According to Bob McKenzie on Twitter, the Flyers have acquired Andrej Meszaros from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second round pick in 2012. Meszaros, 24, is under contract until 2013-2014. He has a cap hit of $4 million a season, with the salary ramping up at the back end of the contract.
Meszaros is a big defenseman, but a big criticism of him is that he doesn’t use his body as well as he can. Here’s a quick scouting report on him from Cassie over at Raw Charge.
Fans thought that he was very overpaid for what he did. To be fair, he doesn’t get enough credit for his toughness. He took a hit/shot to the face during a game, which resulted in some severe mouth damage, and still wanted to be out playing as soon as they could stitch him back up. Which, of course, the team doctors wouldn’t let him do. He didn’t miss a game because of that, either. So as defensemen go, he’s a seviceable one. He can be a bit sloppy in his own end, but he’s quick and has a good shot. Sadly, not many in Tampa are sad to see him go.
At first glance, this seems like an overpayment for a guy that’s that expensive. We’ll see in time, of course. Still, he hasn’t played on a good team in a very long time. It should be interesting, and the Flyers obviously see something here, so we’ll see.
It’s a bit curious that the Flyers wouldn’t at least wait to see what showed up on the free agent market, though.
