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Flyers aim to sign Hamhuis before the NHL draft

Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com is reporting that negotiations between the Flyers and Dan Hamhuis’ agent will start right away on Monday with the intention of getting a contract worked out in time for next week’s NHL draft. Says agent Wade Arnott:

“We had some discussion, albeit in its infancy stage,” Arnott told CSNPhilly.com. “We decided to round up on Monday and go from there.”

Arnott said “anything is possible” regarding whether a deal could be in place before the draft ended next weekend.

There was some speculation a few months ago when the Flyers originally tried to acquire Hamhuis that the defensemen didn’t want the pressure of playing in Philadelphia; his agent says that isn’t true and that Hamhuis is just looking for the best fit for him. With the amount of talent that the Flyers have acquired on the blue line and the emphasis they put on defense, you have to believe that Philadelphia would indeed make sense for Hamhuis.

Said Hamhuis today after the trade:

“I think Philly has an unbelievable defense corps,” said Hamhuis. “To join a corps like that makes the Flyers one of the tougher ones in the league. To play against the teams from the East, the conference has a lot of great forwards. Watching the playoffs, having a great defense will get you a long way.”

Perhaps seeing the Flyers in the playoffs, they way the team and the players carried themselves through so much adversity bolstered his belief in the team and changed his mind about Philadelphia being a place he wished to play.

The Flyers will have to make some moves in order to have enough space under the salary cap in order to pay Hamhuis, although you wonder in what order Philly will be making those moves. Will they sign Hamhuis first then be forced to move salary? Either way the Flyers will not have the upper hand in negotiations as teams know that the Flyers need to dump salary.