Flyers aren't done dealing
Kimmo Timonen is a Chicago Blackhawk.
His trade was agreed to on Thursday night, just before the Flyers' game in Toronto, which allowed Ron Hextall to not subject Carlo Colaiacovo to waivers.
Colaiacovo would've needed to clear waivers and be demoted to the AHL in order to make room on the roster for Timonen to make his debut on Saturday night.
Instead, Timonen will likely do that on Monday night in Chicago against Carolina.
His trade doesn't alleviate any of the rest of the Flyers' issue on defense. Hextall still has eight defensemen left on the roster - and six of them are already signed for next season, not including valuable restricted free agent Michael Del Zotto.
That does not leave any room for the Flyers' top prospects who are knocking at the door of the NHL.
In other words, the Flyers are not done dealing ahead of Monday's 3 o'clock deadline. Not with the prices this high for rental defensemen - let alone a top-four defenseman like Braydon Coburn who is already signed for next year at a reasonable salary cap number.
The Flyers' playoff hopes dropped to a stark 2.8 percent again with back-to-back losses against Toronto and Carolina, two of the worst teams in the league.
Not only are Florida and Boston still ahead, but the Senators have now caught the Flyers, too. Ottawa has improbably pulled to a point behind the Flyers but they have three games in-hand. They are the only NHL team to not play 60 games yet.
In reality, the Flyers should be focused on the future, not the playoff run. Yes, they've clawed close at times and deserve some leeway, but moving a player and subbing him with Luke Schenn (a healthy scratch of late) or Colaiacovo won't make an appreciable difference either way in this playoff hunt.
"There's some things we've got to flush out here," Hextall said when asked about more trades moving forward. "There's one game left for us and other teams have to play. We'll see. I don't have the answer for you. There's a lot of things that come into play here."
Hextall said he had discussions with a number of teams about Timonen. It's probably safe to assume that since teams were interested in soon-to-be 40-year-old Timonen, others are likely interested in Coburn or maybe Nick Grossmann and Schenn.
"There's a certain price where you'll take a look at different things," Hextall admitted. "It's an active time of year. It's a time of year where you have to listen, you have to assess anything that's thrown at your way. Look at today, look at tomorrow and make hard decisions. It's an intense time of year for us."
On Twitter: @frank_seravalli