GDT: Let the Free Agency Madness begin

[raynman]

Don put on his tactical turtle neck today.

 

[MinJaBen]

Again, such a strange saga. Guess they got tired of waiting for us. Weird, given that so many national and Flyers reporters still kept saying it would happen. And of course Wads at one point. Of course, it wouldn't be shocking if he's willing that we sign him even cheaper than $2.5.

I'm certainly happy with how the organization is being run as a whole, but I don't take anything Waddell or other says to the media as truth until it happens. Too many times have we seen them say what is expedient or planned, but have it not be what ends up happening.

 

[Chrispy]

Again, such a strange saga. Guess they got tired of waiting for us. Weird, given that so many national and Flyers reporters still kept saying it would happen. And of course Wads at one point. Of course, it wouldn't be shocking if he's willing that we sign him even cheaper than $2.5.

I think this is their last chance to be guaranteed to be rid of him, so they didn't want to risk having him on the roster next season.

So instead of Philly carrying a $2.5M cap hit this year and $0 next year, they carry $1.67M this year and $1.67M next year (I think.)

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

I'm certainly happy with how the organization is being run as a whole, but I don't take anything Waddell or other says to the media as truth until it happens. Too many times have we seen them say what is expedient or planned, but have it not be what ends up happening.

Wonder if that burned a bridge with Briere.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Wonder if that burned a bridge with Briere.

I wouldn't think so. Waddell could have been saying, "We'll get to it Danny, but we've got some other things to make happen first" and Briere might have told Waddell, "well, we can't wait around so we'll buy him out as the cost/cap it difference isn't significant."

 

[A Star is Burns]

I'm certainly happy with how the organization is being run as a whole, but I don't take anything Waddell or other says to the media as truth until it happens. Too many times have we seen them say what is expedient or planned, but have it not be what ends up happening.

Obviously, just pointing out it wasn't just reporters, so all that would have seemingly given credibility that it would still happen. Regardless, I'm happy with how it turned out. Either we don't get him because we are pivoting elsewhere, which wouldn't break my heart, or we get him for cheaper in acquisition cost.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

I wouldn't think so. Waddell could have been saying, "We'll get to it Danny, but we've got some other things to make happen first" and Briere might have told Waddell, "well, we can't wait around so we'll buy him out as the cost/cap it difference isn't significant."

In a vacuum that's fine, but if he was ready to make that trade at the draft and told Briere it would be happening and just to hang tight, even saying "we'll get to it but we've got other stuff to do first" in and of itself might be an annoyance to Briere.

Of course, Waddell might've just said "feel free to trade him elsewhere if you can't wait on us" and Briere couldn't make it happen.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Guess we ain't getting him now, unless they have a buyout window? They're hoping someone with cap space like ARZ claims him for free first so they don't have to retain

Mutual buyout?

 

[A Star is Burns]

NHL not having any flexibility on a rule that clearly wasn't being broken in spirit is to blame. Hopefully, Briere sees that. If not, I never liked him anyway.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

In a vacuum that's fine, but if he was ready to make that trade at the draft and told Briere it would be happening and just to hang tight, even saying "we'll get to it but we've got other stuff to do first" in and of itself might be an annoyance to Briere.

Of course, Waddell might've just said "feel free to trade him elsewhere if you can't wait on us" and Briere couldn't make it happen.

Yeah, I just don't think "bridges get burned" between GMs as much as we fans like to think they do. If so, Waddell wouldn't be talking to SJ about Karlsson after the Meier deal went down.

Same thing between Agents and GMs. These guys know that this is part of the deal.

 

[WreckingCrew]

NHL not having any flexibility on a rule that clearly wasn't being broken in spirit is to blame. Hopefully, Briere sees that. If not, I never liked him anyway.

I also like how a magical second buyout window for a player who WASN'T the one that went to arbitration is part of the CBA for some random reason, but an offseason trade a few days early because it's technically within a year even though it's a completely different contract he's on is a hard-stop violation.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

The damage Chuck Fletcher did to Philly cannot be understated. Here is how the man tried to 'fix' their defense:



Out:
Gostisbehere
Hagg
1st 2021 (14th overall)
2nd 2022
4th 2022
7th 2022
7th 2022
2nd 2023
3rd 2023
2nd 2024


In:
Ristolainen (extended for 5 years, $5.1 AAV)
DeAngelo (extended for 2 years, $5.0 AAV, bought out after one year by Briere)
7th 2022

 

[Svechhammer]

Oof

 

[A Star is Burns]

Seems crazy.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Now Borg, go get Kuznetsov at 50%, bury Kochetkov and roll with the team we've got.

Bunting-Aho-Jarvis
Svech-Kuzy-Necas
TT-Staal-Fast
Martinook-KK-Drury
Lemieux/Noesen (one may need to be buried for cap reasons)

Can pretty much split the 5v5 time evenly among these D pairings:

Slavin-Burns
Sjkei-Pesce
Orlov-Chatfield
Coghlan

(Can still fit in TDA if we bury Coghlan as well).

Freddy-Auntie

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

The damage Chuck Fletcher did to Philly cannot be understated. Here is how the man tried to 'fix' their defense:



Out:
Gostisbehere
Hagg
1st 2021 (14th overall)
2nd 2022
4th 2022
7th 2022
7th 2022
2nd 2023
3rd 2023
2nd 2024


In:
Ristolainen (extended for 5 years, $5.1 AAV)
DeAngelo (extended for 2 years, $5.0 AAV, bought out after one year by Briere)
7th 2022

And the 2nd we own is gonna be in the 30s...

 

[DaveG]

I think this is their last chance to be guaranteed to be rid of him, so they didn't want to risk having him on the roster next season.

So instead of Philly carrying a $2.5M cap hit this year and $0 next year, they carry $1.67M this year and $1.67M next year (I think.)

this seems the most likely scenario. If we're still in on EK, and by all reports we 100% are, then the Flyers are at risk of not having the landing spot for TDA if it turns out that Carolina is the preferred destination rather than Pittsburgh.

I'm still not sold that we're the preferred destination for EK (though I have no doubt that we have much better pieces to offer than Pittsburgh), but we very much are a factor in those discussions.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Maybe this "undisclosed incident" is why the Canes haven't acted yet:

 

[The Faulker 27]

His price just keeps going down. Soon we'll have em for a bag of Bo-Rounds.

 

[Lempo]

I also like how a magical second buyout window for a player who WASN'T the one that went to arbitration is part of the CBA for some random reason, but an offseason trade a few days early because it's technically within a year even though it's a completely different contract he's on is a hard-stop violation.

A. The buyout option is there for the team to be cap compliant and get rid of inefficient SPCs.
B. Player-elected salary arbitration is a means for a RFA to force himself a SPC the team may not be able to fit under the cap.
C. When B happens, in a cap league there kind of needs to be an out for the team to become cap compliant, hence A.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Wonder if that burned a bridge with Briere.

 

[spockBokk]

Gold pours some cold water on TDA back to CAR, immediately at least:



I’m not really buying that though. If they can sign him tomorrow for 1.5-2M for 1yr, why wouldn’t they?

 

[WreckingCrew]

A. The buyout option is there for the team to be cap compliant and get rid of inefficient SPCs.
B. Player-elected salary arbitration is a means for a RFA to force himself a SPC the team may not be able to fit under the cap.
C. When B happens, in a cap league there kind of needs to be an out for the team to become cap compliant, hence A.

I get why it's there, I just think it's silly because teams put themselves in cap trouble all the time and have to find a way out WITHOUT arbitration issues. And probably 95% of the time the cap of these arbitration players isn't going to amount to enough to cause a cap problem (without the team having already screwed themselves over basically). Plus they're currently/already cap-compliant after Noah Cates situation has been taken care of. It just seems silly to me to have a guy making 3% of the cap allows a team to get out of (at least partially) a boat anchor contract. The NHL in general has some really weird areas where they're super-strict and super-lenient, and it rarely makes sense

 

[Svechhammer]

Gold pours some cold water on TDA back to CAR, immediately at least:



I’m not really buying that though. If they can sign him tomorrow for 1.5-2M for 1yr, why wouldn’t they?

honestly? Because they already have Coghlan as the cheap 7th defenseman

 

[spockBokk]

honestly? Because they already have Coghlan as the cheap 7th defenseman

Let’s not pretend they’re going into next season with both of Skjei/Pesce on roster. Another spot on D will be opening up.