Simmonds on his way out of Philly

Philadelphia Flyers new appointed general manager Chuck Fletcher has made it clear to everyone invested in the trade market: he is not going to let  gritty forward Wayne Simmonds leave for nothing.

“That won’t happen,” Fletcher told Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi. “The goal would be to either have him signed or moved by the trade deadline.”

While Fletcher could always manage to sign him back to an extension before Feb. 25, the pending free agent is expected to be dealt by every insider in the business. While the Flyers GM knows how important Simmonds is to the club, he must consider the financial impact first. 

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Wayne Simmonds, but we have to look at our cap situation moving forward,” Fletcher said. “(Simmonds) has been a warrior for this franchise and is still a heck of a hockey player.”

The 30-year-old is in his eighth season with the Flyers and has tallied 202 goals and 373 points in 569 games with the franchise. This season, Simmonds ranks second on the Flyers with 15 goals and leads the team with 67 penalty minutes.

That's why he is the most valuable trade chip in Fletcher's arsenal as the trade deadline approaches... 

As recent as this morning, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman made a careful prediction on Simmonds' future on the air of Calgary's Sportsnet 960. 

“I think Simmonds is going to be traded. I think there’s a few teams looking at him. But as for the big moves, I’m not sure if those will happen now or they’ll take a little bit longer.

“They’re not trading Giroux. They’re probably not trading a few of their young players. I do think there were teams who were interested in Nolan Patrick and were curious to see if they would be as married to him without Hextall there, but I think Fletcher is careful to resist that.

“If you were to tell me that some of their biggest moves might not be made until the offseason, I could see the possibility of that.”

However, Fletcher seemed quite adamant about wanting to sell Simmonds before he gets out of Philly for free... We will need to keep an eye on Philly ahead of the trade deadline.