Earlier this week, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren reiterated his confidence that the club will be able to re-sign impending unrestricted free agent Matt Carle on July 1. It appears as if the basic framework for a deal has already been agreed upon, and it is the tagging space issue that prevents the club from re-signing Carle (or Jaromir Jagr) until the new temporary $70.3 million cap for the 2012-13 season takes effect on the first of July.
Several people have asked me how "tagging space" works. As long as the current cap of $64.3 million is in effect, the Flyers cannot commit more than that amount toward contracts for next season.
In calculating the amount of space tagged for 2012-13, the Flyers must account for ALL players on their current reserve list who already have a contract for next season. This includes ones who already received contract extensions (James van Riemsdyk, Braydon Coburn Nicklas Grossmann), players who are long-term injured reserve candidates (Chris Pronger) and those who are waiver candidates before opening night (Matt Walker).
The Flyers have stated clearly that they want to re-sign Carle and the player has apparently told the team he wants to stay put to the point that Holmgren said the player is willing to re-sign for a figure somewhat below what his market value would be if he hits the UFA market.
The only thing that is somewhat puzzling to me: Why was no deal struck when the tagging space was still available prior to the club extending both Coburn and Grossmann? I would think the answer to the question is that the Flyers, the Carle camp or both wanted to see what kind of season the defenseman would have and then determine the player's price tag relative to his open market value, which is likely a tad higher than Coburn's.
Both Coburn ($4.5 million cap hit for four years, up from $3.2 million) and Grossmann (now a $3.5 million cap hit for four years, up from $1.625 million) received extensions that were right about on par with what their open market value. It would not surprise me if Carle's new deal would also be of similar length and take him from his current $3.44 million cap hit to about $4.75 million, whereas his open market value to sign elsewhere would likely be at roughly $5 million per season.
I know there are a lot of people who don't think that Carle is worth that kind of money. He is not an All-Star caliber defenseman. He's not physical and doesn't shoot the puck very hard. He's decent defensively but he's not a shutdown coverage defender in his own end of the ice. But there are plenty of things he does well, and are of high value to the club.
What Carle's critics are missing is this: It is NOT easy or inexpensive to replace a defenseman who played an average 23:01 during the regular season and 25:19 during the playoffs. It isn't simple to find a replacement defenseman who consistently goes out and produces 35 to 40 points per season. Likewise, it isn't a trifling matter to simply find another defenseman who is as durable as Carle. He as only missed two games over the last three seasons combined and started every game in each of the last two seasons.
Last but not least, Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy have a lot of faith in Carle and believe he's an integral part of the system that the team employs. He is the team's best outlet passer.
One of the most frequent criticisms levied at Carle by his detractors is "he's a turnover machine." While it is true that Carle had some memorably ill-timed turnovers, it is far from the truth that he is exceedingly prone to giveaways. He only had 55 unforced turnovers in the regular season, which ranked 26th among NHL defenseman -- hardly excessive given the fact that defensemen who handle the puck a lot commit more giveaways on a leaguewide level.
Carle's shooting velocity is not going to strike fear in the hearts of any opponents. During the postseason, a Carle shot at practice accidentally struck teammate Max Talbot in the mouth and knocked out a couple teeth. The following day, Talbot joked, "It's a good thing he was the one shooting -- it was a muffin." But even though Carle will never overpower a goalie and gets a lot of shot attempts blocked, he does have a double-digit goal season (11 in his rookie year in San Jose) on his NHL resume.
Of all of the Flyers' after-season surgery announcements, the most surprising to me was Carle. He underwent surgery in early May to repair a torn abdominal muscle, with an estimated 4-6 week recovery timeframe. The injury itself was not all that surprising in retrospect, because Carle played some of his most ineffective hockey of the season in the second round of the playoffs and the type of injury he was dealing with is one of the tougher ones to play through successfully.
Rather, what surprised me is that Carle rarely if ever took so much as a maintenance day all year in the regular season or playoffs. Every day, he showed up and took his regular reps during practice, participating in each and every drill.
It is not clear right now how long Carle was playing through the torn abdominal muscle but even if that injury only happened late in the playoffs, he never let out even an inkling at practice that he was dealing with a rather significant short-term problem. Likewise, there's no doubt that Carle -- like all players who play a lot of minutes -- dealt with a variety of bumps and bruises all year long but he never conceded so much as a self-chosen off day to rest. He worked and worked and worked.
Carle is also an underrated shot blocker. He ranked 15th among all NHL defenseman and led the Flyers with 164 blocks. Because most his blocks are of the stick-block variety rather than blocking it with his body, they usually go unnoticed. But they all help just the same, regardless of the method. Fewer body blocks and fewer hits given and taken also help a player better stay in the lineup and reduce injury risk over the long season.
When you weight the total package of what Carle brings to the team, he is an important player to bring back for next season. Unless the club can bring in a clear-cut upgrade such as Ryan Suter (which appears unlikely and would also require committing a couple more million dollars of salary cap space), they are better off sticking with they know they already have in Carle.
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The annual Flyers Alumni Golf outing to raise funds for a variety of causes will be held this year on Tuesday, June 26 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. This year's participants include a virtual who's who of prominent Flyers of the past including, for the first time, Eric Lindros.
The participant list in alphabetical order: Ray Allison, Frank Bathe, Lindsay Carson, Jeff Chychrun, Bob Clarke, Steve Coates, Riley Cote, Bob Dailey, Gary Dornhoefer, Andre "Moose" Dupont, Todd Fedoruk, Ross Fitzpatrick, Larry Goodenough, Paul Holmgren, Ed Hospodar, Mark Howe, Bob Kelly, Tim Kerr, Orest Kindrachuk, Ian Laperriere, Reggie Leach, Eric Lindros , Kevin McCarthy, John Paddock, Bernie Parent, Brian Propp, Jeremy Roenick, Don Saleski, Dave Schultz, Ilkka Sinisalo, Chris Therien, Rick Tocchet, Jimmy Watson and Joe Watson. Also participating is St. Joseph's basketball coach Phil Martelli.
Bill Barber and Bill Clement will both attend the event but will not be golfing. Likewise, special guest Gordie Howe won't play golf but will take part in meet-and-greet activities.
This year's event raises proceeds for Flyers Wives Charities, the Flyers Alumni Association and the BLOCS educational foundation.
For more information on golfing and mingling with the Flyers' Alumni, click
here.
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