swflyers8

By Sam Carchidi
Inquirer Staff Writer
Sorting through the rubble of the Flyers' first-round playoff exit and looking ahead to the off-season.

The Flyers' slogan this season was "Hungry for More." Maybe it should have been "Hungry for a Leader."

The Flyers could have used someone to step up during their late-season funk.
But, hey, Mike Richards, who finished with a career high of 80 points, deserves some slack. He was a first-year captain who turned 24 during the season. He was a work in progress and, to his credit, admits he is still growing into the role.

And, besides, he played most of the season with shoulder tears that would have sidelined a baseball player for several months. Richards took the season-opening six-game losing streak personally, but rallied his team until late-season problems related to the salary cap hurt the Flyers' chemistry.

While most of the eight remaining playoff teams made late-season additions that made a big difference, the Flyers were subtracting players because of cap woes - many caused by moves that brought a dramatic turnaround the previous season.

General manager Paul Holmgren, who didn't want to comment on Richards' assessment last week that it was also a learning year for the GM in the cap-management world, said he would leave a sizable cap cushion next year.

As for this season, you could argue that the Pittsburgh Penguins edged the Flyers for the fourth seeding - and defeated them in the opening round of the playoffs - because they had enough cap space to add veterans Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz.

OK, enough about the Cap That Saved Pittsburgh (and others). That's in the past. It's time to look to the Flyers' future, which, despite a first-round exit, still looks bright.
Here, in no particular order, is what the Flyers should do in the off-season:


Protecting the net. Add a physical defenseman who makes opponents leery in front of the goal. Montreal's 6-foot-4, 242-pound Mike Komisarek is an unrestricted free agent who fits that description, though there are mixed feelings about him among Flyers honchos.
Komisarek was bothered by hand and shoulder injuries this season, but when healthy, he is the type of player the Flyers need - and would also give their defense a valuable righthanded shot. Another intriguing unrestricted free agent with physicality is Anaheim defenseman Francois Beauchemin, who appears to have recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that sidelined him for most of the season.

Chemistry. Get someone to liven up the locker room. This team has too many low-key sorts and needs to add some fiery types who will carry that attitude onto the ice. Maybe having a few fiery-but-disciplined personalities wouldn't have prevented the Penguins from overcoming a 3-0 deficit in Game 6, or the New York Rangers from rallying past the Flyers in the pivotal final game of the regular season. Or maybe it would have.

Man in the middle. Add a veteran center adept at killing penalties and taking face-offs (a Glen Metropolit type). This was sorely missing in the playoffs.

Dealing with Biron. Try re-signing Marty Biron, but don't break the bank to get him. Biron is an average-to-good goalie who becomes very good in the playoffs.
But if Biron can't be signed for $3 million to $3.5 million, the Flyers should cut ties and go after Craig Anderson or Scott Clemmensen, free-agent goalies who are just as effective (better?) and would probably be cheaper.

Get Bouwmeester. Try acquiring 6-4, 214-pound Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester - contingent on his signing with the Flyers and not becoming a free agent on July 1 - to give the orange-and-black a needed offensive force on the blue line. If it takes Joffrey Lupul, Randy Jones, and a No. 1 pick just to start the trade talks, so be it.

Test the market. See what the market bears for Danny Briere and Simon Gagne, veterans who would have to waive their no-trade clauses. Gagne had an excellent season, and his trade value is extremely high. He might agree to a deal with Montreal. Because of injury problems this season, Briere is not as attractive to teams, but showed he was still a highly valuable player. To free cap space and improve other areas, the Flyers should at least explore trading Gagne or Briere. By dealing one of them, they could probably get a midlevel forward and a high draft pick for a future goalie - and might then have enough cap space to sign, say, free agent John Madden, a veteran checking center who scored 16 goals for New Jersey this season.

Draft a goalie. Take a goalie high (they may have to trade up to do it), because this organization hasn't had an elite netminder since the days of Ron Hextall.

Sign Knuble. Yes, Mike Knuble will be 37, and, yes, he's lost a step or two, but the guy is a proven scorer (27 goals this season) who gives the Flyers a presence around the net.

Let's assume the Flyers don't add a Metropolit type until near next year's trade deadline and don't deal Gagne or Briere. If this wish list were otherwise completed, the four lines could look like this:

Gagne-Richards-Knuble
Scott Hartnell-Jeff Carter-Briere
Dan Carcillo-Claude Giroux-Darroll Powe Jon Kalinski-Jared Ross-Arron Asham.

(Left winger James van Riemsdyk, who could be trade bait, might be recalled from the minors after seasoning.)

The defense would become elite: Bouwmeester-Komisarek
Ryan Parent-Kimmo Timonen
Braydon Coburn-Matt Carle, with Luca Sbisa in the wings.

If he signed here, Biron would be the No. 1 goalie, with Swedish prospect Johan Backlund as his probable backup.
Assuming Bouwmeester signed for a $6 million cap hit, Komisarek signed for around $2.5 million, and Knuble signed a 35-and-over contact heavily loaded with incentives, the Flyers' payroll would be about $55 million.

It doesn't allow much wiggle room for the expected $56.7 million cap, but would give them much more space than they had at the end of this season.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/...tml?page=2&c=y

All interesting ideas but it will take a lot of effort on Homer's part to get all of these deals done.

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"We don't want to win the Stanley Cup in September, we want to win it in June."

Chris Pronger -- 10/1/09

nossagog

One of the biggest problems that the Flyers have is dealing with the salary and cap hit of Danny Briere. Here's a guy who has basically had one good year(95 pts), one, and cashed in big time with the Flyers. I doubt that the Flyers will be able to find a team willing to saddle themselves with his contract and cap hit(about $6.5M a year) through the 2014/15 season. I thought that his contract was excessive when it happened, watching him play up here in Buffalo. So far, after two years he has played 108 games and has 97 points on a $52M contract(about $7.5M a year). I think that Philly was expecting more.

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Penguins Fan living in Sabreland

RStar

I hope they don't get rid of James van Riemsdyk in a trade. Hes a great young talent. I also don't think Richards should take any flack for his leadership. Hes an amazing young captain, and I think they are pretty set in the leadership catagory for years to come.