In a bold move, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren elected to trade for the rights to Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov, 31, will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, so Holmgren has all of 23 days to sign him.
The deal itself is prospect Matt Clackson, the Flyers’ 2012 3rd round draft pick, and a conditional draft pick if the Flyers can sign him (basically a 4th rounder or higher in 2012). While the trade isn’t terrible, it seems high considering that last offseason, the Flyers traded a conditional late round draft pick for the rights to speak to goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, and ended up losing nothing when he chose to sign in the KHL instead.
Losing Clackson is irrelevant, as he didn’t have a future with the organization. The only reason he was included in the trade was so that the Flyers could clear one of their 50 contracts to stay under the limit (thanks go to Tim McManus for that clarification). When the Associated Press is already reporting Phoenix has no intentions of signing him hours after the trade, you can see just how “valuable” he is. Losing the 3rd round pick, though, is disconcerting because the Flyers have already traded away their 2nd round pick in the 2012 NHL draft for Andrej Meszaros.
On the other end of the trade, there are several implications. Bryzgalov is rumored to be looking for a four or five year deal as well as a pay increase from his previous $4.25 million contract. Bryzgalov holds all the cards right now and will likely get a $4.75 million to $5 milllion contract.
So what happens with the roster?
For starters, the Michael Leighton experiment is done. Paul Holmgren told reporters tonight that he thinks with Sergei Bobrovsky and Bryzgalov, the Flyers will have one of the best goaltending tandems in the NHL. Bob is seen as the goalie of the future while Bryz is the stop gap.
Johan Backlund’s shot at the NHL is also over unless the injury carousel continues.
Assuming the salary cap only goes up to $62.5 million, the Flyers will have to shed around $2 million just to get under the salary cap, and perhaps $3 million to have some wiggle room if they need to call up players.
As a result, it will be impossible now for the Flyers to even consider re-signing Ville Leino. The Fin has reportedly been looking for a $3 – $3.5 million deal, and there is no way the Flyers can afford him. He doesn’t seem interested in signing at a discount either, so he’s as good as gone.
Additionally, the Flyers will have to shed one of their bigger contracts. Think Scott Hartnell, Jeff Carter, Kris Versteeg or Matt Carle. There were rumors today that the Columbus Blue Jackets are considering trading their #8 overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft for an impact player, and the Flyers are one of the more likely trade partners based on the situation. The Flyers and Blue Jackets have also been active trade partners over the last several years.
We’ll see if the Flyers can get a deal done by July 1, but I would be surprised if they didn’t. They see Bryz as a potential mentor for Bob and were embarrassed badly in the 2011 playoffs by the goaltending performances.
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I like Bryzgalov, but I like Leino more. Leino creates a lot of chances and he has a lot of heart. They are gonna miss him. I would rather take a chance on Bob in net.
Good move Homer, now get er done! 4 years 4.75 per. Get rid of Mr. Softie Carter & his seeing eye dog & your good to go. I would trade Hartnell &/ or Versteeg too. Let Leino & Carcillo walk.What waste those four guys are. Don’t give me Leino, he had about a half of a good season in his entire career.Sign Cole, Tanguey &/ or Upshall. Bring up Sestito, Wellwood & Reid. Your now better, younger, tougher & faster. Salaries would have to be worked out though.
Even though it has been well documented that Bryzgalov is sometimes selfish, I do not think he would have any trouble mentoring his fellow countryman BOB, for a few years. He is a very good goalie.What an awesome 1-2 punch that would be. Man, Snyder must be having an epiphany these last two days. Selling the Sixers & getting a real goalie for a change. A Russian one at that. Damn two of them. LMAO!
Goalie was our biggest problem. If Leino goes, someone will have to step up as they have in the past. We haven’t had a true goalie in how many years. Get it done,
Good move with little Risk, I don’t agree about letting Leino go though..
I would like to trade trade Carter or Hartnell or Carlye to free up some $$$ before letting Leino walk…Leino has been a consistent producer and is very versatile for the Flyers which cannot be said of the 3 higher paid players that I mentioned..
Wait, so you want to dump our leading goal scorer and solid two-way forward so we can keep Ville Leino? Carter hasn’t scored less than 29 goals in the last 4 years, and for 3 of those years he was also one of our top defensive forwards (in terms of quality of competition faced and defensive zone starts). Last year Leino and Carter had basically the same amount of assists.
Leino was among the most defensively-sheltered players by Lavi last year and obviously doesn’t have the trust of the coaching staff when it comes to stopping tough competition.
ln no way will losing Carter and keeping Leino improve the Flyers. We should definitely dump Hartnell and Carcillo and if Leino wont take a paycut to play with us let him walk too.
They have to get Bryzgalov signed and then work from there.
I agree with you Pman on Leino somewhat although they I would prefer if Hartnell stayed simply because the Flyers lack a presence in front of the net. JVR may do that more this year, but I would prefer to have Hartnell still on the team. I think that it is Carter. He has a huge salary and he goes bye bye in the playoffs. He is a solid young scorer who should have the best value on the trade market.
I think that it comes down to who they like better: Leino or Versteeg.
As much as I would hate it, I have a feeling Carter is going to be the piece they can move for the best return and would give the team about $3 million flexibility for the salary cap.
I also think one of Wellwood, Read, or Holmstrom will make the jump next year, but I don’t think any of them are ready for the NHL.
whoartgos, I agree with you. I’ve said before- Scott Hartnell is a good player to have, but not at $4.2 million. Moving him might be more difficult than a player like Carter, though.
Carcillo is the least of their concerns.
Moving lappy to TLIR frees up almost 1.2. Not resigning zherdev(2 mil) and carcillo (1 mil). Moving leighten(1.5 mil), walker(1.7 mil) , and Shelley (1.1 mill). That frees up almost 8mill. Cap supposed to go up to atleast 3mill. That’s 11 mill. They will be fine. Sign Breeze and leino. Offer tenders to powe and nodl. If anyone gets traded it will be steeger. Not your 2 way playing almost 40 goals a year big center carter.
maybe closer to 8 mill afet giroux raise.
Josh, they might not have a choice with all three + Sestito. I think Leino, Carcillo & Carter or Hartnell are good as gone. They also need to resign Powe & O’Donnell or we really will be young. Remember the cap is going up $3- $4 million, which helps a little. We aren’t going to have the same team next year. Homer has some difficult decisions to make. Give me the stud goalie to go with our DF, & go from there. Man those contracts to Shelley, Walker & Leighton really look bad right now!
Flyers need to move a player to sign Bryz…. they better not deal Carter …..get rid of Hartnell (doubt anyone wants him and his contract) or Richards….
Build the team with Carter, Briere, JVR & Giroux.
To Jott
I respectfully disagree, I would build the team around Richards,Giroux, Briere, JVR,Leino and Defenesmen Meszaros and Coburn.