On Tuesday, The Los Angeles Kings traded away Simon Gagne to the Philadelphia Flyers for a conditional fourth round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
"It's tough to say exactly the way I feel right now," Gagne said Tuesday after hearing about the trade. "It's always a shock first of all getting traded, but when they told me the place I was going, the place I was there for more than 10 years and where everything started ... it's going back to the place where I'm really familiar, and [I'm] really excited to go back to Philly."
"Obviously he's a veteran player whose game is already defined. He wasn't fitting in, so to speak," Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi said. "You can't do this unless you feel comfortable with what you have coming in the minors. We feel pretty good about our depth up front in the system, so this opens up a roster spot. This allows is some flexibility there and it allows us some flexibility with space and cash at the deadline."
Gagne was drafted 22nd overall by Philadelphia in the 1998 season. He spent 11 years with the club and had a number of productive years with the club. In 2005-06, Gagne has his most productive season and scored 47 goals and 32 assists. His second best season came in 2008-09 when he posted 34 goals and 40 assists for the Flyers. He eventually went to the Tampa Bay Lighting in 2010-11 and then went to Los Angeles in 2011-12. He scored 17 points in 34 regular season games, but an injury left him out for most of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Gagne eventually returned in time for the final and hoisted the cup with the Kings.
If the Flyers make the playoffs, then they will give their third round draft pick in 2013 to the Kings. The Flyers are currently tied with the Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning for eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 19 points; however, the Flyers have played two more games than the Winnipeg and Tampa Bay.
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