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2014/15 Flyers

Posted 12:05 AM ET | Comments 0
Hello, in my first blog we took a look at the Flyers cap issues with the upcoming season, I felt I would take it a bit further and talk about the cap issues we may face following this season. Alot of people are concerned that with Girouxs new contract extention exceding $8 million, along with having to most likley give pay raises to B.Schenn and Matt Read, the Flyers will again be in a tough spot in 2014/15. I wanted to take a look at what their new contracts might look like and how our roster might look following this year.

On July 4th the Flyers and Claude Giroux agreed on and 8 year $66.2 million contract extention, that would see our captain stay in Philadelphia through the 2021/22 season(god willing). On July 20th they signed 8th overall pick Sean Couturier to a 2 yeat $3.5 million extention. Giroux earned his extention after putting up 291 points in 333 games over parts of 5 seasons while blossming into one of the most dangerous forwards in the NHL. Couturier on the other hand has made his name as more of a shutdown center after 2 seasons in the Black and Orange. Couturiers extention is a bridge contract (a very reasonable one at that) if he continues to develop he will certainly cash in 3 seasons from now. Giroux is also coming off a bridge contract that has paid him $3.75 million over 3 years(a bargin so far). I really like bridge deals as it gives the team a chance to see what a player can really do while also giving the player a chance to prove his worth. In some cases it works out better for the player financially to take less if they think they are capable of more. Giroux is the perfect example, had he and the Flyers opted for a long term contract it would probably have been for close to what Richards and Carters contract had looked like(Richards 12yrs 69m, Carter 11yrs 58m) roughly $5.5 per season. With the combination of Girouxs current contract and extention he will have made $73.45 Million over 11 years. Not bad right, maybe we should have gone long term. Anyway I believe we will see a similar bridge contract given to B.Shenn and possibly Matt Read, however with Read turning 27 and eligable for UFA he might seek a more stable and long term deal.

Lets look at some possible numbers. My guess is B.Shenn gets a deal simalar to Girouxs 3yrs $3.75m and Read ends up getting 3yrs $3.5. Now lets look at what our 2014/15 roster might look like.

My bet is we let Meszaros walk and Timmonen retires after this season, freeing up $10 million in space, however we will also have to resign one or both of our goalies as well as Gustafsson. So again, just me guessing but I'd say one goalie will take over, lets say its Mason and we give him say $3.5m while resigning Emery to $1.75(almost impossible to predict but for the sake of numbers lets just say something close to that). We could also option to sign one of next years UFA goalies, say Halak or someone. So we will just guess that $5m or so will end up being tied up in goaltending. Gustafsson will also be looking for a raise but unless he blows us out of the water, look for it to be somewhere in the area of between $1.5 - $2 million.

Finally we must try to predict what the cap will be, according to most it is expected to rise between $4 - $6 million so lets say $5 and put it at $69.3 million(however with 6 outdoor game it might end up over those projections based on the Revenue expected to be generated). Anyway now we are ready to take a look at our possible 2014/15 Flyers

Giroux $8.275
Hartnell $4.75
Lecavaliar $4.5
Voracek $4.25
Simmonds $3.975
B.Schenn $3.75
Read $3.5
Couturier $1.75
Talbot $1.75
Laughton $1.106
Rinaldo $0.75
Rosehill $0.6

Streit $5.25
Coburn $4.5
L.Schenn $3.6
Grossmann $3.5
Gustafsson $1.75

Mason $3.5
Emery $1.75

Total $62.806 million for 19 players($6.494M cap space)

Now with Prongers cap hit of $4.941 that takes us to

Total $67.747 million for 20 players($1.553m cap space)

However that will be removed from the books before or upon the start of the season, so lets say we have roughly $6.5 million to work with. $6.5 million is more than enough to fill out our roster by say bringing up Lauridsen and/or resigning Bourdon to fill out those 6/7 spots on defense and bringing up McGinn and/or Cossins to fill out the extra forward possitions.. or even to say resign Gange and maybe sign a cheap 5/6 defensemen, but if we want to add somthing substantial we will for sure be in need of shedding some cap.

Personally I feel the Flyers will target Dion Phaneuf if he becomes avalible to replace the loss of Timmonen, I know alot of people are Dion haters but the fact remains that he would be a guy Homer would covet, aswell a change of scenery might do him well. If they do it will be tough for sure, tough but not impossible, if we sign Dion for say the $6.5 million he is making now we may be able to squeze out a 20 man roster and start the season. Also like I said the cap may be higher than the $69.3m I am projecting, and thats not even mentioning that all of these numbers are just guess work and there will most likley be a trade or 2 over the course of this season. Next years UFA market looks to be one of the best in years so it might be worth wild to hold off on resigning some of our guys until we can see it shake out, but even if we went forward with this team I would have no issues. I would love to add a guy like Ryan Callahan if he becomes availible but we shall see. In conclution 2014/15 maybe a another tough year cap wise, but we will have a few options and anyway we have a whole year to think about it. Feel free to give me your opinion on our future cap issues and/or who you would like to see the Flyers add and again thanks for reading.
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