The Philadelphia Flyers announced this afternoon that a multi-year contract extension has been signed with defenseman Nicklas Grossmann. The details of the contract are unknown, but Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly reported via twitter that he has been told it is a four year deal. UPDATE: Panaccio has since reported that it is worth $3.5 million per season, a fairly reasonable contract for a 27-year old just hitting his prime.
Grossmann, acquired ahead of the 2012 NHL trade deadline from the Dallas Stars, has provided the Flyers with a much needed physical presence at the blue line that has been missing since Chris Pronger became sidelined with a severe concussion. Standing at 6′-4″ and 226 lbs, there aren’t many players that can shrug him off when he is clearing the crease.
Grossmann would hardly qualify as an offensive defenseman, as he has never scored more than 12 points in a season in the NHL, but the system that Peter Laviolette employs has seen him tally six assists over a quarter of a season, suggesting that there is room for growth in the future.
Grossmann joins Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and Andreas Lilja as defensemen under contract next season. Matt Carle and Pavel Kubina will be unrestricted free agents.
For what it’s worth, Grossmann was the most important defenseman of the impending free agents to lock up. While losing Carle would hurt the Flyers’ goal production, they can afford to drop from 2nd overall in the NHL in goals per game (behind only the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1st) if they choose not to pay the bump in salary he will likely garner on the free agent market.
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Yikes…. I looked at the title and thought the eagles signed Rex grossman
I was hoping for an injury update on Grossmann for the playoffs. — good move if the flyers had to pick only one between the 3 (Grossmann,Kubina and Carle)
Good move. One down on the wish list. Now let Kubina & Carle walk, hide Lilja in the minors, trade Coburn, JVR &/or Hartnell (while his worth is high), sign Shane Weber & Brad Stuart. re-sign Jagr to team friendly deal. Continue the youth movement with- Bourdon, Gustafsson, Laurdinsen, Zolnierczyk, Wellwood, Hamel, & Ryan. Bing, bang, boom, team is rebuilt in 2 years. BTW, Pronger is toast, so you can take him off your list, JJ.
**Shea**
DCar, why do you want to blow up the team like that? They got 103-105 points with the second most rookie games in team history. Coburn and Hartnell are both good and reasonably young, and I doubt JVR is worth much in a trade these days. Kubina and Carle are definitely gone with this latest news, but that’s no surprise. Pronger is, as you say, toast. No need to overpay for Weber or Stuart, though; plenty of young defensemen to develop, like MAB, Gus or Manning. (They do seem to prefer Manning to Laurdinsen at this point.)
I don’t think there’s any need to go for rebuilding. 106 points last year, 103 points this year, they should be decent contenders this year, and even if nothing else changes, they’ll be in good shape next year.
I think the next moves will be to resign Voracek and MAB.
Horatio, not the whole team, just the DF, like Homer did last year with the forwards. Just making suggestions, because the DF is old, injury prone & inept. Pronger is done, Timonen is not far behind, Mesjaros is going to come off of season ending injury, Kubina & Lilja are sloths, Coburn & Carle are overpaid & don’t give you anything close to what they are paid for. We have major salary problems, & you can’t get better, without giving something up. I agree, I forgot about Manning. Thanks. They do seem to be down on Laurdinsen.
Yeah, I don’t think the Flyers HAVE to do much, although certainly Paul Holmgren could have other plans in mind. You’re currently looking at a future of Timonen/Coburn, Grossmann/Meszaros, Gustafsson/Lilja (Bourdon) for the time being.
If the salary cap does go up, they could have around $4 million to pick up another 5th defenseman if warranted. I wouldn’t mind Kubina on a 1 year $2.5-3 million contract in that situation.
Just curious, anyone know for sure if voracek and hartnell are free agents at the end of this season?