Contracts for Everyone! Flyers Ink Carter to Extension

It wasn’t my intention of inundating the site with the Flyers this weekend, but the future of the franchise just got a little bit clearer today as the organization inked center Jeff Carter to an 11-year, $58 million deal.

The salary cap hit for the new contract works out to $5.27 million per year, a modest increase over his current hit. The contract is actually a great deal for the Flyers, considering that CSN was reporting earlier in the week that it would likely be in the 10-year, $63 million range.

The issue at hand now is that Carter’s extension means somebody else’s contract is going to have to move next season to fit under the salary cap. As it stands, the Flyers now have $28.91 million locked up for 8 forwards, $24.19 million locked up for 7 defensemen, and $3.3 million between goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Michael Leighton.

That leaves $3 million to sign 6 forwards.

Needless to say, someone with an existing contract is going to have to go. If I were a betting man, I’d say that one or two defensemen may be moved.

The other issue with the signing is that while it gives the Flyers one of the deepest rosters at the center position in the NHL, this team will perennially have to find cheaper, less effective wingers to play with at least one of them. Carter, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux may have to rotate as wingers for years.

Carter gets a lot of flack from Flyers fans for a perceived “lazy” attitude, but he’s a proven goal scorer. Replacing his scoring touch wouldn’t come cheaply and despite the prospects and draft picks that they would have likely received in return for him, the organization knows what they have with Carter versus the uncertainty of younger investments.