The Philadelphia Flyers are currently in the midst of a season in which they have struggled to find consistency offensively, lack depth on the blue line and currently have a space cadet of goalie, figuratively and semi-literally, in year two of a nine year contract. This is a proud team, franchise and fan base that is not used to losing. While this season is not the end of the hockey world, it can certainly seem that way most days. The road from Stanley Cup finalists in 2010 to possible lockout losers in 2013 has been a long and interesting one, with many intriguing turns that have landed the team in its currents position.
The transition of this team started after the 2011 playoff run ended with a sweep to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. Actually, the seed was planted in June of 2010 when Chicago Blackhawk Patrick Kane scored a weak, odd angle goal on then Flyers goalie Michael Leighton, to end the Stanley Cup finals. Goaltending has been a very sensitive issue in Philadelphia for a long time and that ending only ignited fury in a fan base that has been starving for a title.
In 2011, the Brian Boucher/ Sergei Bobrovsky/Michael Leighton combination was, to put it nicely, less than effective. The opening round series, won in seven by the Flyers over the Buffalo Sabres, saw all three goalies get playing time and there were goalie changes in several of those games. When the Flyers were eventually swept by the Bruins, the winds of change were blowing, and upper management knew something had to be done.
The 2011 offseason was one of the most tumultuous in recent history and possibly in team history. The prevailing opinion was that in order to go out into the free agent market and get top flight goalie, a major salary was going to need to be traded. The top candidate was Jeff Carter, whose 11 year and $58 milllion contract, with a cap hit over $5 million per year, was going to have to be traded. The Carter contract was long and a no trade clause was ready trigger and to go into place. Trading Carter was the best possible option for clearing the cap space needed to go after a star goaltender.
The trade of Carter did not come without issue, as he and Mike Richards apparently had a complicated bromance that couldn’t be happily be split, meaning if one left town, they both had to leave town. This led to one of the craziest hours Flyers fan have ever experienced whilst no hockey was being played, watching the cornerstones of the franchise leave for two separate destinations.
On June 23rd of 2011 Jeff Carter was sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek, a 2011 first round pick which ended up being Sean Couturier and a 2011 third round pick.
Within the same hour of the Carter trade, Richards was sent packing for the west coast, when he was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Simmonds, highly touted prospect Brayden Schenn and a 2012 third round draft pick.
The trades of Carter and Richards gave management the cap space to go after a goalie and also changed the face of the franchise forever. The team also added former Penguin’s Maxime Talbot and Jaromir Jagr, with Talbot coming straight from Pittsburgh while Jagr had been employed in the KHL for the three years prior.
With the new found cap space, the Flyers began to search for their goalie of the future, the missing piece to lead them to the promise land and bring home the Stanley Cup.
The search pretty much began and ended with Phoenix Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who was one of if not the biggest free agent goalie on the open market. The Flyers traded for the rights to Bryzgalov and used that time to sign him to a nine year, $51 million contract. Bryz was coming off 42 and 36 win seasons and was considered a Vezina caliber goalie and made the Flyers a Stanley Cup favorite.
Bryzgalov was meant to be the backstop to a team that boasted a strong defensive unit in front, with quite possibly the best top four d-men in the league. With Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Andrej Meszaros in front of Bryzgalov, the Flyers were set up to be a force. That all changed when captain and top defenseman Pronger was injured when taking a stick to the eye in October 2011. At the time it looked like the team would be without Pronger for a little while, which wasn’t the worst option early in the season. In the 2011 playoff season, Pronger was limited due to injuries and missed portions of the playoffs. An early season injury would have provided an opportunity for Pronger to save his body for the postseason run. The loss of Pronger was far more serious than anyone originally thought and quite detrimental to the makeup of the team as a whole.
The Flyers had completely changed the makeup of their team up front, adding Voracek, Jagr, Simmonds, Schenn, Talbot, Couturier and Matt Read. Add to that the injuries to Pronger, James van Riemsdyk and huge drop in production from forward Danny Briere, it was quite a feat that the Flyers finished the 2011-2012 season with 103 points.
After a disappointing second round ouster in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs and the likelihood that Pronger may not play hockey again, the Flyers embarked on yet another wild postseason journey, however this one was not nearly as successful as that of the 2011 shakeup.
Looking to replace their captain and find a shutdown defenseman, the Flyers brass put together a massive offer sheet to restricted free agent defensive stud Shea Weber. The 14 year, $110 million deal was brilliantly designed for a couple of reasons, one being that it would be hard for the small market Nashville Predators to match and another that with an impending lockout and new collective bargaining agreement on the way, Weber knew he would never be able to get an offer like this again in terms of length or dollars.
Weber decided to sign the offer sheet and Nashville had seven days to match, work out a trade with the Flyers or decline and get a bunch of draft picks and lose the face of their franchise. On the Flyers end, this was an attempt to use their big money to bully a smaller market team and bring in a stud defenseman in the prime of his career. The thinking at the time was that Nashville would have to match or get some real talent back in the deal in the form of young players the Flyers had on their roster. Nashville did match the offer and retained their star player, presumably for the rest of his career.
Whether or not a deal was offered to Nashville is unknown. Could a package including Couturier, Read and few first round draft picks have brought Weber to Philly? Does anyone think that would be such a bad deal now?
After the Flyers lost on the Weber offer, they traded forward James van Riemsdyk to Toronto for 22 year old defenseman Luke Schenn, a move that had to be made after losing incumbent defenseman Matt Carle in free agency and also losing out on Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in free agent battles over this past summer. Not getting Suter and Weber were huge losses for a front office that has shown it is not afraid to make big, bold moves to improve the team.
When the Flyers looked to make over their roster in 2011, they succeeded. A lot of young talent was brought in, all forwards of course, and this team looked to be built for a great future. When the team lost Pronger and both in restricted and unrestricted free agency in 2012, it left the franchise with a roster that is very strong in certain areas and very weak in others. It left the team without a cornerstone defenseman and proven leader.
The blue liners are doing their best and there isn’t much of a free agent market this summer. Bryzgalov has been great and terrible, entertaining and annoying, worth every penny and not even close to worth the nine year deal he is signed to currently. The tales of two separate off-seasons have put this team in a precarious position. The decisions the team will face in the upcoming offseason are not going to be any easier and could very well shape the franchise for a long period of time. In another blog post, we will look at the cap decisions that will need to be made, amnesty clause options and who may stay and who may go this summer.
The post A Tale Of Two Summers: How The Flyers Current Roster Was Built appeared first on The High Phive.