PHILADELPHIA, PA – For the third year in a row, Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren held his “Oh-darn-we-blew-it again” press conference, just like every other GM that has held one of professional hockey’s most coveted desk jobs in Voorhees, New Jersey since 1976. Every season may play out differently, and while the verbiage is always plentiful, very little is ever truly revealed at one of these things. For example, when addressing the goaltending situation where both Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki are unrestricted free agents, Holmgren had this to say on the matter. “Marty’s agent, Gilles Lupien, and I have had talks over the season. We will continue to talk, but whether we can afford to sign both those guys, I don’t know.” “Marty is a good goalie, we’ve had a couple of good years here and if we move forward with him, that will be a decision we make in the next, little while.” “We’re going to spend some time over the next little while talking about a lot of different things. Goaltending is going to be addressed. I think we have to look at all options right now.” See what I mean? In the years prior to the NHL lockout, the Flyers spent money like they were drunken sailors on shore leave. Well, four years and a salary cap later and, well, nothing has changed. The Flyers have religiously spent up to the salary cap with the corporate philosophy that the only way make money is to spend money. The same goes for wins and losses. Supposedly, if you spend more money, you win more. Spend less, lose less. Patience? HA! That’s for the week and timid. Build a team through the draft? Why do that when you can overspend on free agents and make trades that make no logical sense whatsoever? Well, note to the Flyers. If your philosophy hasn’t worked since 1976, isn’t it time to try a new philosophy?. Example, before the trade deadline Philadelphia traded left winger Scottie Upshall and their 2nd-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft to Phoenix for left winger Daniel Carcillo. I am sorry, but since when is a fourth liner worth a second/third line player with more skill and speed, AND a high draft pick? Well it doesn’t, unless of course you’re the Flyers who picked up minimal cap space by relieving themselves of Upshall’s $1.25 million in salary cap space and acquired Carcillo’s $850,000 cap hit. Upshall was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, while Carcillo is signed through the end of next season. So basically the Flyers trade a speedy left winger for a slightly slower, more physical player who drops the gloves at a moments notice. I need someone to refresh my memory, but don’t the Flyers already have Riley Cote and Aaron Asham on the team? Yeah, that’s what I thought. If this was 1975, and the Flyers were trying to beat the tar out of people like they use to, well then I guess it makes sense. Sorry, but the reality is, trades like this make no sense, regardless of what decade your in. Well, hopefully we can clear up some things, not only about the Flyers goaltending situation, but regarding every position. We will tell you what we would do, and how we think they will handle each position. (Cap numbers are in the millions) Offense No team had six players with 25 or more goals during the regular season. No team can boast that many. Daniel Briere had 11 in 29 games so it’s safe to assume he would have had at least 20 as well. The same goes for rookie Claude Giroux who showed everyone why he had 100 plus point seasons in the QMJHL all 3 seasons he played for the Gatineau Olympiques, not to mention shattering the Q’s playoff scoring record last season with 17 goals and 34 assists in only 19 games played. Giroux finished with 9 goals in 42 games. Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, and Mike Richards are fairly safe but Gagne could be used as trade bait. He is signed for the next two seasons with a $5.25 cap hit, and might be willing to go to Montreal which is where he is from. Briere has a no trade clause and his $6.5 cap hit that would be tough to move, not to mention his contract goes on for another six years, so don’t bet on him being moved. Mike Knuble is a UFA and most likely wont be back, especially since he is getting up in age and if the Flyers decide to spend a ton of money on a goaltender AND a defenseman. Joffrey Lupul is signed on for four more years, but his cap number changes starting next season ($4.25). He also made the 25 club in scoring so our bet here is either Lupul or Hartnell will be moved but our money is on Hartnell since he is the one with the penalties issue. Actually, there is some good news. The Flyers didn’t trade any of their top prospects for a quick fix. Rumors had left wing prospect James Van Riemsdyk possibly being moved as part of a package deal for the Florida Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, among other trade rumors that were out there. You can bet you will hear more and more as summer approaches. JVR is a Bobby Ryan clone, and the last time I checked Ryan is a Calder trophy candidate for Rookie-of-the-year. Patience is not one of the Flyers strengths, especially when it comes to prospects, but if they decide to move Gagne, or Scott Hartnell who scored 30 goals but was also the fourth highest penalty maker on the team. His 4.2 cap hit will be easier to move so you can bet Hartnell will be moved before Gagne will. Here are what the lines would look like next season if we were in charge. Simon Gagne-Daniel Briere-Claude Giroux James Van Riemsdyk-Jeff Carter-Joffrey Lupul Patrick Maroon-Mike Richards-Andreas Nodl Dan Carcillo-Darroll Powe-Arron Asham With this lineup the Flyers get younger, and faster with Knuble and Hartnell gone but the Flyers would have to replace a combined total of 57 goals somewhere. If put on a line with Gagne and Briere, Giroux will improve on his goal totals, but what would Maroon and Nodl contribute? Both were known as goal scorers in juniors and in college, so being on a line with Richards would prove beneficial to both. Still, a slight drop-off would be expected. If the Flyers manage to keep Knuble and Hartnell, they would keep their high powered offense in tact. Our bet here is that Knuble is gone with his money to be used on a UFA defenseman. Outside of Giroux and JVR, the Flyers have very few quality prospects, but Jared Ross did prove valuable at center. If your looking for some other names to remember keep these in your memory bank for next season: Center Jonathan Matsumoto, left winger Jonathan Kalinski, and right winger David LaLiberte. Those are the next three players on the depth chart. The Flyers must address all 3 forward positions in the upcoming draft. If the Flyers want someone who would have an impact, they will need to move up in the draft. Unless my calculations are wrong, the Flyers will pick at #20. Keep these names on your brain as well: Centers Nazem Kadri and Jacob Josefson, right winger Jordan Schroeder, and left winger Carter Ashten. Schroeder would be perfect as a winger on JVR’s line with Carter or Richards, especially since he played on the same line with JVR on Team USA at the World Juniors this year. Defense Only Andrew Alberts is a UFA, and if the Flyers are serious about upgrading their defense resigning him should not be an option. It is pretty safe to say Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, and Ryan Parent are all safely on the roster next season. Randy Jones and Coburn are free agents after next season, but Coburn is the only one with any kind of long term future here so future cap space will have to be made for him. Jones and Matt Carle could be moved in a trade, and since Jones makes less money than Carle a team needing a stay-at-home defenseman could use him. Carle also has three years left to go on his contract so unless someone is willing to take on his cap hit which is just under 3.5 he will be a Flyer. Timonen’s cap hit is $6.333 for the next four years, so moving him would be tough to do, especially since he will make $7 million the next two seasons, plus he just turned 34. With all of the quality defensive prospects they have you can bet they will want to move him once his salary drops. Parent is slowly coming along, but he will have to improve his game next season if he is to have a long term future in Philly. Luca Sbisa and Marc-Andre Bourdon are wating in the wings. Sbisa have already contributed to the lineup, and Bourdon is easily the teams best offensive-defenseman in the system with 18 goals and 42 assists in 54 games (fourth overall by a defensemen) for the Rimouski Oceanic. Kevin Marshall is a year older than Sbisa and Bourdon, and he might have a slight upper hand when it comes to making the roster next season. It probably wouldn’t hurt him to play one season in the AHL next season but if he makes the Flyers roster don’t look shocked. Defense is clearly their best position in terms of quality prospects so if the Flyers decide to use all of their money on a goaltender, one or two of their prospects could patrol the Flyers blueline next season, but realistically only one will make it. Here are what the defensive parings would look like next season if we were in charge. Timonen-Parent Coburn-Bouwmeester Carle-Marshall Jones and Alberts are gone if I were in charge, but Alberts is the only one who realistically wont be back unless Jones can be traded as part of a package, which is what we would do. In our pairings we have one puck mover with a stay-at-homer. The Flyers made no bones that they wanted Bouwmeester at the trade deadline. This time all they’d move is money and they should have it to spend, especially if they can find a taker for Carle or Jones for prospects or draft picks. Our gut feeling is Bouwmeester will be a Flyer, but if not its time the Flyers start thinking about some of their prospects to fill in the void. Keep your eyes on Russian prospect Denis Bodrov, Michael Ratchuk, Oskars Bartulis, and R.J. Anderson. Bodrov and Bartulis are considered NHL ready so they could, and should, get the nod over Marshall. We’ve seen Marshall play so for now pencil him into the lineup. Anderson is a four year senior at U. of Minnesota, so don’t count him out. Ratchuk is a burner so in my plan he’d be converted to forward due to his smallish size. In this years draft, unless there is a defenseman who is considered a can’t miss prospect is stilling their at #20, the Flyers can wait until later in the draft to keep addressing the defensive depth. Goaltending If your thinking that the Flyers are a stud goaltender and defenseman away from being a true cup contender, your probably right. The team could have anywhere between $9-11 million in cap space relief depending on how the cap goes. With the global economy doing poorly, the Flyers have to start thinking long term, not short term. That also means a younger, cheaper option. Nikolai Khabibulin is someone the Flyers have had on their radar screen for some time now. He will be a UFA at the end of the season, and won’t command the same money he is making now ($6,750,000). Since the Bruins Tim Thomas, and the Minnesota Wild’s Niklas Backstrom, off the market, the pickings are slim in terms of an upgrade. So you can see where this is going. Here is what we would do about the goaltending situation if we were in charge. Nikolai Khabibulin Josh Harding, Jonathan Bernier, or Jeff Zakhoff. Signing a d-man and a goalie might be out of the question, but the Flyers need to finally settle the goaltending merry-go-round, so look for that to be their priority in the off-season, not a d-man. With some many quality defensive prospects already in the system, the Flyers need to settle their goaltending situation once and for all. Khabibulin would be a stop gap measure until one of the three players can step in. All 3 players should be available, especially since the starting goaltenders for their respective teams were resigned to new contracts. The Flyers need to think long term, period, end of story. They have nothing in the system worth writing home about. I’ve heard the name J.S. Giguere thrown around, but his cap hit is $6 million, he will turn 32, and he was badly outplayed by teammate Jonas Hiller, so why would I go after someone who could be on the downside of his career? Yes he has proven he can win a Cup, but let’s deal in reality here. He had Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer in front of him, the Flyers don’t. Unless the Flyers upgrade their overall team defense, I don’t think Giggy would have the same success here that he did in Anaheim. Could he be an upgrade over Biron? Probably, but at $6 mill. a year how would the Flyers upgrade their defense? The Flyers made a HUGE mistake by not drafting Jacob Markstrom in last year’s draft to trade down and get Steve Eminger and a third round pick, which turned out to be goaltender Jacob De Serres. Not only did De Serres have a poor season, he was outplayed by a rookie on the Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL), and didn’t see any playing time in the playoffs. The bottom line is, since they will be sitting at #20, they should be in a position to draft one of the top goaltenders again, especially since this is another poor draft for goaltenders. The bad news, most scouting ranking systems don’t even rank a goaltender in their list of top 30 prospects so the Flyers should have the pick of the litter by the time they’re pick comes up. That is why in our plan they need to trade for someone else’s top goaltending prospect, and draft at least two in this year’s draft. If you want some good news, keep your eye on a couple of Flyers prospects. Swedish prospect Joacim Eriksson, a 7th round draft pick in 2008, had a very good year in Sweden and could be pursuaded to come overseas. Another name is Brad Phillips who will be a junior next season at Notre Dame, and should be the starting goaltender next season after missing this season due to injury. So there you have it Fyers fans. Even though the Flyers didn’t win the cup again this year, just think, if the Flyers actually listen to me for a change and sign a top flight defenseman (Bouwmeester) and a top flight goaltender (Khabibulin), move some younger pieces in, and remove some older, more expensive players out, the Flyers could be the favorites coming out of the East next season. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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