MELTZER'S MUSINGS: SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
1) Earlier in Vincent Lecavalier's career with the Philadelphia Flyers, there was an opinion among some in the organization that the player was not in ideal hockey shape when he reported to camp. Although Lecavalier kept himself in excellent muscular condition with a chiseled upper body and powerful arms, some felt the former Rocket Richard Trophy winner had not done enough skating-specific conditioning in the offseason to play the skating-intensive style of game that Craig Berube's system demanded.
Last year, one of the frustrations that arose amid a disappointing season that saw Lecavalier largely confined to fourth line duty or relegated to being a healthy scratch was that the player strongly felt he had done everything the team asked him to do but to no avail. Now, with new coach Dave Hakstol at the helm -- another coach with a system that heavily emphasizes constant skating and a "swarming" style designed to maximize puck pressure in all zones -- Lecavalier reportedly spent the summer trying to make sure he was in peak skating shape as well as muscular condition.
Lecavalier told CSN Philadelphia and HockeyBuzz writer Tim Panaccio that he hired Nick Orlando (the owner and chief instructor of The Show Hockey to work with him throughout the summer on many different aspects of his game, including skating.
“I started early. Usually, I’ll start maybe skate once or twice a week and then in mid-August I’ll go three times or four times. I started right away with him. For the first two weeks it was four times a week and then all week long after that until I got back here,… Lecavalier told CSN Philly.
At his end-of-season press conference days prior to Berube's dismissal as head coach, Lecavalier made it crystal clear that he did not want to return to the Flyers for the 2015-16 season unless things significantly changed. When Hakstol was hired, the new coach pledged to keep an open mind heading in training camp and form his own opinions of which players fit in his lineup in the longtime University of North Dakota bench boss' first NHL (and pro-level) coaching season.
Lecavalier is saying and doing all the right things as a professional heading into camp, but it is still likely he would welcome a trade. It is still debatable whether his long-established style of play will mesh well with Hakstol's system. For one thing, Lecavalier has always been a station-to-station type of skater and the defensive part of his game has never been close to equaling his hands and shot in the offensive zone. Secondly, Lecavalier still has an explicit preference for playing center and there may not be a spot for him in the middle under Hakstol, either.
However, if things don't work out, it won't be for lack of effort. The player told CSN that he has maintained his 220-pound physique over the summer but decreased his body fat percentage in the process of his offseason conditioning regimen. With a significantly increased emphasis on skating throughout the summer, he got himself as physically ready as possible to compete for an increased role. The rest will play on the ice.
On July 1, Lecavalier received a $2 million installment on his signing bonus from the five-year contract he signed with the Flyers in 2013. He now has $8.5 million remaining to be paid on the deal, including $2.5 million over the duration of the 2015-16 season. With the front-loaded portion of his $22.5 million contract with the Flyers paid off, the organization had at least mild hope of being able to trade him after July 1. Clearly, there was no deal to be made.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said in his Sept. 3 media availability that he had not spoken with Lecavalier's agent, Kent Hughes, in roughly the last month. In other words, there was nothing to discuss because there were no trade leads.
For the time being at least, Lecavalier and the Flyers are still tied to one other. It has been an open secret for some time that the fifth and final year of Lecavalier's contract (2017-18, $3 million real-dollar salary) was added mostly for mitigating the cap hit of the front loaded deal and the player might retire after the 2016-17 season.
Hughes told the media over the summer that Lecavalier had zero interest in retiring in the near future. It was also clear he was not amenable to a mutually agreed termination of his contract, at least not in the summer of 2015.
The Flyers were equally unwilling to entertain a buyout in June 2015, which would have kept him on the books until 2021 and carried a $2.89 million cap hit in 2015-16 and 2016-17, before dropping slightly to $2.39 million in 2017-18. The team would then have had to carry over $888,889 of cap penalties for each of three additional seasons through 2020-21 per Capfriendly.com.
2) Speaking strictly in terms of cap hit and not duration or real dollar cost, Lecavalier is actually a worse buyout candidate next summer than he would have been in 2015. Per Capfriendly.com, Lecavalier's cap hit if bought out next June would be $2.92 million in 2016-17, and $2.42 million in 2017-18 with cap penalties of $916,667 in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
However, one advantage on the passed-over 2015 buyout window would be that LeCavalier would be off the books in 2020. In real dollars, the total buyout cost ($3,666,667) would, of course, be lower with a 2016 buyout than with a 2015 buyout ($5,333,333). The reason the cap hit would he higher is that the 2016 buyout would be amortized over four years, resulting in higher cap-hit installations each year of its duration.
3) The buyout picture for R.J. Umberger in 2016 is potentially more appealing to the Flyers from a cap management perspective than a Lecavalier buyout.
Although the team would have to eat a cap penalty of $1.5 million in 2017-18 (when Umberger would otherwise be off the books after the expiration of his current deal), the cap savings for 2016-17 might be worthwhile to Hextall. Umberger's current cap hit of $4.6 million would drop to $1.6 million in 2016-17 if Umberger is bought out next June. In real dollars, Umberger will have $4.5 million owed to him if he completes the duration of his contract. A buy out would cost the Flyers $3 million in total real-dollar cost.
The Flyers were not going to buy out Umberger in June 2015 even if they were allowed to under the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Players' Association, which prohibits buyouts of injured players. Umberger's need for both hip and abdominal surgeries, which ended his 2014-15 season early, would have precluded a buyout.
Had a 2015 buyout been allowed and exercised by the Flyers organization, Umberger's cap hit schedule would have been as follows: $1.6 million in 2015-16 and 2016-17, $1.5 million in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
4) There was plenty of media hullabaloo yesterday over the news that all three of the Boston Bruins' 2015 first-round draft picks -- Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zach Senyshyn -- failed their conditioning tests upon reporting to rookie camp. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney was understandably displeased.
What happened in Boston, however, is not limited to that organization or the three prospects. Veteran coaches and scouts sometimes talk about the "NHL standard" of hard work.
One veteran NHL amateur scout put it this way. "There's a difference between working at the junior level and working at this level."
Whether it pertains to matters of conditioning or attention to detail from game-to-game, shift-to-shift and practice to practice, the expectations bar is raised considerably on what players are used to in junior and collegiate hockey. Players may work harder at these things than they did in junior hockey -- and they may even have grown used to being praised for their work ethic at lower levels -- and then find themselves in for a rude awakening when they arrive in the NHL and are told they need to do better than that.
The trio of Zboril, DeBrusk and Senyshyn just learned a humiliating lesson. However, since it was an en masse failure, one has to also wonder exactly how effective the Bruins' development camp directors were in impressing upon the attendees just how much the conditioning bar was going to be raised in the near future and what the preparation expectations would be.
Again, this is not strictly a problem for the Bruins. All organizations face this challenge as part of their post-Draft development programs.
For instance, the Flyers drafted David Kase in the fifth round this year knowing he fared quite poorly in the fitness tests at the 2015 NHL Combine, including an 18 percent body fat measurement (only three Draft hopefuls at the Combine had higher body fat measurements). As of the NHL Combine, he weighed in at 159 pounds on a 5-foot-9 1/2 frame. The Flyers went in to drafting Kase knowing full well that he's going to need substantial improvement in conditioning as he matures as one of many challenges awaiting him before he may someday be ready for the NHL.
Even a player such as Scott Laughton, who has always been known for a strong work ethic and having a good head on his shoulders, found out during his first pro season that the standards of the NHL and the AHL level are much higher on a day-in and day-out basis than anything he experienced with the OHL's Oshawa Generals. He'd been through a few NHL camps and had a few NHL games under his belt, but the rigors of a full pro season were an eye-opening experience.
Claude Giroux went through the same thing as a rookie, when he ended up getting cut from the Flyers roster during training camp by coach John Stevens and started out his first pro year with the Phantoms before being called up to the NHL to stay.
Said the scout, "[Highly touted rookies] kind of expect to be up there with the big guys because you start hanging around with the big timers in the summer. Guys who have made it already. You find out have to earn it and it's a whole different level of work involved."
5) Correction from yesterday's blog: There are actually 27 -- not 21 as printed -- NHL teams participating in various multi-team prospect tournaments or two-game sets between two organizations. In addition to the listed tourneys in Estero, FL, Traverse City, MI, London, Ont. and Penticton, BC, there will be a three-team round-robin in Buffalo (Sabres, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils. Additionally, there will be separate two-game sets with the San Jose Sharks' prospects playing their Anaheim Ducks counterparts and the LA Kings against the Arizona Coyotes. The only three NHL organizations not participating in any competitions this year are the Flyers, New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche.
6) The Flyers website has a behind-the-scenes look at the recent Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp in Atlantic City, NJ. One thing that stands out: many of Alumni may be long removed from NHL playing days but the joy of being out in the ice and in the team atmosphere never leaves them.
SEPT. 12: FLYERS ALUMNI FACE OFF AGAINST CANCER
On Saturday, Sept. 12, the Flyers Alumni Team will participate in the third annual Faceoff Against Cancer at the Ice Works in Aston, PA. Last year, the Alumni's participation helped raised $145,891 for Delaware Valley families in need, with roughly $13,000 apiece going directly to 12 beneficiaries to offset some of the high financial burdens involved in the fight against various forms of cancer.
The Faceoff Against Cancer is an all-day event at the Ice Works complex, featuring a hockey tournament, live bands and other entertainment, on-ice and off-ice events, kid-friendly carnival games, a silent auction, raffles, prizes, food and soft drinks. Alcoholic beverages are available at an additional adult admission price.
The highlight of the day is a game between the Flyers Alumni Team and a team of "All-Star" donors from the various participants. The game is slated to start at 7:15 p.m. EDT. Afterwards, for an additional $50 donation, event attendees can have dinner and a personal meet-and-greet with the Flyers Alumni players.
To purchase tickets for the 2015 Faceoff Against Cancer, click here.
Even if you cannot attend the event in person, there's a variety of online donation options available. Donors can make a general donation to be split among all the beneficiaries or else they can make individual donations to go to the cancer patient beneficiary chosen by each of the participating teams. The beneficiaries come from a variety of different backrounds and ages -- some are pediatric cancer patients, some are the parents of young children, some are grandparents and one is a memorial fund.
For more information on all of the day's activities, bios on the beneficiaries and more, please visit the Faceoff Against Cancer website. The cause also has a Twitter account (@FACEOFFvsCANCER) and Facebook page.