Cleary Reverses Decision, Signs with Red Wings

Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada dropped the first bit of news on Wednesday that veteran forward Dan Cleary would not be joining the Philadelphia Flyers. It had been reported on Tuesday that Cleary would be signing a three-year, $8.25 million contract with the Flyers, but could only sign a professional tryout contract due to the team’s salary cap situation.

Aaron Ward of TSN provided some additional context, reporting that Cleary met with Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock and their general manager, Ken Holland, to discuss his future.

When Philadelphia reporters asked Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren about these reports, he basically shrugged them off and stated that he had not heard anything from Cleary. As of this morning, Cleary was still slotted to skate in the first session of the Flyers’ training camp at 8:30 a.m.

Cleary did not show up.

Late on Thursday morning, the Red Wings announced that they had signed Cleary to a one year, $1.75 million contract.

Whatever speech that Babcock and Holland made to Cleary, I hope someone recorded it. Cleary left two years and $6.75 million on the table to stay with the team that he called home for the last eight seasons. This clearly wasn’t a case of Cleary trying to leverage a better deal; he simply changed his mind and decided to stay where he felt comfortable.

In some ways, this is a blessing. Cleary would have been a great fit on the third line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read, but the terms of his contract with Philadelphia were not favorable for either salary cap management or advancing younger players.

Scott Laughton, Michael Raffl and Tye McGinn will have their chances after all to make the team.

As of noon, the Flyers still have not heard anything from Cleary.

As Greg Wyshynski, editor of Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports, wrote this morning, “Pretty sure no one’s given this much of a $#!% about Dan Cleary since a doctor delivered him.”