WATN: Glen Metropolit Heads to Switzerland

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Most if not all Flyers fans will fondly recall Glen Metropolit's tenure in Orange & Black. It lasted all of 55 games during the '08-'09 season, but the role-playing center gained a lot of supporters in Philadelphia. This was never more evident than the day Paul Holmgren had to waive Metro mid-season due to cap constraints when bringing Danny Briere's contract back from injury. The praise Homer had drawn for applying the journeyman to his fourth line was replaced by groans at his perceived mismanagement of the cap, which was quickly exacerbated by Montreal's claiming him to bolster their playoff bid.

Yet despite Metro's obvious utility, he quickly found himself out of the NHL this summer, headed to play in Switzerland again.

Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette has a truly great piece on Metropolit and his departure from the Canadiens and North American hockey. The quotes alone are worth the click, and Stubbs treats Metro with tremendous respect throughout. 

Metro's last season in the NHL will have been his best in terms of best in terms of goals (16), and second best in points (29). And yet, he was cut by the Canadiens in a numbers game, something we know plenty about in Philly. 

Since 1999, Metropolit has played with seven NHL clubs, with 110 appearances for Montreal marking his longest tenure with any single team. He seems fine with his fate, and really, playing professional hockey in Switzerland does sound pretty awesome (read Stubbs' piece for more on that), but it does appear that Metro believes what he brings to the table is being undervalued by the Canadiens and others in the NHL:

"It seems like teams forget about the intangibles you need to have a good club," he said. "I think a lot of GMs don't have the pulse of the dressing room. I see that as an important thing."

After watching Flyers teams lacking in intangibles at critical times over the past few seasons, I hope Homer isn't one of the GMs that Metropolit is talking about. 

Best of luck to him playing hockey in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

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