1) The 2016 NHL buyout period begins either on June 15 or 48 hours after the end of the Stanley Cup Final ends, whichever happens later. In other words, if the Pittsburgh vs. San Jose series goes the full seven games -- something San Jose and anyone rooting against the Penguins would gladly take at this point -- the buyout period will begin on June 17. Otherwise, it will be the 15th.
In either event, the buyout period ends on June 30 (officially at 5 p.m. EDT).
It seems to be almost a foregone conclusion that the Philadelphia Flyers will use a buyout on the final season of veteran forward R.J. Umberger's contract when the window opens to do so. Assuming that's the case, the Flyers will get $3 million of cap relief in 2016-17 on the player's $4.6 million cap hit. For the 2017-18 season, however, it will cost the team $1.5 million against the cap where they otherwise would have been clear of any cap cost.
The NHL is still figuring out the parameters of an expansion draft next summer. However, the Flyers would likely buy out Umberger regardless. It did neither the team nor the player any good to have a $4.6 million serial healthy scratch in the second half of the 2015-16 season.
As was the case with Vincent Lecavalier, Umberger was a professional about the situation. He didn't rock the boat. He put in the extra skating and workout time of a player waiting for his opportunity to get back in the lineup, even after he knew that chance was realistically not going to happen (except for the meaningless final game of the regular season).
For the Flyers, the cost-benefit of a buyout versus riding out the contract is stacked in favor of a buyout. For Umberger, a buyout means he still gets paid two-thirds of his remaining contract (albeit over two years instead of one) and will have the opportunity to try to find another NHL team. It would either have to be on a one-year minimal contract or else via preseason tryout to compete for a fourth-line role but it'd be an opportunity nonetheless. Despite the lack of goals, Umberger actually played a bit more effectively this season than last, mostly because he was healthier.
At least Umberger had a sense of humor about his situation. The practice jerseys of the Flyers' "fifth line" forwards (i.e., healthy scratches) this past season were powder blue in color. Umberger jokingly asked if the color could be changed, saying he'd prefer "even dog poop brown" to powder blue.
2) As mentioned in yesterday's blog, 2016 NHL Draft prospect Max Jones is the son of former Flyers forward Brad Jones. Another likely first-rounder, Jakob Chychrun, is the son of former Flyers defenseman Jeff Chychrun. In both cases, the sons play different styles of games than their dads. Max Jones is an aggressive and agitating player around the net and in the corners. Brad was a finesse player who relied solely on his blazing speed.
The younger Chychrun is the type of defenseman that is coveted nowadays -- a puck mover with size and two-way ability. The elder Chychrun was a rock 'em, sock 'em old school defensive defenseman even at the junior level. He'd fight anyone at any time. I always though Jeff Chychrun had an underrated 1988-89 season for the Paul Holmgren-coached Flyers team that underachieved for much of the regular season but then gelled at just the right time. That team fell two wins shy of a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
3) Elliotte Friedman tweeted the following on Thursday.
I have no idea, of course, if Berube will get the assistant coaching -- and likely successor to Hitch -- job with the Blues. I do, however, stand by what I wrote on May 6:
Berube deserves another chance to be an NHL head coach. Whether it's in St. Louis or somewhere else, I think it will happen eventually.
4) Today in Flyers History -- 1975: The Flyers formally announce a trade that sends Bill Clement, their 1975 first-round pick (Alex Forsythe) and young AHL defenseman Don McLean to the Washington Capitals for the first overall pick of the 1975 draft. The Flyers use the pick to select rugged center Mel Bridgman.
The deal had actually been made before the 1975 playoffs ended. Bill Clement was already a Capital -- although he, of course, didn't know it yet -- when he scored the insurance goal in the Flyers' 2-0 win in the clinching sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final against the Buffalo Sabres.
5) Today in Flyers History -- 2010: The Flyers even up the 2010 Stanley Cup Final at two games apiece with a 5-3 home win in Game Four against the Chicago Blackhawks. Mike Richards (power play), Matt Carle, Claude Giroux, Ville Leino and Jeff Carter (empty net) score for the Flyers. The Flyers led 4-1 in the third period after the Leino goal before the Hawks pushed back to close within one goal prior to Carter's empty netter.
The 2009-10 season was the year that hammered home to me just how small the margins truly are in today's NHL. It's so much a game of what ifs. It takes no small amount of good fortune along the way -- the right breaks in the right situations -- to make or alter history.
Reverse their shootout win against the Rangers on the final day of the regular season, and the Flyers would have missed the playoffs. Reverse their Game 4 overtime win against the Bruins in the Eastern Conference Semifinal, and the Flyers would have been swept instead of making history by overcoming a 3-0 series deficit. Reverse the multiple blown leads or be the team to score in the third period in Game One and have Carter hit the net with Game Six on the line, and the Flyers would have been Stanley Cup champions.
Then again, if Grant Fuhr had not made a fully extended skate save on Peter Zezel's partially screened early-OT shot in Game Two of the 1987 Stanley Cup Final and the rest of the series progressed exactly the same, then J.J. Daigneault's famous game-winner in Game Six would have been the Cup winner instead of "just" the goal that forced a seventh game. The two plays were pretty similar except for the degree to which Fuhr was screened and, of course, the fact that the first one didn't go in and the second did.
Conversely, if Ron Hextall's terrifying turnover directly to Mark Messier in the closing 10 seconds of Game Six had ended up a goal and the Oilers had won in OT -- they had controlled most of that game, anyway -- then Hexy suddenly would have been a playoff goat with a seventh game on the line. Instead of being remembered, and rightfully so, as a playoff hero, one gaffe probably would have cost him the Conn Smythe Trophy. It would have been a painful replay to watch instead of one that elicits a smiling shake of the head.
As a 16-year-old watching Game 6 when Hextall, well out of the net, tried to flip the puck out of the zone and Messier somehow got to it, I did not see the rest of the play as it actually happened. I screamed "No!" at the television set and shut my eyes tight with an instant feeling of dread even before Messier moved in and play-by-play announer Gene Hart hollered "Open net!!! Shot... SAVE! Rebound! Over the net!". Only when the end-of-game cheer went up and Hart announced "the Flyers win!" did I open my eyes again.
That was a fearless play by Hextall; albeit fearless to the point of reckless. If a jumping Messier hadn't intercepted it over the middle, though, the puck might even have slid straight into the empty net at the other side of the ice. Wouldn't THAT have been quite the first goal for Hextall?!
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Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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