and hopes for postseason success.
As for emulating other teams that gave up assets for “rental” veterans of noteworthy achievement, Hextall shook his head and said, “You’ve got a chemistry in your room. So to make a deal it’s got to be the right player, it’s got to be the right price, it’s got to be a clear upgrade. Otherwise, you’re affecting the chemistry in your room. So for a number of reasons we had some converstaions and nothing made sense for us.
“This is the deadline. This is a dangerous time. It’s an emotional time for all of us. You’ve got to really think things through clearly, because it’s an easy time to jump because someone else did something. That’s not the way we operate.”
Yet teams around the Flyers in the standings did get better in the days and hours leading up to the deadline. As examples, Michael Grabner and Patrick Maroon both ended up with New Jersey, exRangers captain Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller went to Tampa, Mark Letestu, Thomas Vanek, Ian Cole and others were acquired by Columbus, Derick Brassard wound up in Pittsburgh and Rick Nash went from Broadway to Boston.
“I don’t mind making a move now, but to overpay for a rental, for us, it hasn’t worked in the past, if you look at the percentages,” Hextall said. “So we weren’t going to do that.
“You look up front, we’ve got Simmer coming back and Oskar (Lindblom) has done a nice job for us. So if we were to add a piece, he’s got to be better than the players we have in Lehigh. And the price has got to be right. As expected, it wasn’t.”