Free Agent Sleeper: Kyle Wellwood

Say that Stamkos is not in the Flyers future and Ville Leino is not re-signed. The team sits with four centers in Daniel Briere, Claude Giroux, Brayden Schenn, and Blair Betts. Schenn, despite his talent, has not played a full season in the NHL and Betts has faltered in the faceoff circle of late. In the minors the team has Ben Holmstrom, Jon Kalinski, and late bloomer Matt Read. But this team needs experience upfront badly and there may be one guy who can bridge the gap and fill the holes that come.



That answer may lie in Kyle Wellwood of the San Jose Sharks.Wellwood is set to become an unrestricted free agent after making less than 700k last season. He is leaving the Sharks after just one season since signing as a free agent after playing two seasons in Vancouver.

Wellwood started his career in Toronto, where he spent three season registering over 100 points. The 28 year old plays a two way game and is plenty capable of scoring, tallying 18 goals during the 2008-09 season. He can also log time on the penalty kill to fill the void left when the Flyers traded Darroll Powe.

Signing Wellwood to a multi-year deal would work out great as after next season the Windsor native could take over as the Flyers fourth line center when Blair Betts's contract expires. Kyle's younger brother Eric is a Flyers prospect, he played 3 games with the Flyers last season logging 1 assist. Eric could play along side his brother to form a shut down pairing on that 4th line.

Wellwood seems like a great fit, he can play most situation, cut down Schenn's workload and be yet another scoring threat for this team. His price tag should be low considering he only played 35 games with the San Jose Sharks last season, not because of injury rather he wasn't signed until the 17th of January. He still went on to log 13 points and put up an astounding plus/minus rating of + 10.