The Tampa Bay Lightning announced five days ago that they were going to buy out the remainder of captain Vincent Lecavalier’s contract. Since that time, there has been ample speculation about where the 33 year-old centerman would end up.
Per Darren Dreger of TSN, the Philadelphia Flyers have “won” the bid for his services. Vinny Lecavalier is a Flyer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars, and Montreal Canadiens were all believed to have made the final cut among the two dozen teams vying for his services.
Dreger followed up on the report with the contract amount: five years and $22.5 million, or a $4.5 million cap hit.
There is a full no-move-clause in the contract, per Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.
That general manager Paul Holmgren has decided to move in this direction suggests… well, nobody really seems to know at this point what it means.
Is the team embracing youth and moving to rebuild? Is this team *really* on the cusp of winning now?
Dustin Leed of The Hockey Guys made a great point via twitter that the organization relied, perhaps too early, on Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn to produce. Rather than exhibit more patience and sign a stopgap centerman while they develop, though, the team went all in once it seemed Lecavalier was open to moving to Philadelphia.
The failure of the organization to move Braydon Coburn at the draft is now going to cost them. They have lost any leverage they had in trades because now they have to move him just to be compliant with the salary cap. Goodbye picks and prospects, hello Matt Walker part deux.
Never mind finding another goaltender, either; apparently Steve Mason isn’t just the guy, he’s the ONLY guy.
Another ripple effect of this move- this likely signals the end of one of Matt Read, Brayden Schenn or Sean Couturier as a Flyer. Schenn can be moved to wing if need be while Couturier continues to anchor the third line, but depending on what their player preference is, they can’t all enjoy top six minutes. The organization can still hold onto Read for next season, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to afford all three for the 2014-15 NHL season.
The contract, in and of itself, is decent. The cap hit is reasonable for a second line centerman, though it’s unclear how well Lecavalier will continue producing. In the lockout shortened season, he was on pace for 21 goals and 67 points. In other words, I wouldn’t worry about it right now.
LeBrun reported a text message from captain Claude Giroux about the signing: “Very excited, he’s going to bring a lot to our team.”
Exciting times, indeed.
This team is a trainwreck and will continue to be one as long as Homer is at the helm.
At least this means there’s almost no chance we waste any money on old psycho Thomas.
I wouldnt sign T. Thomas either. Goaltenders with the exception of basically Brodeur are a product of the defense in front of them and since we have a shit D any goalie who starts for us will be shit.
Basically a blah move. This team has no financial flexibility, Pronger is just killing the team by not retiring which locks up at least 5 million in cap space until the season starts. We still owe him 7.5 mill next year and 4 million after that and then 525k the 2 years after that. unreal we are paying him until he is 42 and he is just bleeding our money and cap room. Why isnt his salary protected with an insurance policy, so he can just retire, I really dont understand.
I Thought our draft was pretty funny, obviously we need a dman or two so whats our gm do? just drafts 80 of them… lol this homer guy really seems inept and makes me miss clark bad.
If Pronger retired, the team would not be allowed to move his salary to LTIR during the season. If anything, his decision not to retire is saving the team from eating his cap every year until it expires in (sigh) 2017. The NHL also will not allow teams to buy out injured players. It’s the same reason Ian Laperriere had to wait two seasons to retire.
That’s right, 35+ contracts can’t just retire and go off the books. 100% chance he has a gentleman’s agreement with the Flyers to not retire until the contract is over.
Great news!
Oh wait, it’s not 2005 anymore.
Holmgren and Snyder suck.
I honestly don’t know how to feel about it. On the one hand, he’s still one of the best centermen in the game and makes the offense immediately better. On the other, it doesn’t do anything to address the team’s bigger issues on the back end or suggest what direction, if any, the team is going.
It’s the same move the Flyers have always made, get an aging star a few years past his prime and add him to a team with mediocre goaltending and below average defense.
It never worked in the pre-salary cap days, why would it work now?
truer words have never been spoken emoney
When is the last Season that Lecavilier played a full Season??
Not much difference in him & Danny Briere except that he’s a left-hand shot
This Feanchise will co to he to wallow in the bottom 1/3rd of the NHL
Which is a disgrace considering the resources they gave available year in and year out that many smaller Marjet Teams Just don’t have
A complete lack of a “Plan” and the lack of Discipline by Ownership and the strong a office to carry thru a Plan.. The Flyers have become the Oakkand a raiders of the NFL under the last years of Al Davis.. Embarrassing to say the least..
Lecavalier played 327 of 376 possible games in the last 5 years. He’s been fairly healthy.
Can the Flyers Move Adrej Meszaros? His cap hit is like 4 Mil and he only has one year left. I would rather him go than Coburn given price for performance.
If they can move Meszaros than they get some room under the cap and next year when Timmo goes there is 6 mill more in cap room. Problem is they will need that as Giroux, Schenn, Couturier and Read are all UFA or RFA next season. But a move of Andrej does allow for a goalie to be added and then during season more cap relief with Pronger going to LTIR.
A look at the Penguins reveals that from a cap perspective Homer is really not doing that bad of a job.
Yes he whiffed on BRYZ. Yes I would prefer younger guys but. Pitsburg has near 20 mil commited to Malkin and Crosby alone until 2020.
All these guys must drink at the same well. Kick the can down the road!
You can’t just look at it from a cap perspective, you have to look at it from a talent perspective. The Penguins got a lot more productivity from their top 6 players (253 points) versus the Flyers top 6 (181 points). All of the Penguins top 6 had a positive plus/minus, 4 out of the Flyers top 6 had a negative plus/minus.
The Flyers are currently about as talent-less as I’ve ever seen them, the Penguins are a move or 2 away from winning the cup.
This team needs to learn how to build through the draft. The need to stop tying up roster spots with goons. I realize that not everybody on your roster is going to be great, but they’d be better off getting a good defensive center or winger or a guy that’s a faceoff specialist than carrying 1 or 2 fighters.
They need to move on from their 70s mentality.
That’s not an entirely fair comparison either, if you’re just comparing last season. Hartnell was injured thee games into the season and Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier were not ready to take on the full workload for offense.
Lecavalier is also one of the better faceoff centermen in the league. He’s a younger, cheaper, bigger, more talented upgrade on Briere. I wouldn’t worry about what this move means from a talent perspective. If anything, it gives #10 and #14 some breathing room to continue developing.
Still need 2 defensive upgrades to Sloburn & Meszaros, & we still don’t have a proven goalie. Now we have to trade both Sloburn & Meszaros, while trying to upgrade the defense. What a hot mess this front office is. If they don’t make the playoffs again, Homer better pack his bags.
The pessimism on this site amazes me.Its just a pack mentality people realize holmgren has made a few bad moves lately [and a lot of very good ones early in his tenure] ,and people just jump on everything he does.Breaking it down their 1st round pick i believe is going to be a very good defensemen ,if you watch some clips of him its easy to see he moves very well for someone of his size All he needs is a year to get stronger and next year he will be a 6-6 230 lb 19 year old terrific dman.As far as this latest move taking it on the surface ,they add one of the top scorers in the league and people are bad mouthing the move.i realize hes 33 and has declined a bit the last couple of years ,but his salary is very reasonable and its going to make the flyers pp leathal.i know they have to do something on d and with another goalie, but im sure thats coming in the next week or so, so just wait and see what things look like in a few weeks.It really makes no difference the order of the moves they make ,its when the dust has cleared what do things look like.Please dont get me wrong, i do not love holmgren,i hate the 3rd rd pick [typical old flyers mentality] and i do believe they are going to have to really go after the fast skilled players [i loved the russian player that went 1 pick before their pick, and it would have been interesting to see who they would have picked if he was available also.i think hes another malkin, and was shocked he lasted till pick 11]
This was arguably the best unbiased reaction I read to the signing:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/vincent-lecavalier-signs-five-year-deal-with-flyers/article12940462/
I think that I would have had that reaction had they not signed Streit.
You don’t think that there is any room for doubt? Let me give you a couple of reasons here. Bryz contract. Timmonen to another year AT 6 MILLION! Streit a 4 year deal at age 35. Now LeCavilier with diminished skills and questionable health to a 5 year deal at age 33. Who knows about the draft except that they were higher rated players with more experience available but Homer picked another guy. He may turn out but what about the defense now? Streit doesn’t fix everything here and now they not only have no money to fix it, but they actually have to move contracts to get under the cap. There is no direction for this team and they are making the same mistakes again and again. Why would we be really positive about this? As it stands, they are still not a top team in the East.
Doesn’t Detroit come into the Eastern Conference next Season..
With stronger Teams like the Bruins,Pens,Caps,Rangers, and now the Red Wings, the Flyboys are quite a ways off Talent-Roster Wise even with the signing of Levcavilier and will be a .500 Team at best in 2013-2014..
Not a bad move, I feel there are a few trades down the line here to shake this up. I will reserve full judgement till I see the team going to camp In september. More to come this offseason.
can anyone tell me why pronger wasnt amnestied?
You can’t buy out injured players. If Tampa Bay could, they’d have kept Lecavalier and bought out Matthias Ohlund instead. It’s the same reason Buffalo couldn’t buy out Ville Leino, Minnesota couldn’t buy out Dany Heatley, and San Jose couldn’t buy out Martin Havlat.
It’s also the reason why it was wiser to buy out Bryz now rather than risk him being hurt this time next year.
Thanks for the info
this was a solid signing, vinny will score 20 goals and play in all situations. i wish it were only a 4 year contract but not a big del, maybe flip him back to tampa to finish out his career. cap is not an issue with this signing and heres how. move mezaros for anything or waive him, a team will take him to get cap compliant. pronger heads to ltir and gives just a shade under 9 million in cap space. sign gustafsson (approx 850k), goalie (approx 3-4mill) and a 3rd/4th line winger (veteran maybe gagne, approx 2mill) demote bourdon (now healthy) or gervais. This would total about 7 mill give or take leaving 1.-2 mill for callups and trade deadline. going forward to sign the young guys timonnen retires creating 6 million alone and maybe move a dman if need be.
line up could look like this:
hartnell giroux vorchek
scheen lecavailler simmonds
(ufa)gagne couturier read
talbot laughton rinaldo
spares mcginn, rosehill
timonnen coburn
streit schenn
grossman gustafasson
spares bourdon, lauridsen
mason
nabokov/emery/thomas
this lineup will contend and get into the playoffs.
I like a line of gagne, lecavailler,and read a lot of speed and 2 snipers for vinny.i think gagne would really prosper in that setting.
They should Trade Hartnell,Talbot,Simmonds,Metzaros immediately
for young Prospects/Draft PIcks and release Gagne
cap hits:
scott hartnell:
2013-2014 – $4,750,000
2014-2015 – $4,750,000
2015-2016 – $4,750,000
2017-2018 – $4,750,000
2018-2019 – $4,750,000
Wayne Simmons:
2013-2014 – $3,975,000
2014-2015 – $3,975,000
2015-2016 – $3,975,000
2017-2018 – – $3,975,000
2018-2019 – $3,975,000
good luck getting a wooden nickel for those 2 guys
Simmonds had 28 goals 2 years ago and 15 last year in about half a season and he is 24. That is a low cap hit for that type of production at that age.
i am a fan if simmons game. i think he could add 20lbs and get even better and more physical
Simmonds biggest problem is his poor balance and skating ability, I don’t believe I have ever seen an NHL Pkayer lose his balance and fall as iftenn as he does.. He’s great in front of the net but a liability everywhere else in my opnion and has below pick control and a poor passer.. A real stiff if u ask me and doesn’t have the athleticism/skating ability for today’s NHL
He must hit mthe Ice 2-3 Tines a shift, and nany times it’s never from body contact with another Player, someone needs to give him Skating/Bakance and pick handling lessons..
once again talk about the wrong player…you would now be talking about hartnell….hartnell-down
Paulman you have no clue when it comes to hockey. not a sniff. gagne is ufa, mezaros might get a late pick but likely will have to be waived and picked up by a team which needs to get to the cap floor. simmonds is emerging into a top power forward and 24 years old, hartnell is only 30 and will score 30 goals in riding shotgun with giroux, talbot is 28 and is effective on the 3rd 4th line and killing penalties plus a low cap hit. this team is capable at winning now.
a trade which might be worth doing is edler for read and coburn.but would require another signing of a forward.
I played Hockey for 15 years and have watched it for 35 Years
I admit I don’t folks the NHL like I used to, but still know who can play and who can’t with me eyes.. Pairing with Giroux, I could score 20 Goals..
Edler makes too much money for a Read/Coburn trade to work and help their cap, even with Meszaros moved somewhere. I’d also be hesitant to use both assets together in a trade, but if it could bring back a talented young defenseman, that might be an option. Think Read/Coburn for Jamie Oleksiak (Dallas, who still probably wouldn’t do that trade).
edler is 5mil. coburn is 4.5mil, read is 900k, right off the top there is 400k savings. meszaros gets moved for pick or waived, there is 4.4mil add in prongers 4.9mil gives 9.3 to get gustavaffsen singed, a forward or 2 and of course a goalie. dont think it will happen but it is definately do able
it’s clear this organization has no plan for the team……first, they went out and signed a bunch of mid- 30 yr old players, didnt get them anything….then, they blow up the team and play with youngsters, didnt do well, now back to the mid 30 yr old players… Homer is brain dead from all the fights back in his day… get a GM who actually has a clue and can build a championship team….
Start with a new Owner first, Homer is just following Snyder’s
Instructions/plan.. Ed Snyder is now the “Late Al Davis” of the NHL and stuck in a time warp..