Part 2 of the Justblueshirts blog offseason review focuses on the Philadelphia Flyers.
Notable players lost: Jaromir Jagr, Matt Carle, James Van Riemsdyk, Sergei Bobrovsky
Notable players obtained: Luke Schenn, Ruslan Fedotenko
Drafted Scott Laughton- 1st round, 20th overall
The Philadelphia Flyers have not had a very kind offseason handed to them as they've seen far more talent depart compared to what GM Paul Holmgren received in return. Before the draft, the Flyers traded highly touted backup goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to
Columbus for 3 draft picks and promoted Michael Leighton from Adirondack of the AHL.
Leighton, if you remember nearly guided the Flyers to a Stanley Cup 3
seasons ago. Following the draft, the Flyers traded James Van Riemsdyk to Toronto for defenseman Luke Schenn. I was very critical of the trade at the time and felt that the Flyers should have gotten far more in return for trading away one of their young scorers. Jaromir Jagr and Matt Carle then left for Dallas and Tampa Bay respectively in search of raises. Not to mention, the Flyers also missed on Ryan Suter through free agency and Nashville matched the Flyers 14 year, $110 million dollar offer sheet for Shea Weber as a replacement for Chris Pronger, whose career may be over. Speaking of injuries, the Flyers have lost defensemen Andrej Meszaros to a torn Achilles tendon while training in Slovakia and Andreas Lilja underwent hip surgery. It didn't help their depth that they waited until the third round to draft a
defenseman and do not have any NHL-ready defensive prospects waiting in
their farm system. Nick Cousins, the Flyers 3rd round pick in 2011 and considered the Flyers top prospect was recently arrested on sexual assault charges. So as you can see, it has been a brutal offseason for the Flyers. After allowing 26 goals in 6 games to the Penguins in the playoffs and 18 goals in 5 games to New Jersey, Flyer fans should have every right to be upset on how this offseason has gone so far.
Elsewhere, Holmgren has given out big contracts to his own players recently to Braydon Coburn, Nik Grossman, Wayne Simmonds, Scott Hartnell and Jakub Voracek. Nik Grossman's contract was the most ridiculed, as the 6 year veteran defenseman was signed to a 4 year, $14 million dollar contract with a no trade clause and will be on the Flyers third pairing once the season starts up. The terms Holmgren offered to Grossman are especially odd since the big defenseman only has 3 career NHL goals in 355 games and is only a career +10. The gross overpayment of Grossman and other players who recently had contracts renewed have left the Flyers with no wiggle room against the salary cap ceiling.
While the Flyers time to win a Cup is now particularly since they are such a high scoring team led by future captain Claude Giroux, but their window to win one is closing. With some of their younger forwards coming up to the end of their cap-friendly entry level contracts, the Flyers will be dependent on their younger forwards, now more than ever to lead them to the promised land.
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