Matt Carle – Used with permission © Bob Fina/InsideHockey.com

It hasn’t been a very festive Independence Day for the Flyers.

After they found out they weren’t the landing spot for either Zach Parise or Ryan Suter, who both signed with the Minnesota Wild this afternoon, it was time for Plan B.

It turns out Plan B isn’t working out so well either.

Matt Carle signed a six-year, $33 million contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Throughout the entire season it looked as if it was almost definite that Carle would be re-joining the Flyers. It wasn’t until last week that rumors began to swirl he would be testing free agency.

After Suter signed, Carle was the next best defenseman on the open market and now the Flyers are left with a huge void on the blueline.

It does seem as if the Flyers are close to signing defenseman Bruno Gervais, a 27-year-old right-handed shot.

Gervais will be a nice addition for the Flyers but in no way will replace Carle. Carle scores close to 40 points a season in addition to his defensive play while Gervais hasn’t netted more than 19 points in his career.

If you are keeping track so far the Flyers have lost James van Riemsdyk, Jaromir Jagr and now Matt Carle so far this offseason. They bolstered their blueline by bringing in Luke Schenn but there are still huge holes to fill.

The Flyers are still looking for ways to trade for Bobby Ryan but Anaheim is asking for some of their young talent, mainly Sean Couturier or Brayden Schenn.

Paul Holmgren has his work cut out of him to try and fill in the missing pieces.