For anyone who saw the Filppula-for-Mark Streit trade that general manager Ron Hextall struck last week as a meaningless move, it's important to understand what the deal revealed about the Flyers' thinking. If they genuinely regarded Sean Couturier as a bona fide second-line center, they wouldn't have made the trade at all. That's the cold reality here for Couturier. Although he said Monday that the left MCL sprain that he suffered in November - which forced him to miss 16 games - hampered him throughout January and February, it's clear now that the Flyers see him as little more than a third-line center and penalty-killer. They see him as a defensive-minded forward who isn't likely to blossom beyond that, and it's telling that they were willing to take on Filppula and the $5 million he'll count against the salary cap next season, the final year of his contract.