Matt Carle to Philadelphia for Steve Downie and Steve Eminger

The Philadelphia Flyers acquired defenseman Matt Carle and a third in '09 on Friday from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman Steve Eminger and forward Steve Downie and a fourth in '09.

The Flyers get: an upgrade in their future power-play quarterback. Starting in 2010, they will have an All-Star trio of Carle, Braydon Cobrurn and Kimmo Timonen manning the power play. It was interesting that they gave up on Steve Eminger, who does have potential. Perhaps in their opinion he does not. Even more interesting is the fact that they gave up on Downie, who they seemed to really love. Clearly this is a statement to the likes of Andreas Nodl and Claude Giroux that those are the wingers they plan to go with. Having three young, promising wingers was too many, given the look of their roster. Downie was the one they chose to cut loose, which is why it is interesting.

The Lightning get: a solid player for their farm team in Downie. Eminger is a decent replacement for Carle. At least for now. But this was done to add a good prospect to a weak farm system. A good move for both parties.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Downie won't have much of a shot this year, but next year Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Jason Ward and Matt Pettinger are all UFA's. Jussi Jokinen will be an RFA. There will be lots of room next year in Tampa for Downie so his 2009-10 season looks far more promising now than it did before the trade. There is also more room there for Eminger, so he has a great chance of turning his career around now.