Flyers Set Eriksson Free

[GoalieGuild]

http://thegoalieguild.com/2011/06/fl...eriksson-free/

There you go.

Lesson for NHL teams - please do one of the following:

1. Don't draft a teenage European prospect unless they have played at the highest level in their respective country.

2. If you do, BE BLOODY PATIENT.

Just because Eriksson was a backup in his first year in the Elitserien does not mean he should be left unsigned. But this is in the eye of the beholder. Compared to Hovinen, Eriksson is clearly the "weaker" prospect of the two (in the eyes of the Flyers).

I guess Eriksson is the Swedish equivalent to Brandon Maxwell. Two years spent unsigned on a team with too many goalie prospects.

Let's see if Eriksson can find a way to start 30 games next year. I'm willing to bet in two years he's one of the top SEL goalies and getting lots of looks as a 23 or 24 year old.

[fzusher]

Justin,

The impatience is forced on the teams by the CBA requirement to sign players within 2 years unless they were drafted out of college (or en route to college), combined with roster limits - 50 contracts, and 95 players whose rights are held.

This didn't use to be enforced in the case of prospects drafted out of Europe, but it seems that it is now, except for Russians - I think there's now an agreement with the IIHF on this that Russia didn't sign (that agreement was not in place when Eriksson was drafted, though the 2-yr CBA provision was). I have a similar 2-yr rule in one of my keeper leagues, combined with a roster limit, and it requires some tough choices on players who have not yet shown that something something, but may have merely lacked the opportunity to do so. You're forced to balance the short term for the long term, and sometimes you take gambles, release somebody and hope everyone else leaves him as well until you can snatch him up again.

The Flyers currently have 40 contracts for next year, plus 10 RFAs (including Stewart), plus UFA Ville Leino. So they are already at the limit and had to balance the needs of their NHL and AHL teams against the long term. From what Holmgren said the decision was based less on his potential and more on his ETA, which is more than 2 years. As he says in the Panacchio piece, Eriksson wasn't going to unseat any of their NA goalies (Backlund, Stewart) right now (or in the near future).

Finally, Eriksson is still eligible to be drafted this year. The cut off for European prospects who hadn't played in North America is their 22nd birthday, and Eriksson only turned 21 this April, so if the Flyers are still really high on him, they can use a 7th rounder to redraft him and give him another 2 years. If that's their plan, I think it's a pretty fair way of handling the situation - gives another team that believes in him a chance to take him, which is fair to him, and if not, re-acquire him via draft or free agency.

I own him in one league and am not going to give up on him, as I knew when I drafted him that I didn't expect him in the NHL before 14-15 at the earliest. I'm sure he'll resurface, if not via the draft, then as an FA in the spring of 2013.

[GoalieGuild]

Great comments as always, buddy. You shed some really good light on some of the obstacles the Flyers had to deal with in regards to their decision on Eriksson that I did not cover in my article.

I was aware of the two-year transfer agreement with Sweden, so the point I was making was that it's somewhat "unfair" for the Flyers to expect Eriksson to go from SuperElit to Allsvenskan and then to being a full-blown starter in Elitserien without being a backup for at least a year. Of course shit happens, but this is a real tough pill for Eriksson to swallow.

Just because he was a backup and played just 17 games doesn't mean he didn't develop. Hadelov, from what I have learned, simply never gave Eriksson much of a chance to take the job or steal starts from him. That is where I ask the question of how close did the Flyers track Eriksson's progress. Because goalies still develop as backups...mentally and technically. They don't get the exposure, but I am willing to bet that there was a visible difference between Eriksson's first game and his 17th game.

To me, if they weren't willing to wait more than two years, they should have never drafted him in the first place. It was a risk, a gamble, and ultimately, as I mentioned, probably the better decision to make since Hovinen is bigger, developng faster and playing more games.

Your comments are awesome though, because yes, the Flyers could easily re-draft him. It's a pretty awesome loophole when it comes to Swedish prospects.

The frustrating thing for me is the lack of structure and methods to their madness. They are spinning in circles.

Who t hey bring in over the summer will be a major ordeal. If they sign someone like Bryzgalov, then Bobrovsky needs to go down to the AHL and Backlund needs to back up whoever is the legit starter for Philly.

I say Backlund because he's on a one-way deal and only makes $800K regardless of whether or not he plays in the AHL or NHL. Bobrovsky isn't going to develop much in the NHL if he's only playing 20-25 games.