Now that we are a week into free agency and the dust is starting to settle it's time to take a look at the Flyer's new landscape. All things considered this has been a relatively unexciting offseason. While the Flyers threw huge offers at Parise and Suter, the posterboys of this summer's free agents, it wasn't exactly shocking that they did not land them. Parise said from the beginning that he did not want to play for another team in the Atlantic Division and Suter said that he wanted to go to a western team. The Wild are the big winners so far, having landed them both. If you listen to some the analysts on ESPN talk about hockey (which you should never ever do) they might have you believe that this is comparable to LeBron and Bosh teaming up to go to the Heat. That's the biggest load I've heard in a while. Landing Suter and Parise significantly improves the Wild, but it is only a start. They will definitely be a playoff team this year, but mark my words, they won't be winning their division. Let's not pretend that an overrated forward who was 20th in the league in goals last year and 45th in assists is comparable to LeBron James.
While not being able to sign Suter or Parise, especially Suter, kind of stinks, the Flyers may have never truly wanted them to begin with. Rumor has it Holmgren may have just used the available money to make an offer and drive up their price, which is smart because over in the depressing western part of PA the Penguins were also showing interest in Parise.
There are some familiar faces in Philly that we won't be seeing next year, the biggest of which is Jaromir Jagr. Jags bolted to Dallas for a cool $4.5 million. I can't really say I blame him. He has much less of a chance to win there, but for an extra $1.2 million in what could be his last season it made the most sense.
Matt Carle has also decided to take his talents elsewhere, to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Philly fans like to go back and forth over whether or not he is a good defensemen, but you'd have to be blind not to see that this move is bad for the Flyers. It wasn't worth the money that Carle was asking to keep him, roughly an extra $2 million a year, but losing any defenseman at this point hurts.
The Flyers have begun to slowly fill their holes on defense by adding Luke Schenn and Bruno Gervais. Gervais comes from Tampa Bay and frees up some cap space, his contract for 2 years at $1.65 million. Gervais was also the best man at Max Talbot's wedding, so hopefully that comradery will ease him into playing in Philadelphia. He is also right-handed, which is what the Flyers need on defense.
The other recent signing comes in the form of Ruslan Fedotenko. Fedotenko is coming back for his second stint with the Flyers after starting his career here in the early 2000's. Fedotenko found most of his success though playing with the 2004 Champion Tampa Bay Lightning and 2009 Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Last season he helped the New York Rangers advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Feds is a solid 2-way forward, who won't be phased by a little forchecking, like the Devils used to take the Flyers down 2 months ago.
The other noteworthy signing this offseason is backup goalie Michael Leighton. Bringing him back seems like a good move, especially at only $900,000. He's played in the cup with the Flyers before and most fans like him. I'm personally excited to see him back, hopefully he won't need to be used much this year however.
Basically, this year's crop of free agents didn't have too much to offer. Besides the Minnesota Wild, no team is going to end up signing anything more than a third or fourth-liner or some aging veterans singing their swan songs. The Flyers have made good moves this offseason and maintained a lot of cap space, which could come in handy next year when the free agent class is likely to include names like Shea Weber, Jerome Iginla, Corey Perry and Patrick Elias. Still would like to see some more moves on D, but so far I'd give the Flyers offseason a B.
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