The Flyers have abandoned the pursuit of Jay Bouwmeester. That's because they have traded for Chris Pronger.

According to a source, the Daily Times has learned the Flyers have acquired Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks.

The Flyers have sent Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and two first round picks to Anaheim in exchange for Pronger.

The two first round picks are the No. 21 pick this season and a 2010 first round pick.

The Flyers will also send Anaheim a conditional third round pick in either 2010 or 2011.

The Flyers also acquired AHL forward Ryan Dingle, 25, in the deal.

Pronger, 34, is considered one of the best defensemen in the sport, and was a key acquisition for the Ducks the season prior to winning the Stanley Cup in 2007.

Pronger played all 82 games for the Ducks last season and finished with 11 goals and 37 assists for 48 points.

He has one year remaining on his contract and is due $6.25 million.

According to a source at the NHL Draft, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren has been in conversation with the Anaheim Ducks about the possibility of trading for defenseman Chris Pronger.

Pronger is certainly not first on the Flyers list - Jay Bouwmeester is - but it's looking more and more like Bouwmeester wants to play in the West where there is less pressure (might say a little something about the player, no?)

Anyway, Pronger will almost certainly become available if the Ducks get word from defenseman Scott Niedermayer that he is returning to play another season in Anaheim.

However, Niedermayer, who promised the Ducks a decision before the draft, has channeled his inner Brett Favre and is still fence sitting about coming back or retiring.

(UPDATE: Niedermayer has agreed to return for one more season and says he would like to re-sign with the Ducks).

The Flyers would have to part with a decent chunk of salary to pluck Pronger, who has one year left on his contract at $6.25 million.

The likely player heading the other way, in conjunction with other assets, is Joffrey Lupul, whom the Ducks begrudgingly parted with three seasons ago (along with Dustin Penner) to get Pronger from Edmonton.

The Flyers would probably also have to throw in a draft pick of some kind and possibly even a decent prospect from their system in exchange for Pronger.

This of course is all speculative at the moment, and other teams could be involved in the discussions as well, but it certainly is something the Flyers are working on in the final hours before the draft.

Yes there has been a lot of speculation recently that the Flyers could be playing in the upcoming 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park against the Bruins.

I made a couple phone calls and exchanged a couple emails and I can now confirm that speculation is true.

The Flyers will square off with the Bruins on January 1, 2010 at Fenway Park.

It's an interesting story how it came to be that the Flyers were picked for this event.

The NHL was pushing the Washington Capitals. They wanted to market Alex Ovechkin.

NBC, the network broadcasting the game, said no dice.

They were concerned with the poor ratings the Caps' produced in the playoffs in an opening round series against the New York Rangers - the No. 1 U.S. market for the NHL.

So, they told the NHL to skip Washington and give them the Flyers... a more certain brand to market.

The NHL was stubborn for a while... mostly because the Flyers were more interested in a Jan. 1 date with Pittsburgh than Boston.

However, the NHL assured the Flyers that a future Flyers-Penguins outdoor game could still happen in a couple years.

The Flyers were satisfied and agreed to play.

The NHL then confirmed for NBC that the Flyers would in fact play.

No official announcement has come from the league or the Flyers, but sources have confirmed to me that this is the case.

Look for more in tomorrow's Daily Times.