Let no one say that the Flyers are not being aggressive in the free agent market. They are in the midst of a high-stake game of free agent poker designed to either land one of the two biggest names on the market -- Zach Parise or Ryan Suter -- or else to drive the price so high for rival teams (especially Pittsburgh) that whichever team(s) signs the players will be compelled to take an astronomical hit onto their salary cap.

It is still not believed that the Flyers are the frontrunners to land either player. Even so, anything could happen. Philadelphia's offers to the two players are reportedly higher than any other team's; the respective offers are reportedly in excess of $100 million over 12-year contracts.

This is basically an either/or proposition for the Flyers. They have put in offers Parise and Suter, knowing full well that they can only take on one of the salaries, which would also preclude re-signing Matt Carle or making other moves.

As a result, the Flyers are caught up in a waiting game for Parise and Suter to make their decisions. A slew of desirable role players and potential alternative options to Carle and Jaromir Jagr signed contracts elsewhere yesterday.

In the meantime, Carle also plays the waiting game. Agent Kurt Overhardt has positioned his client to be the top consolation prize for the spurned Sutor suitors (say that three times fast). While the Flyers are still the front-runners to re-sign Carle, the price tag is going to stretch or surpass the upper limit of what they are willing to pay.

Agent Petr Svoboda claims that 21 teams put in bids on Jagr yesterday. While that seems dubious, it's clear some other teams took notice of the off-ice impact Jagr had on the Flyers' last season apart from his respectable but not overwhelming production. The Flyers appear to be looking elsewhere at this point, and Montreal is believed to be the frontrunner. Then again, that was basically the same case a year ago.

Apart from Parise, the biggest name left on the free agent forward market is Phoenix captain Shane Doan. If the Flyers are unable to sign Parise, Suter or Carle, they could go all out for Doan, re-sign their own RFAs and then use their remaining cap space later on to potentially trade for additional blueline help. Doan is not expected to make a quick decision about where to sign next season. Word is that no announcement may come until July 9.

Another option would be to immediately return the focus to the trade market and try to land a top-line winger or top-pairing defenseman via a package trade. If Suter re-signs with Nashville at a cap hit that fall somewhere between $7 million to $8 million, the team might then have to make restricted free agent Shea Weber available if it cannot sign him to a long-term contract that could easily exceed Suter's cap hit. Another potential trade target, Winnipeg's Tobias Enström is another All-Star caliber defenseman in line to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Finally, in lieu of re-signing Carle, there are still some lesser-name but still useful free agent defensemen still on the current UFA market. One such player is Carlo Coliacovo. The 30-year-old defenseman had a Carle-like offensive season in 2009-10 and posted 19 points and a plus-7 rating in just 64 games for St. Louis this past season.

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Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren recently dropped a broad hint about the Flyers' plans for a backup goalie next season, mentioning that impending UFA goaltender Michael Leighton was still a member of the organization. Turns out it wasn't just lip service.

Yesterday, the Flyers re-signed Leighton to a one-year, $900,000 contract. He comes at a price that is a few hundred thousand dollars cheaper than Chris Mason, whom many thought would end up in Philly.

Personally, Leighton would not have been my first (or even third) choice to back up Ilya Bryzgalov, but I'm OK with the decision. Leighton knows the team, knows the system and has a strong working relationship with goaltending coach Jeff Reese. His back is also reasonably healthy again.

My main concern with the signing is that while Leighton has played in a backup role in the NHL before, he has never been particularly effective in the role. He has tended to perform better with regular work and has not been as effective when he goes long stretches between games. That has contributed to him being waived several times.

Much like some baseball pitchers can be reasonably effective in a fifth starter role but struggle when asked to work out of the bullpen, some goalies make better for better starters than backups. Leighton has been a very good AHL starter over his career, but has flaws that have prevented him from holding down a starting job at the top level on a long-term basis.

The strongest play of Leighton's career came when he was a split-time starter in Chicago (2003-04) and the Flyers in 2010. When assigned to a backup role in Chicago, Nashville and Carolina, he ended up on waivers. He has also been waived several times by the Flyers; first after a brief stay in 2006-07 and then in both 2010-11 and 2011-12. All the while, he has consistently remained among the better AHL starting goalies.

This time around, Leighton realizes full well that he will be an NHL backup and must fully adapt to the role. I think he can do a serviceable job.

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