Flyers GM - Red Wings nixed James van Riemsdyk trade at 11th hour

James van Riemsdyk was headed to the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL trade deadline — until he wasn't.

During a fairly quiet deadline day on Friday, one of the biggest attention-getting moves was one that didn't happen. There were reports that the Philadelphia Flyers were trading van Riemsdyk, a veteran winger, to the Red Wings. But van Riemsdyk wasn't traded to Detroit or anywhere else before the 3 p.m. ET deadline. He remains with the Flyers ahead of unrestricted free agency this summer.

According to Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher, the two teams had agreed on a trade that would have sent van Riemsdyk to Detroit for a draft pick, with Philadelphia retaining part of his $7 million cap hit. But the deal was contingent on the Red Wings trading a forward off their roster to make room for van Riemsdyk. When that didn't happen, the whole deal was scuttled.

«They had a concept that if they were able to move a forward off of their team, then they had interest in acquiring JVR,» said Fletcher, who said he was told the deal was off 20 minutes before the trade deadline. «All along, it was conditional on the other trade going through and eventually the other trade fell through.»

Van Riemsdyk was one of the biggest names still available on Friday. In his 14th season, he has 297 career goals and had 23 points in 41 games this season. The Flyers considered him a veteran rental player that could help a contending team. Fletcher was surprised when there wasn't a market for van Riemsdyk.

«The one offer that I did get for JVR was at 1:40 this afternoon, and it was a conditional offer,» he said. «I didn't know what the market might be, but I thought there would be at least some offers that we had to consider.»

Fletcher said he spoke