When it comes to the public pronouncements that coaches and general managers make about players during training camp, keep one thing in mind: Much of what they say is not so much geared toward informing fans and media about who will make the club. Rather, it's said for the benefit of sending a message (positive or negative) to the player.
In some cases, there's also a bit of salesmanship involved, as a GM attempts to drum up interest from other teams in a player he hopes to trade.
Yesterday, Paul Holmgren talked up veteran defenseman Matt Walker, saying, "I thought he looked outstanding. He spent his own money and went to Vancouver and hired a trainer and worked one on one. He looks lean.”
The reality of the situation is that the 31-year-old has very little chance of earning a spot on the Flyers. His $1.7 million cap hit cannot be absorbed by a team that is currently over the salary cap when you count his contract and the contracts of Michael Leighton and Johan Backlund. Even if the Flyers were to waive all three players, they would still have a mere $175,239 of cap room, prior to getting a Long-Term Injured Reserve allowance of $1,166,667 for Ian Laperriere.
In other words, if Walker were to make the Flyers' opening night roster, they would need to create a little bit of additional cap space to add him. That puts Walker at a severe competitive disadvantage relative to Andreas Lilja ($737,500 cap hit) and Oskars Bartulis ($600,000). The Flyers can carry both Lilja and Bartulis as the 6th and 7th defensemen and stay within the cap without any further roster moves.
I'm not saying that Holmgren was being disingenuous in his praise for Walker. However, in all likelihood, the GM wants the player to know that he's been doing the right things and to encourage him to keep a positive attitude so that the club can more easily trade him. Alternatively, if there's an injury (including the lessened possibility that Chris Pronger will miss some time at the start of the season), there could be an opening-night spot available for Walker.
There are any number of NHL teams that can use a player like Walker on their third pairing, and can also absorb his cap hit. As with any player, Walker would rather play elsewhere in the NHL than go through waivers and play in the AHL. So he's doing his part by getting in great shape, competing as hard as he can and being the good soldier who understands that there is a business decision -- not just hockey -- involved in where he plays this year.
As the Flyers start to pare down the roster in the days and weeks to come, it's always helpful to keep track of which players are subject to waivers. When the Flyers acquired Tom Sestito from Columbus last year in exchange for prospect Michael Chaput, they kept him in the minor leagues the rest of the season because of waiver considerations.
Now that training camp for the 2011-12 season is at hand, Sestito's waiver eligibility works in his favor in his competition for a roster spot against someone such as Zac Rinaldo (who remains waiver exempt this year). In my opinion, Rinaldo would have to significantly outplay Sestito to jump ahead of him in the competition for the 12th or 13th forward spot.
The Flyers still face a situation of potentially needing to free themselves of at least one contract to get below the reserve list maximum of 50 non-sliding contracts. One possibility: veteran AHL defenseman Dan Jancevski.
Although the 30-year-old former second-round draft pick has only played 9 NHL games over the course of his 10-year pro career, he is a proven solid defensive defense at the AHL level. The Dallas Stars, with whom he has had two stints in the organization, were interested in keeping him when he became a free agent in the summer of 2010 (after he was a valuable cog in a Texas Stars team that reached the Calder Cup Final). However, he signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Flyers.
A player such as Jancevski, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, could be traded to another organization as a contract giveaway structured as a trade for a conditional 7th round draft pick (the condition being that he spends a certain number of days on his new team's NHL roster). In all likelihood, he would spend the full year with their AHL farm team -- earning $250,000 on his two-way contract -- and the Flyers would get nothing but a freed-up contract space in return.
Philly could also free up a roster space by trading one of their three AHL goaltenders -- Leighton, Johan Backlund or Jason Bacashihua. Unfortunately, I don't see a trade market for any of them.
Leighton makes too much money to be a backup goalie in the NHL, especially in light of his back problems last season. The 30-year-old Backlund has never played even one full NHL game. Unfortunately, merely loaning Backlund to a team in Europe would not rid the Flyers of his contract or free up a space.
As for Bacashihua, a former 1st round pick of Dallas in 2001, the player has become a career minor leaguer. He actually has some value to the Flyers as an emergency backup goaltending option because he makes so little on his two-way deal ($525,000 in NHL, $125,000 in AHL) that he is not subject to recall waivers.
Both Leighton and Backlund, who are on one-way contracts, would have to pass through recall waivers. I could not see Backlund being claimed on recall waivers under any circumstances, but you never know. I could see other NHL teams taking Leighton at half price, especially if he shows his back is healthy.
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Yesterday in Finland's SM-Liiga, Flyers' goaltending prospect Niko Hovinen got off to a rough start in his game against Jokerit Helsinki. Coming off an opening game in which he took a shutout into the latter stages of the third period and then yielded two quick goals to lose 2-1, he gave up three goals on the first eight shots he faced.
Thereafter, he settled in, and went on to stop everything he faced the rest of the game, including a perfect performance in the game-deciding shootout. He officially finished with 19 saves on 22 shots and his Lahti Pelicans team rallied back from a 3-0 deficit, scoring twice in the third period (including a goal with Hovinen pulled for an extra attacker).
Game highlight clips are available by
clicking here.
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