(Gulp) Here it goes. Matt Walker was acquired in the Gagne deal Monday afternoon. Most Flyers fans are throwing him through the shredder relentlessly, including me. However if you separate Walker from the Gagne deal you'll see he is not a bad pick up.
Matt Walker is by all means a late bloomer, playing his first full NHL season in 08-09 at age 28 years old. The 3rd round draft pick by St. Louis in 1998 has had a rough pro career, over the course of 8 years and parts of 7 NHL seasons Walker has totaled 4 goals and 26 assits in 306 games. Also putting up 137 shots in the past 2 seasons, a great amount for a 3-pair defenseman. Consider how bad Tampa's offense was last year, being how 1st line defenseman Mattias Ohlund only took 71 shots, Walker's 54 shots aren't a bad total.
The Beaverlodge, Alberta native is definately more of a defensive defenseman however. At 6'4" and 215 Walker is a menace for opposing offenseman, racking up 444 penalty minutes in his career. Walker also not afraid to drop the gloves:
“You need to have that depth so that you aren’t skipping a beat and you’re not playing 30 minutes a night on defense. You are playing 22-25 minutes a night,” said Pronger on Monday. Pronger feels that the Flyers defense has been improved this offseason as well. Holmgren commentting on the trade said the deal helped "solidify the defense."
There is no word on what will be done with the 30 year old defenseman. Walker is set to make 1.7M next season and could be sent down to the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms to free up cap due to the Flyers having Sean O'Donnell and Oskars Bartulis. Walker's cap hit would be buried if this were to happen. However, a towering, mobile defenseman handy is always a good thing to have. Walker could really help out a back pair on any team, including the Flyers.
Kick the Mule!
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