Setting the Bar

This afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers acquired the negotiation rights to Dan Hamhuis from the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenceman Ryan Parent and a conditional draft pick. Obviously the conditional draft pick is completely dependent upon whether or not the Flyers can sign Hamhuis to an extension.

Regardless, as a Senators fan, this story's important to follow for two reasons:

1. The trade sets a precedent for the value of an impending unrestricted free agent defenceman.
   
2. With the completion of the deal, it's become imperative from a public relations standpoint for the Flyers GM, Paul Holmgren, to sign Hamhuis to a contract.
   

In other words, from a fiscal and trade value perspective, the bar for a player of Anton Volchenkov's ilk has or will be set within the forthcoming days. Now that the bar has been set, it's going to be interesting to see what Bryan Murray can do with it.