With a whole lot of nothing going on Flyerdom, and across the league for that matter, this summer I have been reading some hockey books. I have a growing list of books to read, but I've made is through a few so far.
The Game - Ken Dryden
Dryden is not your typical player. I mean the guy retired at age 31 on a run of 4 straight Vezina trophies and Stanley Cups to be a lawyer. A lawyer!! As a fellow lawyer, this seems a remarkably bad decision. Either way, the result is that you get a reflective book on being a pro hockey player. I had some trouble getting into the book, as it seems to presume some level of familiarity with the 70s Canadien teams and begins by discussing some Quebecois cultural issues. Nevertheless, Dryden pontificates on many topics of the life, such as locker room dynamics, blue collar player backgrounds, comparing his career to childhood fantasies, how money affects expectations on players, etc. It's just a very thoughtful book, and not at all like a typical athlete book.
J.R. - Jeremy Roenick
If The Game was not a typical player book, J.R. is very much so. Generally a recounting of Roenick's career, it's a quick read. It took me 2 days to read this book. Roenick is not out to air dirty laundry, but rather give his side of the story and opinions. And honestly, Roenick is kind of a dick (more so than I expected going in). I also didn't totally buy his alibi on the Amonte slash incident, and his mentioning of the Olympic village vandalization by Team USA was simply dismissive. The good thing is you get an unpolished impression of a player, which is interesting.
Full Spectrum - Jay Greenberg
A third type of hockey book discussed here, this is pure history/chronology. A detailed history of the Flyers spanning 1967-1996 (their years in the Spectrum), this book is chock full of information and an amazing resource for hardcore Flyers fans. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to other readers however, as it's long and relatively dry (whereas I read J.R. in 2 days, it was more like 3 weeks for Full Spectrum). I personally didn't find the backroom boardroom intrigue discussions in the book all that interesting, but reading the book as a whole you really can track the development of the team, the players, the coaches, the management... At times I felt I should be taking notes and outlining the key points of each season. I certainly know a lot more about that Flyers from pre-1994, before which I was too young to understand.
My to-read list has ballooned and I've read a few non-hockey books in the meantime, but soon I hope to read Journeyman by Sean Pronger, The Final Call by Kerry Fraser, Jonesy by Keith Jones, and Wayne Gretzky's Ghost by Roy MacGregor as well. I'll post thoughts on those when I get to them.
Opinions on NHL topics of the moment, but mostly on the Flyers.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
Do the Flyers Regret Signing Streit?
The question of the day is, with Lecavalier in the fold, do the Flyers regret their early move to add Streit?
The Flyers have said they did not expect Lecavalier to be bought out, and signing him was a move of opportunity. Surely when the Flyers made the move to acquire Streit they had an offseason plan laid out that did not include freely picking up a prominent center for $4.5m. However, had the Flyers known they could add Lecavalier, I suspect they would not have added Streit.
Clearly, the Flyers are trying to move a defensemen now due to lack of cap space. Coburn could fetch a decent return, but I'm not too keen on the idea of subtracting a top-4 defensemen. Meszaros, coming off a poor injury-riddled season and a UFA to-be, has little to nil trade value. It feels like the Flyers are scrambling a bit, basically because they are.
I believe that, with Lecavalier, the Flyers are more willing to move Schenn or Couturier. Those two had a disappointing season last year as the Flyers second line struggled, but the Flyers had no choice but to rely on those guys on the 2nd and 3rd line and hope for improvement from them. Therefore, the option of trading them was particularly unappealing for the Flyers. Now the second line has received a substantial shot in the arm, so while that doesn't degrade the trade value of Schenn or Cooter, they are not as critical to the upcoming season.
Accounting for Lecavalier before making any moves on defense, the Flyers could've made a move for a younger, better all-around defensemen than Streit. Something like Schenn+Mesz+Read/picks for Yandle? Or even something better for Pietrangelo? In such a case, there would be no more talk of trading Coburn, and a second pair of Yandle/Coburn looks much more formidable than a potential pair of Streit/Grossmann.
Of course the Flyers could still make such a trade, but they are awfully tight to the cap to be paying Streit $5.25m to get 3rd pair minutes.
Jumping out in front of the market for an early move is a go-to play for Holmgren (Hartnell/Timonen, Bryzgalov, even re-signing Leighton), but by not letting events unfold and fully capitalizing on opportunities as they come, the Flyers make a different kind of risk.
The Flyers have said they did not expect Lecavalier to be bought out, and signing him was a move of opportunity. Surely when the Flyers made the move to acquire Streit they had an offseason plan laid out that did not include freely picking up a prominent center for $4.5m. However, had the Flyers known they could add Lecavalier, I suspect they would not have added Streit.
Clearly, the Flyers are trying to move a defensemen now due to lack of cap space. Coburn could fetch a decent return, but I'm not too keen on the idea of subtracting a top-4 defensemen. Meszaros, coming off a poor injury-riddled season and a UFA to-be, has little to nil trade value. It feels like the Flyers are scrambling a bit, basically because they are.
I believe that, with Lecavalier, the Flyers are more willing to move Schenn or Couturier. Those two had a disappointing season last year as the Flyers second line struggled, but the Flyers had no choice but to rely on those guys on the 2nd and 3rd line and hope for improvement from them. Therefore, the option of trading them was particularly unappealing for the Flyers. Now the second line has received a substantial shot in the arm, so while that doesn't degrade the trade value of Schenn or Cooter, they are not as critical to the upcoming season.
Accounting for Lecavalier before making any moves on defense, the Flyers could've made a move for a younger, better all-around defensemen than Streit. Something like Schenn+Mesz+Read/picks for Yandle? Or even something better for Pietrangelo? In such a case, there would be no more talk of trading Coburn, and a second pair of Yandle/Coburn looks much more formidable than a potential pair of Streit/Grossmann.
Of course the Flyers could still make such a trade, but they are awfully tight to the cap to be paying Streit $5.25m to get 3rd pair minutes.
Jumping out in front of the market for an early move is a go-to play for Holmgren (Hartnell/Timonen, Bryzgalov, even re-signing Leighton), but by not letting events unfold and fully capitalizing on opportunities as they come, the Flyers make a different kind of risk.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Never a Dull Moment
I've said it before, but being a Flyers fan is just fun sometimes. Whenever anyone of note becomes available, the Flyers are sniffing around. Maybe always chasing the big move, the short term fix, has hampered the Flyers ability to win a cup.
Regardless of whether this is true, the Flyers are consistently one of the best teams in the NHL, and made deep cup runs in 95, 97, 2000, 2004 and 2010. On top of that, there's always something to talk about, and rarely a forgettable season.
Tonight's signing of Lecavalier is a show-stopper and continues the tradition.
Now first, it's important to realize Lecavalier's days as a superstar are behind him. Since his days as the #1 pick in 98, when then-TB owner naively labelled him the Michael Jordan of hockey, there's always been a superstar aura around him. Truthfully, he only performed at that level for a brief period of time, and TB signed him up to contract with a cap hit of $7.7m/season under that spell. Now 33, he hasn't hit 30 goals in 5 seasons.
With all the wonderful weirdness of this offseason and the compliance buyouts, the Flyers can look at him purely as a second line center. While adding a big name forward seemed low on the priority list for the Flyers, a big issue with last season's team that no one talks about was terrible secondary scoring (meanwhile, the goaltending that everyone talks about was actually fine). The team put a heavy burden on Couturier and Schenn to develop quickly into scoring roles, and it didn't happen last season. This move does NOT mean they are giving up on either of them, but it does relieve that burden. Additionally, the Flyers wanted to get bigger up front, and Lecavalier is 6'4".
Lecavalier's contract is reported to be at $4.5x5. This is decent cap hit. It's not without risks, going to his 38th birthday for a player who will decline over the life of deal, but consider the comparables of contending teams' second line centers. Boston is paying Krejci $5.25m for his 33 points last year. LA is paying Carter $5.27m for his 33 points. Pittsburgh is paying Crosby and Malkin each ~$9m. Lecavalier's 32 points at $4.25m looks pretty good.
Nor does this signing put the Flyers in an onerous cap position. With some simple moves, the Flyers current cap picture looks like this:
The Flyers could easily sign a platoon goalie and put that lineup out there.
More likely some more tweaking will be done to this lineup and a defensemen will go. The Flyers could either move Meszaros in what will basically be a salary dump, or they could try for a significant return for Coburn (and even now have the freedom throw in Schenn or Couturier now that Lecavalier is on board and Laughton is coming up).
Presuming the simpler transaction of dumping Meszaros, and running with some rumors about potential signings, the Flyers opening day lineup could very well look like this:
That lineup is clearly better than last year's team, and quite honestly better than I thought the Flyers could put together this offseason while being comfortably under the cap (although the defense is still underwhelming). Either way, next season would be a lot of fun.
Regardless of whether this is true, the Flyers are consistently one of the best teams in the NHL, and made deep cup runs in 95, 97, 2000, 2004 and 2010. On top of that, there's always something to talk about, and rarely a forgettable season.
Tonight's signing of Lecavalier is a show-stopper and continues the tradition.
Now first, it's important to realize Lecavalier's days as a superstar are behind him. Since his days as the #1 pick in 98, when then-TB owner naively labelled him the Michael Jordan of hockey, there's always been a superstar aura around him. Truthfully, he only performed at that level for a brief period of time, and TB signed him up to contract with a cap hit of $7.7m/season under that spell. Now 33, he hasn't hit 30 goals in 5 seasons.
With all the wonderful weirdness of this offseason and the compliance buyouts, the Flyers can look at him purely as a second line center. While adding a big name forward seemed low on the priority list for the Flyers, a big issue with last season's team that no one talks about was terrible secondary scoring (meanwhile, the goaltending that everyone talks about was actually fine). The team put a heavy burden on Couturier and Schenn to develop quickly into scoring roles, and it didn't happen last season. This move does NOT mean they are giving up on either of them, but it does relieve that burden. Additionally, the Flyers wanted to get bigger up front, and Lecavalier is 6'4".
Lecavalier's contract is reported to be at $4.5x5. This is decent cap hit. It's not without risks, going to his 38th birthday for a player who will decline over the life of deal, but consider the comparables of contending teams' second line centers. Boston is paying Krejci $5.25m for his 33 points last year. LA is paying Carter $5.27m for his 33 points. Pittsburgh is paying Crosby and Malkin each ~$9m. Lecavalier's 32 points at $4.25m looks pretty good.
Nor does this signing put the Flyers in an onerous cap position. With some simple moves, the Flyers current cap picture looks like this:
The Flyers could easily sign a platoon goalie and put that lineup out there.
More likely some more tweaking will be done to this lineup and a defensemen will go. The Flyers could either move Meszaros in what will basically be a salary dump, or they could try for a significant return for Coburn (and even now have the freedom throw in Schenn or Couturier now that Lecavalier is on board and Laughton is coming up).
Presuming the simpler transaction of dumping Meszaros, and running with some rumors about potential signings, the Flyers opening day lineup could very well look like this:
That lineup is clearly better than last year's team, and quite honestly better than I thought the Flyers could put together this offseason while being comfortably under the cap (although the defense is still underwhelming). Either way, next season would be a lot of fun.
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