That’s right everyone. Bob Ford thinks it’s high time we all started to panic. After all the Flyers have just signed the world’s most disruptive hockey player. Wait, just signed? No, no, no. This happened weeks ago. If you’re all still in panic mode like Mr. Ford over here I think it’s time you went out, had a nice cold beer, and thought of happy things such as Claude Giroux’s shorthanded assist against the Penguins in the playoffs. Once you’re all calmed down and have had your beer then you are officially permitted to continue reading.
Welcome to all of those who have finally grabbed their beer and even those who haven’t been panicking since the announcement. Now quick question, and I’d like to see a show of hands, who thinks Biron is worth $5m a year over the next four years? We all love Marty of course for his personality and his involvement with the city of Philadelphia, but can he really think he’s worth as much as likely Vezina winner Tim Thomas who recently got the same exact deal in Boston that Biron wanted from Holmgren here in Philadelphia? Granted Biron is four years younger than Boston’s future albatross and plays behind a lot shakier version of an “NHL defense” as is what the Flyers apparently call their system to stop opponents from scoring, but let’s be serious for a second. Biron was beat out at a point this season by a one-hipped man named Antero Niittymaki. And we all love Niitty as well, but he hasn’t exactly had a clean bill of health for a while. As one of the few who actually believe Marty was very underrated for what he brought to Philadelphia I have to personally say that he’s not worth the kind of money he wants.
So what other options are there for a starting NHL goaltender? Trade for unproven commodities such as Josh Harding, Jaroslav Halak, or Cory Schneider? The Flyers want to win the cup now when they have the talent to put a truly incredible freak of nature offense on the ice every night, not four years from now when some of those players will be in their prime. Outside of that there is only the option of overpaying for a old war-horse like Khabibulin on the open market. If you want to know how that would turn out here in Philadelphia just look at Washington’s acquisition of Jose Theodore last summer. Ray Emery is 26, coming off a stellar season in the KHL, has led a team to the Stanley Cup, and comes at $1.5m a year. What’s not to love?
Well he has his issues of course. He has the kind of issues that can keep you up late at night tossing and turning. That’s why he only received a one year deal. We all know what they are so I won’t bother repeating them.
So let’s examine worst case scenario. Forget for a second that Emery claimed complete responsibility for his actions in Ottawa and in Russia, as well as the fact that Peter Lukko personally got involved in his acquisition to make sure Razor wouldn’t screw up. Let’s also ignore the fact that sitting in a press meeting next to Paul Holmgren made Mr. Ego himself appear humble and tame like a 10-year-old that just trampled mud all over mom’s new carpet. Forget that Ray basically begged for a second opportunity to rejoin the NHL in North America away from the bounced checks and forced advertising by way of hats in Russia. Okay, let’s say Emery alienates his teammates, goes on a rampage through Philadelphia, turns everyone in the locker-room against him, and gets benched for whatever backup we have in place. Sounds like a terrible thing right?
Well it is. Emery is a talented goaltender just about to enter the prime of his career. We want him playing. He’s not stellar, but he’s not necessarily a downgrade to Biron talent-wise. So Razor has now wasted $1.5m and the time of one of the biggest hockey markets in the NHL. Who cares? Ramifications at worst include a few extra goals put in our net. Emery goes back to Russia, and we look for another goalie next offseason. Did Ray’s outburst cost us a chance for the cup? Of course not. Emery is just a cheap pawn put in place for the grand scheme of Holmgren’s plan. The money saved by obtaining Emery will of course soon be used to bolster the defensive unit. The only thing this goalie does by joining the Flyers is give them a talented goalie for cheap who gets thrown away if he doesn’t perform or becomes a distraction to the rest of the team. That is the definition of low-risk, high-reward.
Now that everyone’s flashing red panic lights have stopped we can get into some real news.
There is speculation all over the NHL right now as to what will possibly happen to Danny Briere. It’s certainly no secret anymore that the Flyers are looking for other possible homes for the star center turned winger. He has been apparently offered to the Kings, Coyotes, and Canadiens. The rumor is that all three teams have turned him down. While it makes a little sense that each of those teams would turn down the deal should the Flyers be asking for too much, people are still claiming that Briere has one of the worst contracts in the NHL.
The $6.5m in cap hit that Briere gets a year is certainly not that big of a deal for a point per game forward who could quite possibly be the most talented, pure offensive threat on the Flyers’ roster. The length of his contract is a much bigger issue for teams that don’t want to pay for Briere until he’s 37. Should Briere stay on the Flyers and lose his touch a buyout is certainly possible. In fact Holmgren may have in fact planned on it based on the way he has structured certain contracts to end in a certain number of years. There’s also a point to be made about Briere’s possible retirement during that period of time should he feel that he can no longer hack it as an NHLer. There are all kinds of ways to deal with an older Danny Briere, but the problem for the Flyers comes in the present. The organization is very happy with his production and the value currently on his contract but the opportunity to get a high end defenseman in order to get the team over that last hurdle on the way to the Stanley Cup is just too much of a temptation.
As many have reported, Briere’s value on the market is much higher than most people think. He does have a no movement clause in his contract, but as Gagne said in a recent interview, an NMC or NTC doesn’t mean much if the organization wants to move you. That said, there are currently talks with the Kings about a deal involving Briere and LA’s 5th overall selection as well as some interest from the Sabres who seem to want their star center back.
Any rumors though that high end prospect power-forward James van Riemsdyk would be involved in any such deals are completely false. The organization is expecting JVR to progress forward this offseason. A recent quote by Holmgren during an interview on NHL Live shows that the Flyers have absolutely no intention of moving their prized 2nd overall selection:
“[vanRiemsdyk] recognizes he has to work on his conditioning; work on his strength, but from a hockey standpoint and from a skill standpoint, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to be an NHL player for the Flyers sometime in the very near future. Again, I want to be careful with him, I think we all do here, not to put him in a spot before he’s ready to handle it. So it’s an interesting [and] big summer for James in terms of his conditioning and his mindset, and I think we’ll have a real good idea at training camp on how he fairs. I think it’s safe to say that he’ll play some preseason games for us and see how he fits in, but he’s a big, strapping young man that’s still developing physically. But he’s got an excellent hockey sense, he’s got excellent abilities, and he gets around the ice very well for a big, young man.”
Van Riemsdyk may not be ready yet, but the organization is still looking forward to seeing him next preseason along with the rest of the Flyers’ roster. While no player is untouchable in the right scenario, JVR is about as close to being there as other players on the team that Holmgren is not offering.
In other news, legendary American defenseman Derian Hatcher has joined the Flyers’ development crew as a replacement for Eric Desjardins who stepped down to pursue other interests. Hatcher, a few weeks after having full reconstructive knee surgery and his retirement announcement, has already taken a look at the prospects the Flyers have on defense as well as the current team of starters. He has made mention that the young Luca Sbisa is the currently the meanest of the bunch from what he has seen, but he will work with the group in order to make them more physical on the back end. There are some players of course that would immediately add to the physicality on the blueline, and Hatcher has mentioned that Komisarek is certainly the kind of player that would prevent repeats of the Penguins v. Flyers series this past offseason where the defense was manhandled by the physicality of Jordan Staal, Chris Kunitz, and Max Talbot.
The draft is coming up, and the Flyers are pushing hard to make some moves. It’s going to be an interesting week here in Philadelphia.
Loading ...