Two years ago, Holmgren decided to blow up the team built around Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. He traded both cornerstone players away, using the cap space to sign Bryzgalov to that mega-contract. The thinking wasn't necessarily that badly flawed, but it's hard to believe Holmgren or anyone else did any serious research on Bryzgalov. He is a talented player with precisely the wrong personality for a high-pressure hockey market like Philadelphia. That took mere minutes for everyone outside the Skate Zone offices to figure out.