Nedved Finally Traded

[Kel Varnsen]

Coyotes trade Nedved to Flyers
Veteran never able to get it going in Phoenix
David Vest
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 20, 2006

After a week of shopping him, the Coyotes traded center Petr Nedved to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Dennis Seidenberg on Friday.

The Flyers also received the option of swapping fourth-round picks with the Coyotes in the 2006 NHL draft, and third-round picks in the 2007 draft.

Nedved, 34, notched two goals and nine assists in 25 games this season, his first with Phoenix after signing a multi-year deal just before the NHL lockout.

Seidenberg, 24, has played in 29 games this season with the Flyers, and had two goals and five assists while averaging 14:22 of ice time per game.

During the NHL lockout, Seidenberg helped the Philadelphia Phantoms win the American Hockey League’s 2005 championship. In 79 regular season games with the Phantoms in 2004-05, he registered 13 goals and 28 assists, and ranked second among club defensemen in goals, assists and points

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Solid move for the Coyotes. They managed to dump Nedved (and more importantly, his salary) without taking on a big contract in return. Good job by the team to get rid of the dead weight and position themselves for a strong push in the next free agent period. The record of the Coyotes was actually better without Nedved in the lineup this year, I would have been happy simply getting rid of him for future considerations.

Getting a player like Seidenberg in return is just icing. Seidenberg was just a year or two ago thought of as a top prospect for the Flyers, but just hasnt been able to stay healthy. Right now he will be a big help filling in for the injured Morris on the blue line. He is a decent offensive defenseman with good skating and passing ability, and he possesses a hard shot. At the moment he is probably only a third pairing defenseman (although he is playing with Mara tonight), but he still has a decent amount of upside.