Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 7:00pm

PHILLY ADDS VERSTEEG FOR PICKS

The Philadelphia Flyers acquired winger Kris Versteeg from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a first-round draft pick in 2011 and a third-round draft pick in 2011.

What does it give the Philadelphia Flyers
Adding Versteeg here fits two of Philly's obvious current objectives: to continue improving for another long playoff run, while staying young and skilled. Versteeg should step in right away on one of Philly's three scoring lines and also help out on special teams. The inconsistent play of Nikolay Zherdev was clearly a concern for the Flyers, and Versteeg gives them the scoring punch Zherdev has lacked (plus a lot of versatility and depth). Giving up a first-rounder and third-rounder is a steep price on paper, but the Flyers are so locked in to long-term deals with young players that building with the draft isn't their top concern right now.

What does it give the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs were in full-on fire sale mode here, which was different from the deal involving the recently-moved Francois Beauchemin. Versteeg simply wasn't a great fit in Toronto during his short stint with the team, sporting a minus-13 rating and spending stretches in head coach Ron Wilson's dog house. Leafs GM Brian Burke did a fine job here of getting very good draft pick assets (which may very well yield more talent than Versteeg possesses). Toronto has also called up forward Christian Hanson to replace Versteeg, but they'll lose some third-line offense in that transaction.

Fantasy impact