We had the news about two weeks ago that Luca Sbisa had been sent back down to Lethbridge, but apparently the source out in Switzerland was wrong.

This time, though, it’s straight from the Flyers.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have reassigned defenseman Luca Sbisa to the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League, according to club General Manager Paul Holmgren.

“We feel that it is in the best interest of Luca and the Flyers organization that he gets back to playing on a regular basis,” said Holmgren in making the announcement. “Luca will join Lethbridge for its game in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday.”

Everything Homer is saying there is correct — Luca does need to play — but couldn’t this have been done two or three weeks ago?  According to the CBA, if you’re on the active roster for 40 or more games, it counts as one season against your contract. If you’re a healthy scratch, you’re still on the roster — you’re just not playing. Sbisa has only played 39 games, but as far as I understand it, that’s not the number that matters. He’s been on the roster for every game to this point, and is a year closer to free agency now because of it.

EDIT (h/t to Mirtle): A little clarification… after10 games you lose a year off of your contract, but after 40 games you become a year closer free agency. Sbisa is now both.

Holmgren made a mistake here.

The Luca Sbisa situation right now is a little odd. No announcement has been made by the Flyers or Sbisa’s junior club, the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. But, there is certainly evidence that Sbisa has been in fact sent down.

For starters, we have the report from a French-language website based in Switerland, Planete Hockey. As reported here on B&P yesterday morning, the site said that Sbisa had been sent back to Lethbridge, but that the news was not yet official.

Then, we got a report from an English site, forecaster.ca, which despite its 1997 design, is usually a pretty reputable source for  information. They also reported that “the Flyers have assigned rookie defenseman Luca Sbisa back to the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes.”

He was not placed on the Hurricanes gameday roster on Friday night against Prince George as I initially reported yesterday. In my defense, he was on the official game report at first, but they must have realized their mistake and fixed it because he no longer is there.

And that makes it all the weirder that Saturday nights game report from Lethbridge’s game against Red Deer has Sbisa listed on the roster, yet a number of people who attended or listened to the game last night (via the WHLFans.ca message board) contend that Sbisa did not lace up the skates for the ‘Canes. The Flyers have still not announced anything, and neither have the Hurricanes or the WHL.

One final twist to the story: Kevin Kurz, the Flyers manager of communications and new media, or someone posing as him, wrote on the flyersphans.com message board that “This is a BS rumor.” Nobody is questioning the integrity of the post over on that site, leading me to believe it’s true, but as it is with any message board post… it could be anybody.

All the other evidence, besides this message board post by “KKurz”, points to Sbisa heading back to Canada.

I guess we’ll only know for sure, though, when he next takes the ice.

UPDATE: I can see through the wonderful powers of the internet that there are a lot of visitors viewing this post from an outside link. I’d like to point you to a new post, which you can see by heading to the home page, which updates Sbisa’s status a bit.

The link is French, but here’s what it says, roughly translated.

The Swiss defenderLuca Sbisa was sent to his junior club, the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. Sbisa’s ice time had strongly decreased following an incident in late December involving a broken alarm clock, which caused him to miss a team meeting. He stayed with the Flyers for so long largely in part to injuries on defense.

In 38 NHL games, Sbisa had seven assists and was rated a minus-7 with 36 penalty minutes.

Sbisa, 18-years-old, cannot be sent to the AHL because he has a standing contract with his junior team until he is 20.

The news is not yet official.

Read the whole story, in French, here.

This is a good move in my eyes since Sbisa has not been playing regularly with the Flyers lately. I’d rather have him leading Lethbridge to a Memorial Cup than sitting in the Philadelphia press box. The rule states, however, that if a player is at the NHL level for 40 games, a year is taken off of their contract. There is a discrepancy, however, on if that’s number of games played or number of games on the roster. Sbisa has been on the roster for all of the Flyers 46 games so far this season, but he’s only played in 38.

If he is passed that 40 game mark, this was a seriously blunder by Paul Holmgren. It is completely unacceptable to let a year come off his contract, especially since he’s been a healthy scratch so often lately.

UPDATE: Sbisa played last night for Lethbridge. Weird that the Flyers haven’t said anything, and presumably now they wont say anything… Apparently he was on the roster last night, but did not play. No word on if he’ll play tonight against Red Deer.

5:10 PM UPDATE: Via a text from the Flyers..

Flyers center Danny Briere will be out for at least two weeks following surgery tomorrow.

The Flyers website elaborates more on the situation.

“Due to lingering discomfort in his groin/stomach areas, Danny (Briere) will have an exploratory surgical procedure done tomorrow (Thursday, January 22) by Dr. William Meyers (at Hahnemann University Hospital). Recovery time will be a minimum of two weeks,” said Holmgren in making the announcement.

“I am very disappointed,” said Briere. “It’s been frustrating not knowing what is going on, so we have decided to go in and check things out.”

I guess this voids the suspicion I had this afternoon and Danny really did suffer a sever setback. A bad blow for this guy and the team, and it’s getting to the point where we really have to question the Flyers medical staff more, I think. These sort of setbacks happen with our players a whole hell of a lot — much more than the average NHL team, it seems.

Briere situation dicey; trade winds still strong

1:36 PM Original Post: Sam Carchidi’s article in the Inqy today sheds some light on the subject.

“At this point, one game isn’t going to change much.” — Danny Briere

“He doesn’t feel 100 percent just yet.” — Paul Holmgren

Briere said he was “pretty close to 100 percent” and “confident for Wednesday” on Monday, noting that the games with the Phantoms over the weekend definitely helped him. When the news broke yesterday that Briere would not play tonight, Danny was asked if it was his groin or if it were the salary cap that was the sticking point.

“It’s a little bit of both, to be honest.” – Danny Briere

Holmgren quickly shot that down. If there is any slice of a possibility that it’s the cap and not his leg that’s keeping him out, I’m concerned. If that is the case, which it seems like it is, I’d expect a trade coming shortly. It wouldn’t make any sense for Briere to be held out of the lineup for cap reasons if a trade weren’t on the table, because the solutions are so obvious. Homer said he’s talked to Luca Sbisa and Claude Giroux about possible demotion, and Sbisa has been a healthy scratch in seven of the last 13 games. Demoting Sbisa, Giroux, and Kukkonen would put the Flyers under the cap.

As discussed the other day, Randy Jones has been mentioned in a lot of trade talk, and since this cap situation isn’t being solved the easy way, I’m going to take a guess that Homer is trying to dump Jones. Just speculation of course, but I can see him using the all-star break as time to complete a deal before Briere would re-enter the lineup next Tuesday.

With Danny Briere returning from his injury on Wednesday night against Atlanta, the Flyers will no longer be able to dodge the salary cap bullet. They have been able to stay under the cap, despite having more salary alloted than the $56.7 million the cap allows. But with Briere returning, the Flyers have to make some moves to get back under, and someone is going to have to go. Everybody is saying the Flyers are going to have to make a big time trade. Joffrey Lupul and Randy Jones have been mentioned in trade talk more than Terrell Owens.

But is a trade really necessary at all?

If you ignore Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher, who have yet to play a game this season and quite possibly may never play for the Flyers again, the Flyers have $60.2 million wrapped up right now, meaning they are $3.5 million over the cap when Briere returns.

With injuries to Josh Gratton and Jon Kalinski, they can add those two to the long-term injury reserve, which means their salaries do not go against the cap. They will free up $1.13 million in cap space, and then the solution gets much easier from there.

Luca Sbisa is probably going to be sent back to juniors, and the Flyers can still do so without having this season count against his salary, thus putting him a year closer to free agency. I feel that would be a smart move at this point, as it would allow Ryan Parent to finally find his way into the lineup. His $875k added to Kukkonen’s $875k means that the Flyers are just $600k and some change away from getting under the cap. Send one of Claude Giroux, Glen Metropolit, or Darroll Powe to the Phantoms, which is going to have to happen anyway given that Briere needs a spot in the lineup, and you’re under the cap.

No trade. Just a little housekeeping. Look at that…

Better yet, Briere will hopefully give a needed boost to an offense that has fallen stagnant over the past few games.

Another solution, of course, does involve a trade. Randy Jones has long been a favorite goat of mine. It’s probably because he’s wearing Chris Therien’s number and I just get bad vibes, but regardless, I don’t think Jones is worth his $2.75 million a year contract, especially when cheaper solutions exist with Parent and Sbisa. I also am suspicious that Jones is playing hurt, as his play has not consistently been all that good since he’s returned.

If you trade Jones and send down Powe, you get to keep Giroux and Metropolit around, while allowing Parent into the lineup. If Parent doesn’t work out, you’ve got Kukkonen. Or, you can just keep Sbisa instead. It creates one of those “good problems” on defense while cleansing the team of the expensive, and probably injured, Randy Jones.

As expected, the NHL’s leader in scoring was named as a reserve to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team today. Jeff Carter is a first-time all-star.

The East and West have alternated wins since 2003 when the Conference vs Conference was re-implimented, and if that pattern holds true, the West will win in 2009. But this is one of the scariest looking Eastern rosters in recent memory. Along with Carter are Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Eric Staal, Zach Parise, Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Marc Savard, just to name a few.

If you ask me, Kimmo Timonen and Mike Richards were snubbed… but let’s not get started with the whole all-star voting process. We know it’s a joke, and there are more important things to worry about.

Like, for example, what to do about the salary cap situation when Danny Briere comes back. He could be back in the next week or two, and when he is inserted back into the lineup, the Flyers will be well over the cap. Could we see a trade? There have been rumors that perhaps Glen Metropolit or Scottie Upshall will be shown the door, but it seems Holmgren is trying to find a way around making a trade. He may have started his manuvering today when defenseman Lasse Kukkonen was placed on waivers. It’s his second trip to the waiver wire this season.

Thirdly, tonight’s game between the Flyers and Wild will be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet as usual, but tonight will be a little different.

Comcast SportsNet, the leader in local sports coverage, takes viewers backstage throughout Thursday’s Flyers game broadcast against the Minnesota Wild. Beginning at 7 p.m., this all-access game broadcast will take fans behind the dashers to see the Flyers’ game-day preparations, from the players’ arrival at the arena to the lights going out at the end of the night.

In addition to live game action, the broadcast will feature behind-the-scenes access to player warm-ups, equipment, ice and arena preparations, last-minute coaching decisions and in-game activities in the press box where the Flyers beat reporters cover the action. Viewers will also see how Comcast SportsNet prepares for each game broadcast. Featured players and executives include Scott Hartnell, Mike Knuble, Riley Cote, John Stevens, Paul Holmgren and Peter Luukko.

– Flyers team release

As a broadcasting major and a complete nerd for these types of things, I’m pumped about this. Hopefully, though, it doesn’t take away from the actual game broadcast.

The Flyers announced today that Scottie Upshall is going to miss 10 to 14 days with a shoulder injury. Awesome. We’re already down a forward with the absence of Glen Metropolit, and we don’t know exactly when he’s going to return.

With Upshall out and three bruisers taking roster spots, the forward lines look pretty damn bad. Of course, the top two units of Gagne-Richards-Knuble and Lupul-Carter-Hartnell are doing just fine (Carts was named the NHL’s second star of the week, in fact), but the rest of the lineup doesn’t shape up too well.

The bottom three forward lines, before the injuries:

Upshall - Metropolit - Asham
Cote - Powe - Nodl

Asham had his best game as a Flyer against Montreal. He was all over the ice and he had good chemistry with his linemates in the offensive zone, scoring a goal on a nice set up from Upshall and almost scoring on a shot that deflected and broke the glass behind the net. That line was probably the Flyers best in Montreal, but how quickly two games can change things, as Asham has lost both of his linemates to the injury bug.

My guess at the bottom two forward lines, after the injuries:

Nodl - Kalinski - Asham
Cote - Powe - Gratton

Ouch. The Cote line isn’t all that bad for an energy line. I love the element Darroll Powe brings to the lineup. He’s quick and always physical, and he’s even had a few scoring chances. Gratton really brings nothing to the table, though. I do not understand why he’s on the team, barring injuries. His role is filled by two other guys. He isn’t needed.

Let’s compare those third lines though. Nodl has just three points — all assists — in 24 NHL games. He had chances with the big club, but his lack of a quality line partner and his limited minutes just shattered his confidence, and he was ultimately sent down last Friday in favor of Gratton. Well, he’s back, and maybe his confidence will be up and he can grab that first goal, but I wouldn’t count on too much production from the young man.

Jon Kalinski has played seven games with the Flyers this season and he’s yet to register a point. In fact, in 23 games with the Phantoms he’s only got seven points. Why is this guy with the team again? Isn’t Claude Giroux lighting up the AHL? Don’t wanna bring him up this early in his career? Fair enough, where’s Jared Ross? 

We’ve got two lines of all-stars and two lines of AHLers. Great.

Aaron Asham proved to us last night that he’s a bit more than an enforcer. Every once in a while, he’ll show off the offensive skills, which gives him a steady hand up on fellow tough guy Josh Gratton.

Apparently though, the Flyers felt that Asham could use his counterpart as they recalled Gratton from the Phantoms. He fills a roster spot voided by Andreas Nodl, who was sent down due to his lack of production. It’s a smart move to send the young guy down, since he’s gotten oodles of (Nodls) chances to score and hasn’t been able to bury one, which could hurt a rookies’ confidence. Let him relax in the AHL, destroy the competition, and then come back and give it another go.

Also, Scott Munroe was sent back to the Phantoms to play tonight’s game, which the good guys won 5-2 (seven straight wins!). He will be called back up in time to back up Antero Niittymaki tomorrow afternoon at the Center. Again, it’s like beating a dead horse, but we’re going to miss the convenience of the Phantoms when they’re forced to move elsewhere next year.

Niittymaki could start both back-to-back games this weekend, but Stevens has yet to make a decision. Marty Biron is still out with a lingering flu bug and his time of return is still unknown.

Panaccio: Gratton to Pick on Those His Own Size - CSNPhilly.com

Other quick notes: We’re in the midst of Philly versus DC weekend as the Sixers took on the Wizards tonight, the Flyers face the Caps tomorrow, and the Eagles play the Redskins on Sunday. Philly is 1-0 so far thanks to the Sixers 109-103 win. Let’s get the sweep.

Flyers forward Danny Briere, who earlier in the week thought he might be able to play against Buffalo tomorrow, will not take the ice until Monday against Dallas, at the earliest.

“I’ll be skating by myself without playing for the next couple of days, it looks like. It’s improving every day, but it’s just at a very slow pace,” said Briere.

“It’s an injury that if you try to come back too quick it’s not healing, it just keeps getting worse. I’m skating, but I know my limits and I know how far I can push it without the pain creeping in. I’m certainly not ready to play yet.

“Now, I’m looking at Monday. It depends how it’s going to go over the weekend.”

Defenseman Ossi Vaananen, who was totally badass when he tried to play through his injury against Pittsburgh, also wont play against the Sabres on Friday. He is day-to-day, however, and could see action against Phoenix at home on Saturday.

“My situation is a day-to-day kind of thing. When it comes to Friday, it’s kind of doubtful,” he said. “But hopefully soon, anyway. It’s feeling pretty good and looking good, so it’s getting stronger.”

Jonathan Kalinski was also recalled from the Phantoms. He’ll wear number 46 for live five minutes and then be back with the Phantoms.

On The Fly: November 20 [flyers.nhl.com]

I talked last week about the bonehead move the Flyers made in putting Lasse Kukkonen on waivers. It was a really big gamble, but Paul Holmgren is lucky. It worked.

Nobody claimed Lasse off of the waiver wire in the 48 hours after he was posted on it, so the Flyers retain his rights. If Lasse were claimed, we would’ve been down to five defensemen for the games against Montreal and Atlanta this weekend, turning two quality wins into potential issues.

But it worked. Lasse is still here, and things are starting to look up on the injury front. From the Flyers’ official site today:

The break has proved to be valuable for several of the team’s wounded. Ossi Vaananen and Riley Cote took part in the skate today and are hoping to return sooner rather than later. Danny Briere has not yet skated with the team, but is hoping to get back on the ice by the end of the week and has not ruled himself out to play against his old team, the Sabres, on Friday.

Great news. Once we get these guys back, it’s only Randy Jones and Ryan Parent to look forward to getting back. Hopefully, the past two games are a sign of things to come. Things are looking up in Flyerland.