Philadelphia Flyers

[Flyer Fan]

Some injury news starting to creep out over the last few days...

-Grossmann will be undergoing knee surgery, and has apparently been playing hurt since the April 1 hit by the Penguins Vitale knocked him out of the last few games of the regular season.

He actually looked very good against the Pens until he went down with concussion from a Malkin elbow, didn't look good at all against the Devils, and I had assumed that he was still dealing with concussion issues.

I'm actually glad to hear it was the knee instead.

-Timonen suffered a knee injury during game three of the Pens series, it's ligament, and it's not yet been determined whether he'll need surgery or can avoid it.

-Pronger's still experiencing headaches, Holmgren said he expects to meet with Pronger prior to July 1 to re-asses, but at this point he still expects PRonger to play, and won't even consider naming another captain until Pronger says otherwise.

Unconfirmed injuries:

JvR: Surgery needed for a hip impingement, still dealing with foot issues as well.

Hartnell: Broken foot.

Briere: whiplash

Jagr: not a word from Jagr on this, but there was already speculation that he was playing with an undisclosed injury, and the rumors were further fueled by Jagr's decision to decline an invitation to represent his country.

Couturier: some sort of cut

Bourdon: Concussion

Also speculation that Simmonds was dealing with some sort of issue as well.

-Roster stuff:

Voracek is an RFA and expected back probably at around 3 Million.

Bourdon is an RFA and expect back at a modest raise.

no info on Harry Z who's also an RFA

Kubina: UFA and gone.

Lappy and Betts off the books, likely still in the organization though.

Leighton: UFA, gone.

Johan Backlund: UFA, gone.

Matt Carle: UFA, and was expected to be gone, but Holmgren says he wants to bring him back, believes Carle wants to be here, and thinks he can get it done. (think 5Million)

Jagr: No word. Wouldn't bite on reporters creative attempts to get him to say he wants to be back.

The Flyers believe he wants to test the market again, now that he's "proven" himself, and that sounds about right.

As I stated above, there's speculation that Jagr was playing with an undisclosed injury, but his play was already fading down the stretch, he had prime icetime at even strength and on the powerplay, played with a center who had an exceptional season and playoff, and wound up having to be removed from the line by the end of the playoffs, ...that may scare away some suitors.

Holmgren values his off ice contributions, and the coaches and players all like and respect him, so they'd like to have him back, but can't afford to overpay him to do so, ...somebody else can and probably will.

Holmgren said the cap's going to go up to 69 million, which is a five million dollar bump and helps him immensely.

The Flyers have 61.2 million committed to next season's cap, so figuring a another million to re-sign their cap hitting restricted free agents(Voracek and Bourdon) they have approximately 7 million to deal with, which on the surface doesn't seem like enough to sign both Carle and Jagr (or enact the top secret plan to let Jagr and Carle walk, kidnap Ryan Suter and force him at gunpoint to sign for 6.5 million )

...but if you look a little closer the Flyers were able to shave 1.7Million off of Brayden Schenn's cap hit this year by demoting to the AHL for one game, ...I haven't researched it yet, but I believe they can do the same thing again next year.

If Pronger can't play, the Flyers would gain another 4.9 Million in cap space by placing him on the LTI list.

Jody Shelly's slated for another season at 1.1 Million, but couldn't get on the ice much this year, ...the Flyers paid more than that this season to stash Leighton in the minors, if they need the space, Shelly's gone.

Add those extras up and the Flyers have approximately 14.7 million to work with and a roster that without Carle, Jagr, Pronger, and Shelley gives them a full compliment of 12 forwards:

Giroux/Briere/Couturier/Talbot
Hartnell/JvR/Schenn/Rinaldo
Voracek/Simmonds/Read/Wellwood

Seven defensemen:

Timonen/Meszaros
Coburn/Grossman
Gustafsson/Bourdon
Lilja

and Bryzgalov and Bobrovsky under contract.

That's almost 15 million for a roster that needs a thirteenth forward, and an upgrade of one of it's defensemen, ...before you even start looking at options like trying to move Bobrovsky's 1.75 Million backup goaltender hit, JvR's 4.25, Meszaros' 4 million hit etc...

Basically, Holmgen can pretty much do whatever he wants (within reason), without the cap being an issue.

[Flyer Fan]

Question from Reporter: Some people think if Pronger's not going to be here you guys need to go out and get a big defenseman and there might be one available this summer...if there's a big start defensemen who's going to hit unrestricted free agency, do you see the Flyers being big players in that?


Answer from Holmgren: "I think it's fair to say when we get to July 1, we'll look at ways to improve our hockey team."

So there it is, done deal: It's safe to start ordering those "Suter" Flyers jersey's

Here's the link to the full transcript of today's presser over Broad street hockey: http://www.broadstreethockey.com/201...gren#storyjump

Some highlights.....

On Jagr:
Q: Jagr is saying this is the most fun he's had in the NHL, he also said he wants to play in the NHL next year but he stopped short of saying that he will come back here and hinted that he wants to see what kind of plans the organization will have, what kind of role he'll have on the team. Would you like to bring Jagr back, do you still see him being in impact player next year at 41?
"I can still see Jaromir being a good player in our league next year. We did talk to him and his agent briefly during the year about next season. We kind of agreed to talk about it more after the season was done, but I have not met with Jaromir yet so we'll see."
Q: Did you think he looked a little tired in the playoffs?
"I think a lot of guys did against the Devils. Not just him."

Q: Would you like to have him back though? Or do you still need to weigh that?
"I'd like to have him back. We'll see, I think there will be other teams that would like to have him on their team too."


On Bryzgalov:

Q: Bryz made it pretty clear during the year that he was told to tone it down a bit, do you think that effected his play at all?

"I am not sure how to answer that. His job is to stop pucks and help us win games. It is not Comedy Central. There is probably a middle of the road scenario somewhere in there. He is a funny guy to talk to, I don't think there is any question about that. He has got some interesting concepts of life and walk down the road."

Q: Did you get a kick out of that or he went to far?
"I know when to walk away. When I am talking to him I just say, 'Well, I gotta go now.'" *laughter*

On Carle (and this one's interesting):

Q: Can you evaluate Matt Carle's performance this year and would you like to re-sign him?
"I think Matt had a good year. He's up there in numbers and Matt's a good defensemen. I've said that before, if Matt wants to be here, we'd like to have him back. I don't see any reason why we can't work out a deal. We're in a position now where we cant sign him because of tagging space but this is something that could be done quickly, I think. His demands, when I spoke with him and his agent, nothing was ever out of line. Could we get him under market value? I would say that we probably could. So I don't see any issues there. "

(...my take on that is that there's already a gentleman's agreement in place, and they're waiting until the new cap is announced so the "tagging rule" at the current 64.1 cap instead of the new 69 million one Holmgren expects won't be a problem.


Lastly, a link to a great recap on the last five, rather eventful years in Flyerland in the form of a farewell blog from the700level:

http://www.the700level.com/hockey-ph...74&feedID=8976

Does a great job of pointing out what a great ride it's been, how good the Flyers have been, and why it's been such fun to be a fan. Definitely worth the read!

[blayze]

Solid read, thanks for taking the time to write all this up man!

[tgraveline]

I really appreciate the post man. I'm slightly concerned about JVR and the whole hip thing. Hope that's not a serious issue. I just traded for him a few weeks ago and he's looked good in the playoffs at times. He's still inconsistent.

[kushmoney]

I think the Flyers are going to let Jagr walk. I see Pronger retiring.

I see the Flyers signing Suter and in a perfect World they may revisit JVR for Schenn.... I like JVR and understand hes going to be better.. but we have enough compliments of fowards that we could move him for defense. I think that by adding those two defensemen we are stacked with timonen, coburn, suter, grossman, schenn, meszaros and we are set up for post-timonen whenever that comes.

I have also read a few articles the Flyers would consider trying to trade for Yakupov but I don't see them giving up Courturier or Schenn and I can't see Edmonton wanting anything less. UNless, as i posted before they consider taking JVR and some others for the pick.

I like my first scenario and would be very happy as a Flyers fan if that all went down. I am confident they make a run at Suter though and resign Voracek.

[Atomic Wedgy]

Thanks for those posts FF. I am really looking forward to your Flyers season review!

[kushmoney]

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?p...&blogger_id=45

cool link talking about the Flyers offseason somewhat

[Atomic Wedgy]

I dont believe that Schenn is the player we are looking for. JVR > Schenn in my opinion. Plus, we just signed JVR to a 6 year deal. The ink isn't even dry yet. Considering the trades to move Richards and Carter when they had long term deals, I doubt that Homer would want to make himself seem untrustworthy to other players in the league. It would make it pretty tough to sign free agents if no one thinks they can trust him. The end result might be every player demanding a NTC. That is not a good place to be.

I think it makes more sense to trade Voracek. He's a great player, still young with fairly good value, but he is replaceable. Voracek plus a 1st, gets us a great defenceman. Moving a 1st seems difficult tho as we dont have a 2nd round pick. We wouldn't pick until the 3rd round. Still it would be worth it if we get the player we need.

Schenn is also very tradeable, but I hope they dont go down that road. He looks like he'll be quite a valuable player for us.

[Straight Chillin]

Sam Carchidi, a Philly beat writer, mused about the possibility of the Flyers going out and trying to sign both Suter and Parise come July 1st. While he even admits it would be a feat to sign one of the players, he also poses how it could potentially be done where each fit under the cap (depending on their salary demands) withint the organization.

If the cap moves to 69 million like Homer thinks it will, we put Pronger back on LTIR, don't sign Carle or Jagr, and send Shelley to the minors...

We resign Voracek for one year at 3.25, land Suter for 6.5 a year cap hit and Parise for 6.7 a year cap hit. Holmgren would easily front load the contracts as he has in the past to make sure these guys got pay days.

-------
FORWARDS
Scott Hartnell ($4.200m) / Claude Giroux ($3.750m) / Jakub Voracek ($3.250m)
Zach Parise ($6.700m) / Danny Briere ($6.500m) / Wayne Simmonds ($1.750m)
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Brayden Schenn ($3.110m) / Matt Read ($0.900m)
Eric Wellwood ($0.580m) / Sean Couturier ($1.375m) / Maxime Talbot ($1.750m)
DEFENSEMEN
Kimmo Timonen ($6.333m) / Ryan Suter ($6.500m)
Braydon Coburn ($4.500m) / Nicklas Grossmann ($3.500m)
Andrej Meszaros ($4.000m) / Andreas Lilja ($0.738m)
GOALTENDERS
Ilya Bryzgalov ($5.667m)
Sergei Bobrovsky ($1.750m)

CAP SPACE (20-man roster):- $2,102,500

-----

Notice a negative balance. That is erased if Schenn is sent down for game 1 as his bonuses are ridiculous; both in how they're set up and the amount earned.

And if Holmgren wasn't comfortable being this tight against the cap, I'm sure he could make trades to free up some money. (JVR, Voracek, Bobrovsky...)

Clearly this is a pipe dream, but isn't that what the offseason is for?

[KoHolga]

Great read FF

awesome info all around thank you very much

It is incredible to see the team with that much room to wiggle around this offseason and still bring back the exact same team that could be the best in the NHL

I really hope that they can either get Pronger back (not likely) or Sign Suter or another top notch d man that is really IMO the only things missing other than Bryz to get a head doctor

[Atomic Wedgy]

If the Flyers manage to sign both Suter and Parise, I will be completely amazed. Very, very happy, but shocked beyond belief.

[Straight Chillin]

If the Flyers manage to sign both Suter and Parise, I will be completely amazed. Very, very happy, but shocked beyond belief.

Absolutely.

[Flyer Fan]

Absolutely.

I always have a lot of fun playing "what if" and trying to figure out how the Flyers can fit player "X" under the cap etc..., but what makes this scenario even more fun is that it doesn't require my usual "wishful thinking" tools (I mean: "If they could just Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell to clear up space", or "Player "X" could probably be signed for two million per year undermarket because his wife really likes Chickie and Pete's crabby fries", etc) to make it work!

Both of these players are pretty much guaranteed to be able to get the money they want and the terms they want from wherever they want to go, so having deep pockets, a good up and coming team, a well thought of organization, and a stable management/ownership makes the Flyers a legitimate contender for most of the free agents they target, ...it's just surprising to me that the cap doesn't some to be a hinderance either.

I kept checking your roster scenario, and the numbers really DO work. amazing.

Also, just focusing on the forwards, I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where Paul Holmgren plans nest season's roster with Couturier or Schenn on the fourth line, ...so there's still a legitmate opportunity(not wishful thinking one) to create even more cap space by moving one of top nine forwards out.

Like I said, regardless of what Holmgren does or wants to do, considering the contracts like Timonen, Pronger, Mezaros, Briere, Bryzgalov etc, ...I'm just amazed that he has the flexibility to even consider doing anything other than watching his ufa's leave for greener pastures.

[Straight Chillin]

Yeah I had to do a double take too, FF. It seemingly doesn't make sense that we could go out and land two top UFA's only a year after we signed Bryz to his lengthy contract. That being said, lots has changed over a year and the cap will almost have risen 10 million by July 1st 2012.

And you're right - the scenario doesn't involve a lot of crazy "what ifs" which makes it that much more exciting. The Flyers have just as good of a shot at landing one or both of these guys as the other 29 teams in the league. Again, I don't see landing both players as a likely scenario, but I do see us landing one of the two.

Here are a few general predictions:

Sign one of Parise/Suter
Trade Bobrovsky by the beginning of the season to Tampa Bay
Resign Voracek to a 3 year deal at a shade under 4 mil

or...

...Trade JVR, Read, Gustafsson and 2 firsts for Weber and sign him long term at 7.5 a season.

[KoHolga]

Here are a few general predictions:

Sign one of Parise/Suter
Trade Bobrovsky by the beginning of the season to Tampa Bay
Resign Voracek to a 3 year deal at a shade under 4 mil

or...

...Trade JVR, Read, Gustafsson and 2 firsts for Weber and sign him long term at 7.5 a season.

I like that second scenario lots ahaha