Once the trade deadline comes and goes in the NHL, the obvious thing to do is to either sing the praises of the General Manager or bash him with every fiber of their being. Well, in the case of the Philadelphia Flyers, the yearly tradition is to bash the GM. Of course those we mostly during the days of former GM Bob Clarke. Today, it is Paul Holmgren who is in the spotlight in Philly.

Last season, Holmgren took praise for selling off Peter Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for some valuable prospects that look as though they will help out the Flyers for years to come. Hands down, without a doubt, it is easier to be a seller in the NHL than a buyer. The one with the prize gets the prizes. This year it was kind of hard to tell if the Flyers were sellers or buyers considering their position in the standings.

Correcting the faults of a blue line that was poorly constructed became priority #1 for the orange and black at this year’s trade deadline. Unfortunately for Holmgren, for the most part, he has had to deal with some poor decisions made by Clarke that goes back to just after the lockout.

The long term signings of Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje are like a noose around the Flyers' neck. With both players out of the lineup these days, Rathje who is on long term IR, and Hatcher who is out of the lineup with knee problems that have only increased in nature, continue to haunt the Flyers.

However, the blue line has gotten better, if only somewhat since the signings of Hatcher and Rathje. The off-season signing of All-Star Kimmo Timonen and the pick up of one of two young prospects at last year's trade deadline deals, Braydon Coburn and Ryan Parent means the Flyers now have three solid defensemen that will no doubt be counted on for years to come.

Randy Jones has been solid if nothing else. His play this season gave the availability to trade Alexander Picard, who last season was ahead of Jones on the depth chart, for the return of Vinny Prospal. As of this article, only Mike Richards, Coburn, and Hatcher have a better plus/minus rating than Jones on the team. Jones is also third on the teams scoring by a defenseman behind Timonen and Coburn.

So why the need for another stud defenseman? Because the Flyers are allowing 32.2 shots on goal per game, that is 28th out of 30 teams. Where we praise Paul Holmgren on this day is because he didn’t do the one thing that Clarke would have been done in years past, and that is trade a young promising star.

That star is Jeff Carter. If anyone was able to see the Flyers recently play the Buffalo Sabres recently, they saw exactly what practically ever team in the NHL saw, which was a very good reason to call Holmgren to find out of Carter was available. Carter had a great game that included putting a move on Ryan Miller during the shootout that was pure skill.

Another reason why teams called Holmgren about Carter is because he is a restricted free agent in the off-season. The fear by some in the organization is the Flyers might not be able to match another team’s offer for Carter, especially since Joffrey Lupol will also be an RFA and there might not be enough money under the salary cap to sign both.

If you believe the rumor mill, especially when they come from certain anonymous hockey bloggers, if a team comes along with an offer that blows away the Flyers offer, the Flyers will simply not match and take the compensation. Well, that sounds good in theory, but trust this much, if the Flyers have to make a choice between Lupol and Carter, it will be Carter who stays. The Flyers invested too much on him to pick someone who has only been with the Flyers one season like Lupol has. Not to mention the Flyers love having the one-two punch of Carter and Richards down the middle of the ice for years to come ever since they were drafted together in 2003.

So why am I still not wanting to stand up and cheer for Holmgren for not trading Carter? Well, if the rumors were true, and unfortunately that is all I have to go on, Holmgren did at one point try to trade Carter, but it was not for a defenseman, but for another young center.

As you can probably predict, my reaction at the Flyers practice facility in Voorhees, New Jersey one of: “WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY THINKING!”

If the rumor is true, than giving Holmgren a sitting ovation for his patience and steadfastness goes right out the door. That is probably the one thing that has gotten out of hand with the trade deadline, too many rumors, not enough truth.

One of the major issues with this of course if the fact that no one in the NHL can keep a secret. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the hockey related websites that deal strictly in rumors are the ones with the most hits to their websites. God forbid we speak the truth. The mentality among bloggers and professional journalists have become this: as long as we are as close to the truth as possible that’s close enough for me.

While that may be good enough for them, it’s not good enough for me. Here is a really novel idea, instead of becoming a bunch of tabloids that only come close to speaking the truth, just speak the truth and be done with it.

Of course I know I am yapping into the wind here, but what are we to make of Paul Holmgren today. Do we applaud him for not trading Carter, or do we scold him for even thinking of doing it, especially for a position that was not a need position?

It’s hard to say. For now we give Holmgren the benefit of the doubt and go by the facts in the case, and that is, Jeff Carter did not get traded for yet another aging defenseman who was past his prime. Today we applaud Holmgren, tomorrow, who knows. I’m sure they’re will be more than enough bad trade rumors and free agent talk between now and the next trade deadline to hold us over. Lord knows it should prove interesting the next time the trade deadline comes around.

Contact the author at bjennings@insidehockey.com