FLYERS SIGN CLEARY
According to multiple sources, the Flyers have "unofficially" signed veteran left winger Daniel Cleary to a three-year contract. The deal is worth $2.75 million per season on the salary cap and contains a no-trade clause. The deal will become official when the team clears out sufficient cap space to accommodate the contract for the 34-year-old.
In hockey terms, Cleary is a valuable two-way role player who should make for an excellent addition to the Flyers' third line. He will add some grit to a (likely) line combination with Sean Couturier and Matt Read.
There is also a host of trickle-down effects of the Cleary signing. First of all, you can just about forget the possibility of the Flyers re-signing Simon Gagne. It could be argued that Cleary is a better stylistic balance to the aforementioned line combination and somewhat less of an injury risk than Gagne. However, despite being in decline as an offensive player, Gagne is still the more gifted offensive talent of the two. Both are responsible two-way players.
At least in terms of public vibes, it seemed like the organization had more interest in re-signing Gagne right at the end of last season and then the interest cooled off over the summer. I cannot help but wonder about the input Ron Hextall may have had in internal discussions with Paul Holmgren. Hextall got to see Gagne's entire stint in Los Angeles firsthand. In comparing his observations with Holmgren's, it is possible that the two agreed that Cleary was a better fit to the team's specific needs if they could get him. This is strictly my own speculation, of course.
Another seemingly likely trickle-down effect of the Cleary signing is that it bumps Max Talbot down to the fourth line. I suppose it also potentially makes Talbot more of a trade candidate at some point if the Flyers do some additional roster reshaping.
Lastly, the addition of Cleary seems to pretty much seals the deal that Michael Raffl will start the season with the Phantoms. The odds were already leaning that way given how big of a leap it is to go from the EBEL/Allsvenskan to the NHL without taking any intermediate steps such as the SHL or AHL.
In terms of contract length and cap hit, I am not enamored of the deal. The cap hit will be of less concern in 2014-15 when the cap ceiling is expected to rise considerably. For this year, it is more than I would have ideally liked to see the Flyers take on for this player. The three-year term is a bit hefty for a 34-year-old role player but at least it is not subject to the odious over-35 contracting rules in case Cleary sustains a serious injury (ala Chris Pronger or Ian Laperriere). Depending on how the Flyers do come the final year of the deal, the no-trade clause could be a complicating factor because Cleary is the type of veteran player many clubs look to add as a rental.
When all was said and done, however, the Flyers had to go three years with a no-trade if they wanted to land the player. They were bidding against several other teams that hoped to add Cleary, so the market price was set and the Flyers elected to meet it. The thing about the free agent market is that, when players have multiple suitors, the team that lands the player almost always overpays a bit in the process. It's just the nature of the beast, and you either bite the bullet and pay it or take your team out of the mix.
Cleary's strong playoff run for Detroit this past spring no doubt inflated his price. He did not need to accept a tryout deal nor did he have to take a discount one-year deal somewhere. So he had leverage and his agent was wise to be patient for multiple offers to come in right before the start of training camp.
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ROOKIE GAME: FLYERS BLANK CAPS
The Philadelphia Flyers Rookies defeated the Washington Capitals Rookies, 1-0, yesterday in Arlington, Va. Taylor Leier scored the game's only goal while netminders Anthony Stolarz and Carsen Chubak combined for a shutout.
The game was scoreless after one period. In the middle stanza, Leier worked himself free in the center slot and roofed the puck home to put the Flyers team ahead. Stolarz started the game in net, giving way to Chubak midway through regulation. The diminutive 2013 Hobey Baker Award candidate finished off what the hulking 2012 second-round pick started.
Samuel Morin, the Flyers 2013 first-round pick, had a very solid game for the Flyers side. He was good positionally, played a physical brand of hockey, and even broke up a would-be breakaway for the Caps with a well-timed diving pokecheck. Late in the game, he tried for an empty net goal but missed the target and took an icing.
With all players in the game trying to make an impression on the coaches and team decision-makers, the jitters were obvious in the early parts of the game. For instance, the normally sure-handed Nick Cousins missed a gaping net. Several players on both sides fumbled away good setup passes in good shooting range. As the game moved along, players settled in.
The only black mark on the game for the Flyers: defenseman Mark Alt suffered a concussion. He got drilled awkwardly into the boards by Washington's bull-in-a-china-shop forward Tom Wilson and had to helped off the ice. Alt had played very well up that point, paired with Morin. When Alt was lost, Maxim Lamarche was moved up to the top line.
Prior to the concussion, Alt had quietly been emerging as one of the top NHL defense prospects in the Flyers organization. At this point, it is way too early to project a timetable for the rookie's return. Alt is already the second Flyers defense prospect to suffer a serious injury this September. Russian defenseman Valeri Vasiliev suffered a separated shoulder in the KHL regular season opener after being crosschecked in the back into the boards.
Morin will join the Flyers big club for the start of full camp on Thursday. He is likely to appear in a preseason game or two before being returned to his QMJHL club, the Rimouski Oceanic.
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FLYERS INK LEIER TO ENTRY-LEVEL CONTRACT
Prior to yesterday's Rookie Game, the Flyers announced that they had signed left winger Taylor Leier to an entry-level contract. The contract will slide for the 2013-14 season when he is re-assigned to the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.
The late-blooming Leier has progressed nicely in the WHL over the past two seasons. While he lacks a bit in size and does not project as a high-end scorer at the NHL level, he has a variety of tools that suggest he could have a future as a valuable role player in the NHL. He is a plus skater with two-way smarts, a high compete level and some grit to his game. Although not an elite scorer by any means, he is opportunistic in transition plays and in situations like yesterday where he can use a deceptively quick shot release and catch the defense and goalie napping.
While it is only one year out from the 2012 NHL Draft and too early to draw any conclusions, the early indicators point toward a fruitful crop of selections for the Flyers.
Scott Laughton already has five games in the NHL under his belt and projects as a solid two-way center in the NHL. He is most likely bound to spend one final year in the OHL in 2013-14 but will still get a long look during the Flyers preseason. He is a strong candidate to play for Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championships.
Second-rounder Anthony Stolarz is also under NHL contract (slide-rule eligible) and has come a long way in one year. He still has a long way to go before he's NHL ready but everything is trending in the right direction for the New Jersey native. He is in the mix to be a backup goaltender for Team USA at the 2014 World Juniors.
Third-round pick Shayne Gostisbehere has all the skating and puck skills necessary to become an offensive-minded pro defenseman. He has also been improving his defensive play at a steady rate. "Ghost" performed well for gold-medal winning Team USA at the 2013 World Junior Championships but has aged out of eligibility for the 2014 tournament. He remains at Union College this season for his junior year. The main issue for the undersized defenseman will be to fill out his slight frame and continue his defensive improvement. The rest is already there. The Flyers have the duration of Gostisbehere's NCAA eligibility to assess him for an entry-level contract.
Defenseman Fredric Larsson, whom the Flyers picked along with Leier among their two fourth-round picks, is still quite raw but has some upside. He plays a physical, North American style game and is probably better suited to the small-rink game. The move this season from Swedish junior hockey to the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms could be beneficial for him. He is still a long-range project for the Flyers but no decision on whether to sign him has to be made immediately. If he does well in the USHL, perhaps he could be placed in a collegiate program and develop along similar lines to Oliver Lauridsen.
Fifth-rounder Reece Willcox had a strong NCAA season in 2012-13 as a true freshman for Cornell University. Although his point totals won't jump out at anyone, he is a 6-foot-4 mobile puck-mover with good defensive instincts and positioning. As he continues to develop, he could be on a pro hockey track, perhaps even the NHL.
Seventh-round selection Valeri Vasiliev is already a regular starter in the KHL for Spartak Moscow and a likely candidate for a spot on Russia's team at the 2014 World Championships. That depends in how fast and how well he recovers from his recent shoulder separation. The initial prognosis on the injury was a three-week absence but it is same shoulder that kept Vasiliev out for six months in 2011-12 and caused him to drop from a potential second-round pick to the end of the Draft. Vasiliev recently told the Russian media that he wants to play three KHL seasons to gain experience and continue to add muscle. Thereafter, he hopes to sign with the Flyers.
Right now, I would say that five of the picks from last year's draft (Laughton, Stolarz, Gostisbehere, Leier and Vasiliev) are on an eventual NHL track at their current rates of development since the 2012 Draft. Willcox isn't far off the mark, either, and still has three years of college eligibility left at age 19. Larsson will take the longest to develop but has the tools to be a late bloomer.
If two players from the list play in the NHL, it will be a successful Draft. Three would be very successful and four or more would be a bonanza even if there are no future NHL stars among them. Beyond the first round, the NHL Draft is more about organizational depth than trying to unearth future big-impact players. If a team gets lucky and hits a home run later in the Draft, so much the better.
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Coming later this week: I will take a look at the puckhandling skills of the Flyers new goaltending tandem of Ray Emery and Steve Mason, and how it could have positively impact the team on the ice this season.
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