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Meltzer's Musings: Lecavalier, Tuesday Quick Hits

July 2, 2013, 4:32 AM ET [1837 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
UPDATE 7:15 P.M. EDT

The Flyers have signed center Vincent Lecavalier to a five-year contract with a $4.5 million cap hit per season. My immediate reactions:

* The Flyers wanted to get bigger up front this offseason and add at least one more skill player to the forward lineup to replace the bought-out Danny Briere. Lecavalier has not been a superstar-level player in about five years but he is still a good second-line player.

* I don't like the length of the contract even a little bit, although I know that Lecavalier wanted a contract of that length wherever he signed. Although he is hardly ancient at 33, he is not the player he was a few years ago. This contract has the potential to become an albtross around the Flyers necks in the next two or three years if Lecavalier does not meet expectations.

* I guess this move means that Brayden Schenn is going to become a full-time left winger.

* I do NOT think this move makes it much more likely that one of Schenn or Sean Couturier is traded. However, it does mean there is some more salary shedding to come. One of Andrej Meszaros, Braydon Coburn or Nicklas Grossmann is almost certainly going to get dealt.

* Don't listen to those sounding the alarm bells about how the Flyers won't be able to get Claude Giroux, Couturier and Schenn re-signed. The team will have nearly $11 million of salary cap space coming off the books next summer when the likely to retire Kimmo Timonen becomes an unrestricted free agent along with Meszaros and Bruno Gervais. In addition, the salary cap ceiling is likely to increase next year. On top of it, the Flyers have Chris Pronger's in-season long-term injured reserve allowance -- a maximum $4.91 million over the cap ceiling -- if they absolutely need it.

Giroux's next contract will likely carry about double his current $3.75 cap hit. That's a given.

Schenn's next deal is going to carry a much higher actual salary this current incentive-laden entry-level deal but the $3.1 million cap hit is not going to go up THAT much unless he has a huge breakout year in his third NHL season. Someone suggested Schenn might use Tyler Seguin as a comparable but Seguin had more goals and points in his second NHL season alone than Schenn has in his entire NHL career to date.

Couturier will get a bump on his $1.375 million cap hit but it probably won't an astronomical one unless he has a big offensive breakthrough in 2013-14. Also, with Lecavalier's acquistion, it means Couturier's role remains a checking one.

The one guy whom I don't think the Flyers will be able to re-sign before he hits free agency is Matt Read, who can be unrestricted next summer. As such, I have doubts that he'll be a Flyer by the end of next season.

I'll have more Lecavalier-related musings in the morning.

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Flyers Acquire Newbury

The Flyers and New York Rangers made a minor trade yesterday. Philadelphia sent veteran AHL defenseman Danny Syvret to the New York organization in exchange for veteran forward Kris Newbury.

A power forward at the AHL level, where he has been a decent scorer as well as a player who drops the gloves, the 31-year-old Newbury's lone NHL role is as a reserve enforcer and fourth line player. He might come up to the Flyers if Jay Rosehill is unavailable. Win or lose, Newbury is willing to fight just about anyone, although at 5-foot-11 and 213 pounds he fits more in the mold of an Arron Asham type than as a true heavyweight fighter.

For the Phantoms, Newbury will see power play time and be expected to produce his usual 20-plus goals. The trade also creates opportunities for some of the prospect-age defensemen in Adirondack to absorb some of the ice time formerly assigned to Syvret.


Flyers Extend Three Qualifying Offers, Turn Two Loose as UFAs

The Flyers extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Erik Gustafsson, Oliver Lauridsen, Brendan Manning and Eric Wellwood. They declined to extend to qualifying offers to forward Mitch Wahl and defenseman Blake Kessel, making both minor league players unrestricted free agents and removing them from the organization's crowded reserve list.

All the qualifying offers were expected. However, Wellwood's gruesome self-inflicted skate cut that severed tendons in his leg and will require at least nine months of recovery time creates some complications once he re-signs. National Hockey League teams are not allowed to waive/demote injured players down to the American Hockey League which means Philly will have to carry Wellwood and his $594,000 salary (assuming he accepts the qualifying offer) on their NHL roster and salary cap number until he's medically cleared.

In Gustafsson's case, the player's qualifying offer was $850,500, which was a five percent increase on his previous total salary of total salary of $900,000 minus his signing bonus installments of $90,000.

Gustafsson has reached the now-or-never stage in terms of cracking the Flyers' roster as a full-time player. Over the final 10 games of the 2013 NHL regular season, Gustafsson averaged 23:18 of ice time and had a pair of goals, three points and a plus-three rating over that span. He followed it up with an even better 10-game run at the 2013 IIHF World Championships for gold medalist Sweden.

During the tournament, "Gus" led Tre Kronor in ice time with an average 23:59 per game and was tied with defense partner Henrik Tallinder with a team-best plus-seven rating. Gustafsson was not out on the ice for a single opposition even strength goal during the entire tourney.

Right now, however, there is a logjam on the Flyers defense roster. Apart from Gustafsson, there are seven other defensemen -- Kimmo Timonen, Luke Schenn, Braydon Coburn, Nicklas Grossmann, Bruno Gervais and new acquisition Mark Streit -- plus Marc-Andre Bourdon (finally healthy after a long struggle with post-concussion syndrome). Lauridsen, Manning and Matt Konan also finished last season with the big club after a slew of injuries ended the seasons of all of the veterans except Schenn.

Lauridsen, who received a $643,500 qualifying offer, played well overall for Philadelphia during his late season trial. He also played admirably for a somewhat overmatched Denmark team at the Worlds. However, the hulking Dane can still use additional AHL time to continue to work on his puckhandling (Lauridsen's 12 giveaways in 15 games were way too much for a non puck-mover), footwork and continuing to refine his positional play.

Manning received a $715,000 qualifying offer. He is almost certain to play primarily for the Phantoms next year, for whom he endured a rough second pro season for much of 2012-13. He remains in the mix for an NHL call-up in the event of injuries.


Would Flyers Have Interest in Thomas?

Eklund reported last week that controversial two-time Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas was strongly considering a return to the NHL next season. Today, Thomas' agent, Bill Zito, publicly acknowledged that he's in touch with NHL teams to see what possibilities are out there.

Ek installed Columbus as the favorite to land Thomas in the event that the club was unable to re-sign reigning Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky. Now that Bobrovsky has re-signed with the Blue Jackets to a monstrous two-year bridge contract, Columbus would probably not be as mutually interested in Thomas as Eklund says the Thomas camp still is with Columbus.

As I see it, despite Thomas' past HIFK Helsinki championship ties in Finland and solid personal relationship with Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen, there really isn't a potential fit there anymore unless Thomas would be content to being the backup goaltender.

The Flyers may be a short-term fit for Thomas to be either a primary or split-time starter for a year. There is an opening for a starting goaltender next season and acquiring Thomas would create the potential for a 1A/1B arrangement with Steve Mason and the veteran, buying the team some time to evaluate their longer-term options without gambling too heavily that Mason's late-season play in Philadelphia was a sign of him getting his once-promising career back on track.

It is easy to make the case as to why the Flyers should simply avoid Thomas.

Start by mention his age and the fact he's been away from the game for a year. Say that he thrived within a strong defensive team in front of him, and the scrambly play the Flyers exhibit could be a bad fit. Add that you are concerned about what his cap hit would be, and whether it would be more than a one-year deal. Finally, bring up concerns over him being a distraction and the fact that the alternative options out there would not threaten to create turmoil.

These are also legitimate gripes, and the fears are understandable. Even with Roberto Luongo staying in Vancouver, Jonathan Bernier going to Toronto and Cory Schneider going to New Jersey, Philly still has a variety of options, ranging from other unrestricted free agents like Ray Emery to trade candidates such as Jaroslav Halak. I would not be upset if the Flyers ended up going in one of those other directions.

For the sake of argument, though, I'll make the case for why it could work between Thomas and the Flyers as a one-year arrangement. I see some possible parallels to Dominik Hasek's one successful regular season in Ottawa.

In strictly hockey terms, I am not majorly concerned that 39-year-old Thomas would be physically unable to return to the NHL and play well after taking a year off. The way I see it is if Hasek could do it at a similar age, why not Thomas? I presume the former Bruin is in decent shape or he wouldn't even contemplate options for coming back to the NHL.

Hasek actually missed more time than Thomas has. Hasek was twice away for a full season sandwiched around him playing just 14 games in the middle season. Some other parallels between Thomas and Hasek apart from their advanced ages at the time of the comeback bids and their previous status as multiple-time Vezina winners :

* Both goalies play unorthodox styles, although their actual games were different.

* Neither goalie has always been especially well-liked by a segment of their NHL teammates, coaches or management.

* During their careers, both goalies have been the central figure in some pretty big team distractions and controversies. Perhaps most notably, Hasek was in the middle of a maelstrom during the 1997 playoffs when Buffalo beat writer Jim Kelley openly questioned whether the superstar goaltender, who had sat out with a knee injury, was actually too hurt to play or just lacked mental toughness. An enraged Hasek physically assaulted Kelley in the locker room the next time he saw the reporter. Meanwhile, the team had to answer constant Hasek-related questions while backup goalie Steve Shields ended up appearing in 10 of Buffalo's 12 playoff games (which came to an end at the hands of the Flyers).

As far as the "distraction question" would go with Thomas right on the heels of the circus that surrounded Ilya Bryzgalov, it'd come down to whether the goalie stops the puck. If Thomas played at a high level, his success coupled with the weight of his two Vezinas and Cup ring from a Conn Smythe Trophy-winning season would create plenty of respect. He may not always have a warm-and-fuzzy personality, but no one could ever say he wasn't a battler through adversity.

Contrary to popular belief, Thomas' political beliefs in and of themselves were NOT what alienated his teammates and irretrievably broke his relationship with the Bruins. It was that Thomas chose to make private beliefs into a matter of public record and then left others to answer constant non-hockey questions about their goaltender. In the process, Thomas intentionally took focus away from on-ice unity and then dug in his heels.

What team leaders primarily care about is whether the goaltender has his teammates back when they are out on the ice together. That has not been a problem with Thomas. Secondarily, no one should deliberately create off-ice distractions. That's where Thomas ran afoul of the Bruins.

Wherever Thomas goes, he and his new team will be immediately bombarded with the same questions, many of which will not be directly hockey-related. It's inevitable, and is of the player's own doing.

But that early distraction could die down pretty quickly into the season if Thomas and his teammates don't fan the flames. Thomas and everyone else would need to:

1) Say he's already made his public political statements and has nothing to add to it. People know exactly where he stands. Then emphasize that all he worries about from the time he arrives at the rink until the time he leaves is the success of his new team.

2) Prove that sincerity by just playing hockey. The better he and the team would play, the less anyone could justify continuing to ask constant questions about the past and whether Thomas' presence is a distraction.

There would be undeniably big risk in signing Thomas even if he wants to play here. But there would also be potentially high reward, too. So long as it's not a multi-year deal, I'd personally be on board with it if that's the direction the Flyers chose to go next season. I also wouldn't be heartbroken if they looked elsewhere instead.

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