No one will notice Clackson being gone, but the Flyers give up another (possibly 2) decent picks.
As for Bryzgalov, as I already stated, I think he is the best goalie out there, having high-end ability and entering the prime of his career. I wasn't sure if he made sense for the Flyers because he is going to want a long-term, high salary deal. Some inside sources regarding Bryzgalov's negotiations with Phoenix before they traded him;
Am told by source that Bryzgalov contract demands with Coyotes were off the charts
Bryzgalov wants to be paid as a top player...not just a top goalie. Demands too rich for Yotes.
One can only hope he didn't really want to sign with Phoenix, and his demands with the Flyers will be reasonable. I will be stunned if he signs here for less than 4 years at $5m/year. I would actually predict he will sign at 4 or 5 years, approximately $6/year (if not a little more).
This raises a few questions;
1) Who else are the Flyers going to trade now? Even if you assume the Flyers will not carry Zherdev, Carcillo, Nodl, Powe, Laperriere, Walker, O'Donnell and Leighton on the books, the Flyers already still have over $56m committed to players next season. Simply signing Bryzgalov will eat up all of their currently available cap space (once the cap for next season is announced at between $62 and $63 million--the Flyers can't sign Bryzgalov until that announcement is made because he will put them over the current cap of $59.4m). At that point, the Flyers will only have 9 forwards (no Leino) and 6 defensemen, so they will need to dump at least $5m in cap space just to fill out the roster.
One has to think the Flyers already have another trade lined up to clear salary, or else they wouldn't have pulled the trigger on this Bryzgalov trade yet. Carter is the guy everyone is talking about, which makes sense. I would throw Carle into the fray too, but I don't hear his name come up in rumors very often.
2) Does this say anything about Bobrovsky? His path to the number 1 job will be blocked for several seasons. Have the Flyers soured on him? I guess they could send him to the AHL for a season, though that's probably unlikely. Most likely is that the team simply decided "screw this, we need a goalie" and they'll worry about Bob later.
3) Should the Flyers be worried about mediocre postseason performances by Bryzgalov in Phoenix? I don't think so. He played just fine in the postseason for the Ducks, and his career postseason save percentage in the playoffs is higher than his regular season number. The Coyotes were hardly a team primed for postseason runs, and he was one of the biggest reasons they got there in the first place.
Long story short, this is very exciting news for the Flyers. They've got a very good goalie within their grasp, but this trade cannot be judged until Bryzgalov actually signs a contract with the Flyers and we also see what the Flyers send out the door in a subsequent trade. Also, it's very difficult to see Leino resigning now, unless the Flyers dump Carter AND another significant contract.
any word on how negotiations are going?
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