For everyone who doesn’t care that much about prospect signings, Steve Stamkos has officially signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The deal, worth $37.5 million over 5 years, will cost the organization $7.5 million per season.
Although the cap hit is manageable for a player of Stamkos’ skill and potential, it wasn’t the deal the Lightning was holding out for. By agreeing to this contract, Stamkos will be an unrestricted free agent at age 26 and is likely to garner an exorbitant contract from a bigger market team. Even though a longer contract wouldn’t guarantee Stamkos remained in Tampa Bay for his whole career, there is now a defined window of opportunity for the team to capture another Stanley Cup.
Hopefully, this will also put to bed any Stamkos trade rumors.
On the Flyers’ end, the previously rumored contract with AHL goaltender Jason Bacashihua was announced today. Bacashihua, a veteran AHL goaltender, has been signed to a one year, $525k contract. Bacashihua last played in the NHL in 2007, where he posted a 3.16 goals-against average and a 0.896 save percentage with the St. Louis Blues. Where he fits in the organization remains to be seen.
Combine this news, the signings from yesterday, and a report from CSNPhilly that the Flyers will have to carry $1.4 million against the salary cap for bonuses earned last season and the Flyers have already handcuffed themselves for next season.
Due to the recent developments,
- There can be no new signings before training camp unless a current player is traded. Even if highly regarded prospect Sean Couturier impressed at camp, he can’t be signed.
- If a player from another organization is put on waivers during the season, the Flyers will not be eligible for claiming that player (again, unless a current contract is traded). Although goaltender Michael Leighton’s signing last season has not panned out well at all, picking him up from Carolina off re-entry waivers in 2009 saved that team from mediocrity.
- If Brayden Schenn makes the team and Ian Laperriere is placed on LTIR, the Flyers will have just over $1.34 million to sign a 13th forward. They can squeeze one Phantom on the roster while leaving room for another to be called up in the event of injury, but depending on who makes the cut, some players will inevitably be restricted due to their cap hits. In other words, if Matt Read ($900K) made the roster, there would be no room for Erik Gustafsson ($900K).
If there’s anything to take from this, it’s that a minor trade or two may happen in the next month to gain back some breathing room. Its possible Sergei Bobrovsky could get traded, but I suspect that due to the Flyers’ current situation and the fact that most teams have already shored up their goaltending, he wouldn’t garner a worthwhile draft pick now. If Paul Holmgren played his cards right, he could trade Bob during the season when injuries have taken their toll on other organizations and take advantage then.
As far as final roster spots go, Tom Sestito, Zac Rinaldo, Eric Wellwood and Kalinski have the best opportunities to make the team under this current scenario due to their contract sizes. Defensemen Oliver Lauridsen and Tyler Hostetter could also benefit from the situation.
For the latest Flyers news and updates, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Sounds like the bottom half of the Roster is going to be pretty weak and thin on talent (similar to the Phils situation) which is what happens when you overpay players who are past their primes which then tie’s the hands of the organization financially .. but in the Flyers case, they did need to purge some Higher-Dollar players who just weren’t cutting it or good locker room guys.. but I just wish they stayed away from Jagr and uses that $$$ on a player who wil lbe around and contribute for a few seasons and not the 1 year “Hockey Player for HiIre” that Jagr is…
Not promising, not promising at all. I’m not feeling the Fly boys for this upcoming season. They are a much worse off team, than last year. Even with the stud goalie. There are too many questions & ifs for this team, & if Pronger isn’t ready, they are rally going to have problems. I hope i’m wrong & this team can gel quick & get some unforeseen scoring.
I have downgraded the Flyers from a 6th Seed to just missing the Playoffs and an Overall record of 37-32-13 for 87 Points
jagr is a stop gap player. although i am not a big fan of him at this point in his career i think he will surve his purpose this year and free up cap space for the likes of jvr next season.
i am not sure how the flyers will finish this season but i know they have more talent than what phoenix has had the last few years. phoneix was a playoff team in the west and we know have their goalie. so i suspect we will still be a playoff team with a chance should injuries not get the best of us.
Pretty harsh projection, Paulman… hopefully it wasn’t the minor league goalie signing that pushed them down the extra three seeds.
Overall I think they’re not better this year, but they’re better set up for the long term.
People were talking about having to move one of their good mid-20s defensemen (Coburn, Carle or Mezaros), but the didn’t have to do that. The result is probably that they’ll continue to have a strong defense long after Timmonen and Pronger are gone. The year they got to the finals they had Pronger, Timmonen, Carle, and Coburn as their top four. I would think that after another year or two of development, Carle, Coburn, Mezaros and Gustaffson are not too far off.
As for forwards, the sum total is:
-Richards, -Carter, -Leino, -Powe, -Carcillo
+Simmonds, +Voracek, +Schenn, +Couturier, +Jagr rental
Overall they are clearly worse off next year at forward, but they might actually be better set up for the long term, depending on how the two prospects pan out. Add on top of that a manageable contract for a good goalie and they have a pretty core for the next few years.
Schenn, Courterer (spelling), Read & Testwuide (spelling), are the keys, to mid year & future.
I agree with the above assesments but these young players are most likely not going to make an impact or develop consistency at the NHL level until 2012 and beyond…2011 will see lots of growing pains and a struggle to score goals for the Flyers but it should pay off big time in 2013-2014..
I just hope this new Goalie (Bryz) is as good as everyone says he is and as his contract demands…