Flyers acquire D Grossman from Dallas

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Needing help on defense and special teams, the Flyers got a jump on the NHL trade deadline Thursday night by acquiring 27-year-old Swedish defenseman Nicklas Grossman from the Dallas Stars.

Better yet, it didnt cost them a roster player. The Flyers gave up a second- and third-round pick in this summers draft for the 6-foot-4, 226-pound stay at home blueliner.

Hes a good, solid defensive-defenseman who can help kill penalties, said general manager Paul Holmgren. Hes a guy who can chew up minutes.

And guard his net.

Grossman is not a scorerjust five assists in 52 gamesbut hes already established a career-high this season with 100 blocked shots.

In Dallas, he averaged the third-highest special teams minutes2:17 on the penalty kill. The Flyers need help right now on their PK units, which went into Thursdays game against Buffalo having yielded nine goals in six games.

Weve struggled in a lot of areas lately, Holmgren said. Thats certainly penalty killis one of them. Nick has developed over time in Dallas. Hes still a good, young player.

I think hes going to give us a boost in our own zone. He makes a good first pass. Hes not a guy who is going to put up a lot of points.

People probably forget that Grossman and Stephane Robidas were Dallas shutdown D-men when they went to the 2008 Western Conference finals.

Grossman was one of several defensemen the Flyers were eying as we approach the Feb. 27 trade deadline.

Asked if it was unlikely he would make a major move in the weeks ahead, Holmgren paused, then replied, I dont know if Id use that word. Probably not. Its not something we talk about at length.

I like our team. I still do. I know weve struggled here, of late. Were trying to get it figured out. I think adding Nick today will help us.

Given his age, Grossman could be more than just a rental player, even though he is an unrestricted free agent this summer. He carries a 1.625 million cap hit and will likely command 3 million or more in free agency.

That kinda goes both waysNicklas has to see whether he likes it here, Holmgren said. We certainly like him. Hes a guy weve talked about last few weeks.

He is represented by Chris Prongers agentPat Morris. That works in the Flyers favor on a re-sign given all the Newport athletes that have played here.

Holmgren said Dallas was not prepared to trade Grossman until this week. He said he acted now rather than wait for the trade deadline once Grossman became available.

It gets a little hectic around that time, Holmgren said. We took a shot today with an offer.

Grossman, a second-round pick of Dallas in 2004, is expected to join the Flyers on Friday.

Loose pucks
Holmgren said James van Riemsdyk (concussion) was getting closer to playing. ... He added that Jaromir Jagr is suffering from the same fluvirus that felled goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. ... Defenseman Andrej Meszaros missed Thursday's game vs. Buffalo with an upper-body injury. ... Flyers went into Thursday with 4.9 million available cap space according to CapGeek.com.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net

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