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Meltzer's Musings: The Return of Rusty, Doan's Decision, Lilja

July 6, 2012, 8:18 AM ET [539 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Flyers made a nice depth signing yesterday by bringing Ruslan Fedotenko back to the city where his professional career began. The deal made sense both hockey-wise and financially, requiring only a one-season commitment to the 33-year-old at $1.75 million.

First and foremost, Fedotenko is still a pretty good two-way grinder. He's good on the boards and responsible defensively, albeit rather slow afoot nowadays. Although he has primarily played on either wing over his NHL career, he has filled in as a center as needed. He can be moved all around the lineup, sliding up from checking units for periodic duty on a scoring line. That versatility has helped keep him in the league.

Last season, Fedotenko's goal total dropped below double digits last season for the first time in his NHL career and his point total was a career-low 20. However, that had as much to do with playing primarily a defensive role in John Tortorella's defensive-minded system. Fedotenko often played left wing on the fourth line, in conjunction with Brandon Prust and Michael Rupp.

Fedotenko adds some experience (816 regular season games, 106 playoff games) to the lineup, as well as a player who has two Stanley Cup rings -- and related tattoos -- to his credit. Flyers fans remember only too well what a major role Fedotenko played in the Stanley Cup runs by Tampa Bay in 2004 and Pittsburgh in 2009.

Dating back to the trade that sent Fedotenko to Tampa Bay in the trade that brought the fourth overall pick (Joni Pitkanen) of the 2002 NHL Draft to the Flyers, the Ukrainian forward has enjoyed greater offensive success playing against the Flyers than any other NHL team. He has scored 18 regular season goals versus Philadelphia as well as 7 goals (six in the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals) and 10 points in 13 playoff games.

For Fedotenko's NHL career, he has scored 169 goals and 353 points. Most seasons, he'll get about a dozen to 15 goals and score around 30 points in primarily third-line duty.

Even if it is only for one season, it will be nice to see Fedotenko return to Philadelphia. He was a delight to interview during his early days with the Phantoms and the Flyers -- an earnest, exuberant and hard-working young man who was thrilled simply to be living out his dream of playing professional hockey.

Some people may recall the unusual circumstances under which Rusty made his NHL debut on Oct. 24, 2000. The Flyers were playing the Rangers in Madison Square Garden that night, and Fedotenko was not notified of the callup until fairly late in the afternoon. As such, he had to scurry to get to Manhattan and arrived at MSG shortly after the game started. Although he did not get a point in the game, Fedotenko played well in a 5-4 Philadelphia victory.

Two nights later, the same clubs met again in Philadelphia in the second end of the home-and-home set. Philly prevailed for the second time, 3-0. The rookie recorded his first NHL point, getting the primary assist on a Rick Tocchet goal that gave goaltender Brian Boucher some breathing room early in the third period.

Fedotenko's ice time grew steadily in the games to come. Even so, the rookie -- who had gotten off to a slow start with the Phantoms that season -- constantly worried that he was about to get back to the minors. He worked his tail off to stay in the NHL and the feared demotion never happened. He scored 16 goals and 36 points that season, and has been in the NHL ever since.

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The acquisition of Fedotenko is not intended to replace the departures of Jaromir Jagr and James van Riemsdyk. I still fully expect the club to pursue Shane Doan -- in competition with the Penguins, Rangers and quite a few other clubs -- if the 35-year-old Coyotes captain elects on Monday to consider free agent offers other than ones from Phoenix.

Doan's decision will be based on his comfort level with the prospects of the Coyotes franchise being sold to Greg Jamison, who has pledged to keep the team in Phoenix. The Arizona Republic reported that Doan has had several conversations with Jamison in recent weeks about the progress of the sale of the club.

Right now, the biggest holdup is whether taxpayers in Glendale will overturn a city sales tax increase and/or put to public referendum the lease for Jobing.com Arena, which would pay Jamison $324 million over 20 years. The lease was approved by city council last month.

The petition for a lease referendum is due on Monday, which is the same day Doan has set to make his decision about whether to stay with the only franchise he has played for in his NHL career. However, the petition deadline may be extended an additional week to July 16.
If the petition is filed and upheld, the lease will be held up until the November elections, at which point it would be ballot referendum question along with the sales-tax increase.

Doan, of course, is not going to wait that long to make up his mind about where to play hockey. If the potential legal hurdles for the sale of the team are largely cleared in the days to come, he'll stay put. From all accounts, that is his first choice.

If the issues seem destined to drag on for months to come -- potentially scuttling the sale if the referendum fails -- he'll look elsewhere. If that happens, be prepared for many NHL teams to serve up major offers to the veteran forward, despite the fact that he will require an over-35 contract with all of the inherent salary-cap related risks.

In yesterday's conference call to announce the signings of Fedotenko and Bruno Gervais, Paul Holmgren said that he's reluctant to have to give up assets in a trade for wing scoring or a defenseman to replace Matt Carle. He did not say anything about the Flyers being done in free agency.

According to capgeek.com, the Flyers currently have $7,806,627 of cap space below the temporary $70.2 million limit (not counting LTIR allowance). In addition, they can free up another $1.83 million before the season if need be via waiving Jody Shelley ($1.1 million) and finding a team willing to trade for inexpensive veteran defenseman Andreas Lilja ($737,500).

That is enough money for the Flyers to make a highly competitive push for Doan if he puts himself on the UFA market as well as re-signing their own restricted free agents. Alternatively, the Flyers could actually enter the season with a pretty fair amount of open cap space, which is preferable to maxing out the cap and dipping into Chris Pronger's LTIR.

Open cap space can be "banked" for later use in the trade market during the season. When a team trades for a player in-season, his cap hit is prorated over the remainder of the season. A chunk of banked money can go a long way toward affording a big-salaried acquisition, especially around the trade deadline. Conversely, LTIR allowance cannot be banked.

The chances of Doan landing in Philadelphia are not great. The team won't be scared off by a hefty cap hit, but the number of years on the deal (Doan reportedly wants four years) could be a little tough to swallow. Because the Penguins and Rangers would also likely be involved -- as well as Western Conference contenders -- the bidding could escalate quickly.

It would be great to have Doan in orange and black. He'd bring a host of desirable elements to the club, including size, decent scoring ability on the right wing, physical play and outstanding leadership. Even so, he's going to turn 36 in October and there has be a firm line drawn on how much the team is willing to commit to winning a bidding war.

It is not known whether Doan was among the Phoenix Coyotes players who personally disliked playing with Ilya Bryzgalov. While fellow veterans Adrian Aucoin and Derek Morris publicly blasted Bryzgalov after his departure from the Coyotes, team captain Doan took the high road. But Doan is deeply familiar with what Bryzgalov is like both at his best and his worst.

Doan and Bryzgalov were both a big part of the Coyotes' surprise rise after Dave Tippett took over as head coach. Doan saw Bryzgalov's Vezina finalist season first-hand. He also knows that the Coyotes brief playoff runs in 2010 and 2011 were because the team as a whole got outplayed. As such, I don't think there's anything at all to worry about in terms of Doan lacking confidence that a team could win with Bryzgalov as its goalie.

It has become commonplace for teams to enlist current and former players to try to sell free agents on the virtues of playing for their organization. This is an area where the Flyers would have a slight advantage over some other teams, as Danny Briere remains good friends with his former Phoenix teammate.

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The Flyers' signing of Bruno Gervais leaves the status of Andreas Lilja in some doubt. As of now, the team may be compelled to carry 8 defensemen on the opening night roster. That's because Marc-Andre Bourdon is subject to waivers if the Flyers want to send him to the AHL and also because the team is pretty much stuck with Lilja's cap hit even if he's not on the active roster.

The Flyers may try to find a team willing to trade for Lilja, who signed a two-year contract with the Flyers last summer. Perhaps a team that is looking for an inexpensive veteran 7th defenseman. Alternatively, there may a team willing to take on his cap hit for one year simply to help reach the cap floor.

Lilja is slated to earn $700,000 in actual salary next season ($737,500 cap hit, because he made $775,000 for the 2011-12 season). The veteran of 576 regular season games and 66 playoff matches in the NHL started 46 games for the Flyers during the 2011-12 regular season this year and dressed in 10 of the team's 11 playoff games.

Lilja actually began and finished the season as a semi-regular starter but he missed a month with a high ankle sprain and played sparingly for awhile after his return.

While some fans acted like Lilja had no business in the NHL, I thought he was adequate as a part-time third-paring defenseman who averaged 13:41 of ice time per game. He has his share of limitations -- poor mobility, no offensive game, difficulty triggering outlet passes and zone clears under pressure -- but he did bring some positives to the table.

In his limited ice time, Lilja blocked 72 shots in the regular season, and doled 61 hits. He added 22 blocks and 14 hits in his average 13:58 of ice time in the playoffs. He was a plus-nine during the regular season, minus-five in the postseason. Ideally, the Flyers would not have had to start Lilja regularly in the playoffs. The injury to Andrej Meszaros and the ineffectiveness of Pavel Kubina did not allow for it.

Gervais, who signed a two-year contract with a $825,000 cap hit, is a bit of an upgrade on Lilja. He's more mobile, younger and a better puck-mover with a better shot. I wouldn't have a problem with the Flyers keeping both the left-shooting Lilja and right-shooting Gervais as plug-in options and competition with Bourdon for the sixth defense role.

But doing that would create a real numbers game problem. The Flyers would like to see if Erik Gustafsson is capable of filling some of the puck-moving and secondary power play void left by the departure of Matt Carle. However, there is no way the Flyers will -- or should -- carry nine defensemen.

Gustafsson does not require waivers this season to be sent to the AHL. But if he earns a job out of camp, the team isn't going to want to demote simply because there's a logjam with Bourdon, Gervais and Lilja. The veteran Swede would be the odd man out if Gustafsson earns a job and Bourdon's concussion symptoms have fully subsided.

Side note: I found a minor but interesting statistic yesterday about Gervais. In each of the last two season, he's actually had more credited takeaways than charged giveaways. You don't see positive GA/TA ratios very often with defensemen, at least not in back-to-back seasons.

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