UPDATE: Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren released the following statement on Monday evening. “We continue to have talks with Mark’s agent. Although there is nothing to report, we remain confident that we will get something done.”
Darren Dreger of TSN has reported that the Philadelphia Flyers and unrestricted free agent defenseman Mark Streit have agreed on terms for a new contract worth $21 million over four years.
That is not a typo.
The contract can not be made official because teams are not allowed to exceed the salary cap by more than 10%, or $70.73 million, in the offseason. With Streit on the books, the team would have $75.06 million on the cap payroll.
Streit, 35, is a puck moving defenseman that fits the mold of the player missing from the Flyers’ top four rotation this past season. Unfortunately, he has not been used on a top pairing in recent seasons with the New York Islanders. He will be also be more subject to declining production over the length of his new contract as he gets older.
It’s another expensive gamble with an aging veteran, simply because the organization refuses to exercise patience once again.
As for how the Flyers are going to come under the salary cap, Danny Briere is a lock and Ilya Bryzgalov is right there behind him. Shedding Danny’s $6.5M cap hit will help bring the Flyers closer to the cap ($68.56M), but the Flyers will still need to move at least $4.3 million more just to be compliant. Some combination of Bryzgalov, Braydon Coburn and/or Andrej Meszaros is likely to be shown the door through the buyout or a trade.
If there’s any silver lining to this deal, Streit can help fill the void left by Kimmo Timonen when he eventually retires. The two serve similar roles on the ice and provide veteran leadership to the room.
They just don’t need any more veterans.
Hopefully the organization can draft a defenseman in June that can fill the void in talented young defenseman in short order.
I don’t care how good this guy is. I hate the move. He is on the wrong side of the age equation. I would rather you sign 10 young guys and pick the best 2 and cut the rest than add another aging player.
Yup!
Precisely the sort of myopic, archaic, dead-end team-building I fully expect until some quantity of Snyders or elderly former Flyers players meet with tragic demises.
We have a defensive star from the World games who can’t fight thru the logjam of terrible players that this awful coach and horrible GM have set up. Then we send a ton of money to another [highly respectable] aging veteran when we’re having a hard time protecting the young prospects who can give us 4-6 someday.
What are the odds Streit ends up on the wrong side of a concussion or some other injury before the All Star break and the organ-eye-zation is stuck chewing on a huge wad of rancid contract….. AGAIN….
Ed Snyder and Company just never learn, do they.. Terrible move
Any way you look at it, Streit has 1-2 years as a serviceable Player but not at $5 Million a year.. The Flyers have be one like the US Gov’t, keep throwing $$$ at the obvious needs and problems instead of fixing the Fron Office, Scouting Depts and Player Development areas of the Organization..
Another non-Pkayoff Team in 2014.. The Eastern Conference has gotten better, yolk get and more athletic while the Flyboys are stuck in the 70’s still
And the Fsns and local Media keep laying $60-80-100 a game to watch them..
Keep going ahead Ed Snider .. It hasn’t worked in 35 plus years and won’t again in 2014 . The Sport has pass ex this Irganization by..
Sloburn the sloth, Mezsaros, Bryz & Briere need to go regardless, so this move shouldn’t affect those moves. But, at 4 years $5.25 per, is asinine! If Homer doesn’t get at least 2 more good starting D-men, & a top 6 Forward, & a good young D-man in the draft (Nurse, Pulock, Ristolainen, Zadorov), he needs to be fired!
From Timm00, May 8th comments: “Before we pull another boneheaded, long-term contract deal with some aging, high-profile player, I hope we will start taking a serious look at some of these promising kids we just signed. We’re so tied down with Bryz, Briere, and Pronger right now and can’t keep going in to each season with a ‘just one blockbuster free agent away…’ attitude.”
Prescient Timm00 or predictable Holmgren?
As for Shayne Gostisbehere, he isn’t being held up by a logjam of veterans. For starters, he isn’t even signed to an entry level contract. It is likely that he doesn’t want to turn professional yet, as most players don’t begin that process until after their junior season at the earliest (he just finished his sophomore season).
The Union College athletics department also isn’t too fond of the Flyers, after Holmgren signed Andrew Johnston to an ELC. Johnston was supposed to be one of their top new recruits last fall; instead, he languished in the ECHL with the Titans. So Holmgren doesn’t have much support from Union College about “Ghost” leaving early.
The Flyers never learn. It was one thing to overspend for aging talent at the trade deadline when the sport had no salary cap. Now, they overspend for aging talent in the offseason. Holmgren needs to go, if nothing else for letting Bobrosky go and signing that crazy old head-case Bryz. This team will never win the cup until it gets its head out of 1975 and into the present.
Cripes, for that money they could have had an offer sheet for any of the young defensemen that Josh listed yesterday. All are better options. WTF is going on down there? They are going to be just as unwatchable as last year.
Somebody get me an NHL Policy book, a couple college interns, a Coffee Station and an interview with Mr. Synder. I don;t know crap about being a GM but I know that Guys my Age 35 and over are sprinkles for a Stanley Cup sundae not the Flavor of the month (off-season)!
Somebody please explain that aging causes players to recover from injury faster and therefore miss more Ice time meaning the Value in dollar for performance is lower. In other words 5.5 Million for a 25 Year old player is ok but that same money for a 35 y/o is really more like 10mil in that the player is far more likely to be out of action more than the 25 y/o.
YES I am an AGEIST when it comes to pro sports!
You only add a guy like Pronger to a team that just needs that one more piece. This team needs far more.. And to think I actually defended homer earlier because I thought he had bad luck with Pronger and then the lock out. Nope he created the bad luck with too many older slower guys and well he just plain wiffed on BRYZ