Having appraised the goaltending and defense, it’s time to look at each of the four offensive lines for the 2011-12 Philadelphia Flyers. For sake of brevity, I’m covering each line in a separate post.
The top line since the 2009-10 playoffs has been the Danny Briere-Scott Hartnell-Ville Leino line. They’ve been broken up throughout the past season as the team struggled or injuries took their toll, but those experiments didn’t last very long.
Briere was dogged by Flyers fans two years ago after he was dealing with groin injuries, but those days seem long behind him. Most fans these days don’t have trouble accepting his $6.5 million cap hit due to the fact that he’s such a playoff stud. His 34 goals and 68 points in the regular season are in line with his production from the 2007-08 season. His 7 goals in this year’s playoffs were tied by only James Van Riemsdyk, the other stud from the post-season.
Scott Hartnell is a decent player for any NHL team, but he is being overpaid at $4.2 million per season. His 30 goal season in 2009 appears to have been an aberration, but he can be counted on for 20-25 goals regularly. He’s well-liked by his teammates, but like Briere, he gets caught too often taking lazy penalties or goaltending interference calls.
Moving Hartnell would open up cap space that the team desperately needs if they have any hopes of re-signing Ville Leino. An unrestricted free agent, Leino held off on re-signing during the regular season so that the organization had cap space to improve the team. It would be a shame if they couldn’t make it work. Reportedly, both sides have been looking at 3 or 4 year contracts in the $2.5-$3 million range.
I don’t believe Leino has reached his potential yet, despite having tallied a respectable 19 goals and 34 assists in his first year as a top liner. He’s stated in interviews before that a lot of his game is based on confidence. Everyone knows he has incredible skills, but he didn’t seem prepared for every game this season mentally. Maybe a contract extension and stability would help.
If the Flyers could trade Hartnell for a draft pick, Erik Cole would be a great replacement. An unrestricted free agent, Cole was on the Flyers’ radar before the trade deadline but became unavailable as the Carolina Hurricanes were trying to make a push for the playoffs. At 31, Cole would bring leadership and stability to the Flyers. He could probably be signed in the $2.75 to $3.25 million range.
We need another big body in there to bang around. Cole’s listed at 6-2, 205; that’s borderline big enough. How physical is his play though?….. I’m sure Paulman knows how the guys in N.C. play….
cole could be a replacement for hartnell but he is not the answer for a big banging forward. i would rather hartnell over cole any day of the weak, hartnell will drop the gloves from time to time (not that he wins the fights) which is needed to keep players from taking advantage of smaller players like briere.
I don’t like the idea of Cole as a “replacement” for a traded Hartnell. He’s a solid player, but he’s the kind you add to the roster at playoff time, not to get rid of Hartnell. He’s not a banger though a smart, skilled player and this team needs all the bangers/workers it can get. Boston roughed them up pretty well and the division will get stronger.
Cole is a solid NHL player who would benefit any team, he’s big and tough and has some pretty good hands for a big guy as well as a pretty good skater too..
Those are all fair points. Hartnell’s not a bad player by any means. I’m just thinking from a salary cap perspective- optimally you could afford both Leino and Hartnell, but if I had to choose, I’d take Leino for $3 mil over Hartnell for $4.2 mil. Cole just seemed to be more affordable.
They could also go for a Mike Knuble-like player… like Mike Knuble. His age has started to catch up with him but he’s out there and relatively inexpensive.
Flyers need to do a better job in drafting and developing younger players..
insstead of relying on other teams rejects or older players or expensive players who are not as committed.. Develop your own talent..
Agreed pman, but they also had too many injuries leading up to the playoffs, carter pronger… richards wasnt himself, found out he was injured to but still playing. briere isnt a bum and i think acquiring him has really paid off, the game is just tricky like that. it goes for just about every sport, the team thats hot and healthy usually go far, the flyers were neither leading up to the playoffs.
The offense was stellar in the beginning of the year but fell off i feel due to injuries. Would trading carter or richards be the answer? maybe. but they must solve there continuous lack of production in the powerplay…
I agree about some injuries Jonm,
but isn’t this the same story evewry season.. Every team is playing on fumes and grit come playoff time.. IF the Flyers had more quality depth that players more oftnen during the regualr season, maybe some of their “stars” would be fresher during the PLayoffs.. it’s like the Eagles Def/Line every season..
They start the Season strong,getting lots of sacks and creating turnovers, then wilt once the Calender turns to December and playoff time.. I am tired of excuses from both franchises.. Get better players or develop them and more quality depth to spread out the work load..
Josh, i agreed with you before you wrote this that Hartnell has to go. His play does not warrant 4+ mil a year. Maybe 3…. maybe. His physical game, forecheck, and passing have all fallen off. He’s not a playing pesky or skilled hockey anymore and needs to go. Especially to make room for Leino who we HAVE to keep. No one flashes his inner Forsberg like Leino. Find some banger to put in there with Briere and Leino. Cole on a Richards-Versteeg line would be pretty sweet.
cole is exactly what the Flyers need…leadership….because Richards is a pothead.
I would dangle Richards for a stud defenseman to replace Pronger, deal Hartnell to clear cap space and sign a goalie…
Richards doesnt deserve to wear the “C” and needs to go….give the “C” to Giroux – its his team now!
Jott, at this point give the C to pronger, bc richards doesn’t deserve it. He’s another andre iggydala, they wanna be recognized as the captain or leader of the team yet to measure up. The more I think about it iggy and richards are very similar in personality too… Idk what moves they should make, I guess either carter or richards gotta bounce, they’re the most attractive for teams..
I agree with Jott and would make Giroux the “C”, Pronger is too old and probably has 1 more season left anyways
i don’t know how you can say this is giroux’s team now…the way he plays is how richards played when everyone wanted him to get the “C”……..Richards is older and doesn’t play with the same aggressiveness all the time that he used to, but he’s still an effective player whose strengths are his defense first and then his offense.
if anyone deserves the “C,” it’s briere. he steps it up at crunch time and scores the “must have” goals. But I really could give a sh*t about who wears the “C” because it doesn’t really matter in the end. Hell, give it to Nodl. Everyone on the team still knows who are the leaders and who provides the spark, so it’s a moot point with who gets the “C.”
As for Hartnell, I do like his grittiness, but his play has really slacked off lately. I would almost prefer Asham at this point. He may not give you the same amount of goals during the regular season, and he may not be as good skill for skill, but come playoff time he produces.
Casper,
Briere is a scorer only and doesn’t add much to any other areas of the team, he’s not a very good defender, is not physical,etc,etc…
i don’t disagree with your assessment of his skill set, but why does that mean he can’t be a leader/captain on the team? he’s clutch when it counts. he speaks his mind to the media and to his teammates when he needs to. he’s been a captain before. I’m not really trying to even change the current captainship of the team…i’m just saying that if you’re going to take it from richards, i would think there are people that should/would come before giroux.
i actually think richards is fine as captain. just because he doesn’t speak to the media or isn’t a 100 pt/season scorer doesn’t mean he can’t be a good captain. I’ve yet to hear anything from any players to think that he’s not doing what he needs to do as captain.
If you must go by stats, he had 1 goal and 6 assists in 11 games battling through a flu/sickness (for the first couple games) and wrist issues. I think that’s not too shabby to finish tied 3rd on the team for playoff scoring dealing with those issues and usually being handed a defensive assignment each game.