Dan Hamhuis Headed To Philadelphia?

According to multiple reports, the Flyers appear to be close to a deal with Nashville Predators defenseman.

It’s become clear that the team is at least up to something, with Riley Cote being put on waivers and Ray Emery being placed on long-term injured reserve, removing their salaries from the cap. Nashville traded for Edmonton defenseman Denis Grebeshkov earlier in the day, creating a situation in which Hamhuis is expendable.

The Daily News reported the rumors earlier on in the day, and now a few national services have picked up the discussions as well. Full details are available after the jump.

Here’s what the DN ran with earlier today on their website:

NOW, with the deadline just 48 hours away, I am hearing from league and team sources that the Flyers are talking shop with the Nashville Predators.

That’s not surprising… the Flyers have connections to Nashville GM David Poile, they play in the West, and they nabbed Peter Forsberg from the Flyers a few years back.

The name I keep hearing is Predators defenseman Dan Hamhuis.

Hamhuis, 27, is due to be an unrestricted free agent come July 1. His current cap hit ($2 million) is pretty manageable to fit this season.

Interestingly enough, I’m hearing that the Preds would like to re-aquire Ryan Parent. Nashville drafted him 18th overall in 2005. Parent was part of the Forsberg to Philly swap, even though the Flyers knew about his back problems.

Dirk Hoag at SBN’s On the Forecheck discussed Hamhuis in his analysis of the Grebeshkov trade. Here’s some of what he had to say:

This is a significant addition to the Nashville defense corps, and likely clears the way for a Dan Hamhuis trade heading into Wednesday’s deadline. Preds GM David Poile has often said that moving Hamhuis (who will be a free agent this summer) would be predicated on acquiring a veteran defenseman to fill his role.

Then, following that trade, Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie of TSN had a few things to say on Twitter. The first message is Dreger and the second is McKenzie:

There is no question the Flyers have had discussions with Nashville regarding Dan Hamhuis. A young d-man is the asking price…likely Parent

Seems logical. Maybe to Phil[adelphia] for Parent. May have to wait for Cote to clear. RT @twiggyalien: Does Grebeshkov deal mean Hamhuis move close?

Of course, to throw the wrench into the well-oiled machine, we get this message from CSN’s Sarah Baicker.

Nashville has reportedly asked the Flyers about a number of their players, but NOT Ryan Parent.

8:48 PM update from Baicker on Twitter:

OK so here’s what’s up guys: Nashville is talking to the Flyers about a number of players. Parent may be in the mix, he may not be.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens here, but at the very least it seems that Hamhuis has a chance at being Philadelphia-bound. So let’s learn about him a little, shall we?

Hamhuis is a 27 year old defenseman who signed a four-year, $8 million contract with the Predators in 2006. He has a cap hit of $2 million, but his contract expires in July. He’s a very smart defenseman who can eat up a lot of minutes effectively.

Obviously, judging a potential deal can only be done by knowing what the Flyers are giving up. If it’s the injury-riddled Parent, the move adds a solid contributor to the defense for the remainder of the season without taking away any of the current pieces, considering Parent has only played in 28 games this season.

More importantly, however, it gives Paul Holmgren and company a bit more flexibility this off season when Hamhuis’ contract would come off the books. Because Parent was already against the Flyers cap instead of on LTIR as I originally believed, the cap savings really wouldn’t matter in a Parent for Hamhuis swap. When other players get involved, of course, it becomes more interesting.

9:09 PM update It appears that more players may be involved, but a deal may not be completed tonight. Two messages from CSN’s John Boruk on Twitter have complicated things even more, although the first one has been deleted since it’s original posting.

Message one from Boruk, as archived by BSH: