The Philadelphia Flyers have traded goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for the 45th and 117th picks in the 2012 NHL Draft and a 2013 fourth-round pick Columbus previously acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes, according to a report from TSN's Darren Dreger.
The 23-year old Bobrovsky was 14-10-2 in 29 appearances with an .899 save percentage and 3.02 goals-against average this season as Ilya Bryzgalov's backup. Bobrovsky's future is viewed as very promising.
But with Bryzgalov locked up for the next eight years, writes Travis Hughes of Broad Street Hockey, the trade comes as little surprise.
We all kind of saw this coming, didn't we? As we wrote earlier this month, Bobrovsky has a bright future but he's never going to get a chance to start in Philadelphia with Ilya Bryzgalov locked up for nine years. If you're a Bob fan (and many of us are), that's disheartening, but he deserves the chance to spread his wings in the NHL. Going to Columbus gives him that chance -- and hopefully that franchise doesn't kill his career.
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