When the Philadelphia Flyers signed Nikolay Zherdev to a one-year, $2 million deal back in July, there were some mixed feelings within the Philadelphia fan base. Not long after, Simon Gagne was traded to Tampa Bay, ending an era in Philadelphia that was never fully expected.
Sure, there were rumors Gagne had waived his No Trade Clause, but I think I speak for most of Philadelphia when I say I was shocked. There were many fans in Philadelphia who were displeased with losing Gagne, who had never played for another team in his NHL career.
Zherdev has been known to be a "head case", and has also been accused of being lazy in his own zone, lacking critical defensive skills that Simon Gagne was well known for. Philadelphia fans were worried that Zherdev would not be a capable replacement for Gagne, and that his bad antics would cause yet another locker room fiasco.
There were other fans that were worried that trading Gagne would come back to bite the Philadelphia Flyers in the behind, since the Flyers and Lightning play each other a fair amount of times.
That was six months ago.
Since that time, Zherdev has looked like mor ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mike Pantaleone
Nikolay Zherdev; Will Big Z Return to the Philadelphia Flyers Next Year?
January 6th, 2011 by Mike Pantaleone Leave a reply »
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