The Day Has Come, Gagne dealt to Tampa Bay

Today, the Flyers have dealt Simon Gagne, the longest-tenured Flyer, to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Matt Walker and a fourth-round draft pick. This is the second time this summer the Flyers and Lightning have been trade partners. Earlier in the summer, the Flyers acquired defenseman Andrej Meszaros from Tampa for a second-round pick.

Gagne finished his Flyers career by playing in 664 regular season games, placing him tenth all-time in Flyers history. Gags scored 259 regular season goals, ninth all-time in Flyers history, and had 524 points, tenth all-time in Flyers history.

In 2000, Gagne scored 20 goals and made the all-rookie team along with goaltender Brian Boucher. In 2001-02, Gagne was named co-Most Improved Player on the Flyers along with defenseman Dan McGillis.

Gagne had his best goal scoring year in 2005-06 with 47 goals, when he was linemates with Peter Forsberg and Mike Knuble. In 2006-07, Gagne scored 41 goals and was named the team MVP for the second time in a row.

The career highlights for Gagne include an overtime game-winner that forced a Game 7 in the 2003-04 Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Also, Gagne played a crucial part in the Cup run made by the Flyers this past season, even after missing four games to have screws inserted to into his right big toe. Gagne scored the game-winner in Game 7 against the Bruins, to seal the magical comeback from an 0-3 deficit.

But his career with the Flyers has always been stunted by the amount of time he would miss from different injuries. In 2002-03 season, Gagne played only in 46 games while dealing with groin and concussion problems. In 2007-08, Gagne missed 57 games and the run to the Eastern Conference Finals due to concussion symptoms. Even this past year, Gagne missed the first 24 games of the season due to abdominal surgery, along with the four games Gagne missed in the playoffs due to the broken right big toe.

Walker, 30, posted 5 points in 66 games last year with the Lightning. The 6'4" 215 pound defenseman originally started with the St. Louis Blues in 1998. Walker has three years left on his deal worth $1.7 million per year.

I wasn't shocked at all to hear Gagne got dealt considering the fact that Gagne has one more year left on his deal worth $5.25 million. The Flyers were over the $59.4 million cap by $2.49 million and now this gets the Flyers under the cap. I also wouldn't be shocked to see another deal to occur to bring in a winger since the Flyers now have depth on defense.