Philadelphia Flyers Offseason Planner 2008 - Part 1

Tuesday July 01, 2008 @ 04:15 PM EDT

It’s that time of the year again, the free agent season. And the Flyers are always counted on for two things throughout the years under the Bobby Clarke reign as Flyer GM:


1) They will make a HUGE splash in the signing of one or more of the biggest names available on the market.


2) The players that they sign will be forwards, rarely ever a defenseman that can make a difference.


Things changed dramatically when the salary cap was put into effect as part of the last collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Clarke, who always had the go ahead to tug at the never ending purse strings that were given him by the club’s ownership could not make the roster work when the salaries had to be structured to an even playing field as many of the NHL’s other teams had been so stringently operating under for years, even before there was officially an upper salary limit.


In 2005, Clarke saw fit to sign two bigger & slower defensemen, Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje. These two defensemen had thrived in the old NHL, when they could use their long reach and octopus-like grip to wrap up opposing forwards in front of theie own net.


The fact that Scott Niedermayer was available and was asking in the neighborhood of $6-8 million per season, and the fact that the decisions of two defensemen, Magnus Ragnarsson and Mattias Timander, not to return to the Flyers after the lockout has swayed Clarke away from Niedermayer. And all of this with the knowledge that Flyer owner Ed Snider, being on the NHL Rule Changes Committee, had provided to Clarke regarding the upcoming rule changes.


Anyway, we all know how that turned out. Niedermayer anchored the Duck defense to a Stanley Cup victory in 2007 & the Flyers finished last overall that same season.


Gone was the footloose and fancy free spending, and so were the signings of the big names. The signings Clarke made (in addition to locking up then-Flyer pending free agents Simon Gagne & Antero Niittymaki) were the likes of Geoff Sanderson, Marty Murray, Mark Cullen, Randy Robitaille, Boyd Kane, and Nolan Baumgartner.


Clarke forgot the name of the Flyer’s first round pick at the podium (Claude Giroux) when announcing the pick, and not surprisingly resigned as the Flyers got off to their worst start ever on the way to finishing last overall in the league.


Enter Paul Holmgren as GM, and “Homer” has done a fantastic job in what he inherited since taking over. The trades he made prior to the trade deadline that season, coupled with his deals made during the free agency period last year has completely restructured the entire makeup of the Flyers.


Holmgren traded for the rights to pending unrestricted free agents Kimmo Timonen & Scott Hartnell from Nashville & got them signed, then he signed Danny (formerly Daniel) Briere.


The Flyers not only were more competitive & made the playoffs, they were three wins short of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. And had it not been for injuries to the team’s top two defenders, Timonen & Braydon Coburn (another great Holmgren acquisition) as the Flyers entered the Semis against Pittsburgh, no one will ever know just how far they could have gone.


So here we are, free agent season, 2008, and where does Holmgren go from here? He is up against the upper limit of the salary cap and has been trying to get creative.


The team is coming off dealing popular winger RJ Umberger at the Entry Draft in Ottawa to clear some space, and the first round pick they received in return for Umberger was used for a highly rated defenseman Luca Sbisa. Very good move, as throughout the Flyers history there have been some great defensemen to wear the orange & black, but all have come from trades. The Flyers best drafted defenseman in the past 20 years? Probably Chris Therien. ‘Nuff said.


With all the dealings, including signing RFA forward Jeff Carter, this is how the Flyer roster currently looks:


Forwards:


Danny Briere
Jeff Carter
Mike Richards
Simon Gagne (if healthy)
Joffrey Lupul
Mike Knuble
Steve Downie
Scottie Upshall


Defense:


Kimmo Timonen
Braydon Coburn
Steve Eminger
Lasse Kukkonen
Ryan Parent
Derian Hatcher
Randy Jones (at the time of this writing still an unsigned RFA)


Goaltenders:


Marty Biron
Antero Niittymaki


The Flyers should not have much of an issue as to forwards or in goal…but there will be spots to be fought for on the team’s defense at training camp in September. Michael Ratchuk, Denis Bodrov, Kevin Marshall, & Joonas Lehtivuori may all get long looks if nothing can be engineered to bring in more experienced blueliners.


Hatcher’s knee injury led many to believe that he would retire after the past season, but there has been no mention of that from Hatcher’s camp. Ditto Mike Rathje, as he has sat out for the better part of the past two years with a back injury, but refuses to retire. That money still counts against the cap and will again hinder the Flyers to a certain degree.


Timonen is a great player and will again be the #1 defenseman on the Philadelphia blueline, but he is now 33 and will need more help in the coming years. The emergence of Braydon Coburn as a stud defender has made the trade for Alexei Zhitnik with Atlanta look like an all-timer for the Flyers.


The Flyers have to try and get RFA Randy Jones signed before they can even think about going the free agent route. And as the time drags on in the process, other teams are signing the prominent available free agent defensemen.


Holmgren would love to have a shot at signing Brian Campbell, probably the top UFA defenseman in this year’s class, but trades will have to be made to have a chance to do so. There have been rumors that Mike Knuble or possibly Joffrey Lupul will be dealt to free up money to make something happen.


The Flyer depth at forward, along with the fact that prospects such as Claude Giroux (yes, I remembered his name!), Mario Kempe, Patrick Maroon, Rob Bellamy, Garret Klotz, Andreas Nodl, and down the road James van Riemsdyk give the Flyers a number of options to explore if they do, indeed trade a forward to clear cap space.


So what will they do? As of the time this was being written, the only deals the Flyers have made over the past week have involved acquiring a few defensive prospects from other teams, including today’s deal where Denis Gauthier was dealt to Calgary for prospect Patrik Hersley.


But that is what you do when you’re up against the cap limit, and perhaps Homer thinks that he can unearth another Braydon Coburn from another team’s hold. Time will tell, but Philadelphia’s clock is ticking a bit quicker with July 1st having come and no deal being in place for Jones.


But hopefully something Homer will concentrate on is the old hockey adage…....”Defense wins championships”...as he tries to remold the defense the way he has the rest of the team.

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