Flyers Acquire Carle from Lightning for Eminger and Downie

The Philadelphia Flyers further bolstered their injury ravaged defense by acquiring defenseman Matt Carle from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman Steve Eminger and right wing Steve Downie. The Flyers also acquired San Jose's 3rd round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft from the Lightning and sent Tampa Bay's own 4th round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft back to the Lightning. The Flyers had originally acquired the 4th round pick when they traded Vaclav Prospal to the Lightning over the summer. In 12 game played with the Lightning this season, Carle has one goal and one assist. Eminger had two assists in 12 games with the Flyers, while Downie had no points in six games with the Flyers. Carle gives the Flyers more depth on their injury ravaged blueline, as well as plenty of offense and puck-moving skill. Eminger gives the Lightning some decent defensive depth, while Downie gives the team lots of toughness. The Lightning had been rumored looking to cut some salary and did just that by trading Carle, who is making approximately $3 million this season. It's somewhat puzzling that the Lightning gave up on Carle so quickly, as he was the main component of the Dan Boyle trade a few months back. Perhaps the Lightning were growing dissatisfied over Carle's slow start to the season or maybe they just wanted to cut his salary from their payroll. While Carle's stats have dropped a bit since his 42 points in his rookie season, he still has the potential to develop into a solid puck-moving and offensive defenseman. If he can develop into such a defenseman, the Flyers will have another talented, young defenseman on their rebuilding blueline to compliment Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent, Luca Sbisa, and minor-leaguer Kevin Marshall.