from Dave Isaac of the Courier Post,

Heading into Monday night’s action, the Flyers were five points shy of a playoff spot with 26 games to play, seven of them before the March 2 trade deadline.

GM Ron Hextall isn’t tempted to be a buyer in his first trade deadline.

“We’re not gonna make a deal to try to put us in the playoffs,” Hextall said. “I believe we can make the playoffs with this team right now and quite frankly, to add a piece right now that’s gonna help us that’s gonna be better than what we have is gonna be very costly. We’re not going there.”

Rumors involving young Flyers apparently carry no weight. Hextall still has his eye on the future. And as much as he’d like to avoid the position he was in last summer, when he had very little money to work with, he doesn’t feel like he has to make a trade in the next two weeks.

“Would it be nice to get some flexibility? Of course,” Hextall said. “Is it necessary right now? No, it’s not. We can do things at the draft and we can hold the way we have been.

“I can’t define any direction (regarding trades) right now because of where we’re at and I don’t know what would come our way in certain deals.”

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