In no shocker, the Flyers announced today that they will not submit an offer sheet for Stamkos. Which in all reality, isn't a bad move if they want to win now. The problem with RFA's in the NHL is that, when an offer is made, the team that the player is an RFA for (Tampa) has up to a week to match the offer or release the player to accept whatever offer he wants. So essentially, if the Flyers sent him an offer...They may not know until next Thursday if Stamkos were to sign with the Flyers. Flyers would have to assume he would sign, and would not have the money to sign any other FA's. If they assume that and then he signs elsewhere, Flyers have likley missed out on many free agents.
Now that we have turned off our video game minds, who will the Flyers end up getting?
The Flyers have yet to officially sign Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds, but they are RFA's who the Flyers are more than likley going to resign once they see who else is coming to this team.
Villie Leino will hit free agency tomorrow as a UFA, meaning he is officially off the Flyers roster. While I am sure the Flyers want to resign him, he is the type of player who will be overpaid by another team. Flyers don't believe he's worth more than 3.5 million a year (quarter of a million less than Giroux), and I can't argue with that. Hopefully Leino takes a home-town discount, but that's not guaranteed.
Daniel Carcillo is a RFA...but all intentions are that the Flyers are going to let him sign wherever he wants, depending on the offers he gets.
Zherdev, O'Donnell, Boyton, and Boucher are all UFA's come tomorrow, and I would be shocked to see any of those 4 back in Philly.
Now onto other teams....
One man who was swirling around was Zach Parise...however, he has entered arbitration with New Jersey, and more than likley will resign with the Devils.
Brad Richards is considered the "cream" of the weak crop of stars in this years free agent poll. He will get overpaid, and end up being a little more costly than what the Flyers are looking for. However, the Ottawa Sun reports that the Flyers may be looking to trade Meszaros and that 4 million dollar a year hit he has to free up more cap space. This would likley lead to the Flyers trying to resign O'Donnell or using Matt Walker next year.
But here's some names that make sense.
Simon Gagne - He isn't exactly the player the Flyers need, but I wouldn't put it past Gagne taking a reduced $$ contract to come back to Philly for a year. If he takes a contract in the 2-3 million a year range, that may happen. If it's more than that, I'm not counting on him coming back.
Michael Handzus - Would be a great fit, however he has slowed down and under-performed the last 2 years. He is a big center who wins faceoffs and kills penalties, two things we could really use.
Jamior Jagr - This is a new rumor, but while the Penguins were told they would hear from Jagr on Wednesday and never got a response....his future is still up in the air. The Penguins offered Jagr a 2 million dollar deal for next year, Philly has the capability to offer him a little more. If age is your concern, Mark Recchi dropped nearly 50 points at the age 43, and held a cup over his head. Watch some of Jagr's recent film, he still has game left.
Erik Cole - He's a guy I am very interested in. Solid 2 way player who scored 20-30 goals a year (quietly in Carolina) over his 10 year career. Even with the emergence of Skinner in Carolina, it's hard to imagine them letting him go.
Michael Ryder - Another solid winger who would be a good fit on this team. Good two way player.
And there's a dozen other players we can name. These however are the few players I'd love to see join the Orange and Black. But who knows what will happen.
All we know is that a lot will unravel over the next day or two.
No comments:
Post a Comment