Knuble Embraces Capitalism; Flyers Sign Boucher and Laperriere

Right wing Mike Knuble signed a two year deal with Washington for $5.6 million, rejecting a lower offer from the Flyers.  Knuble will be missed for his presence in front of the net on the power play, his consistent goal scoring and his maturity in the dressing room.  Now with Lupul traded and the loss of Knuble, the Flyers are down about 50 goals per season.  After losing Knuble, the Flyers signed veteran right wing Ian Laperriere from Colorado for three years/$3.5 million.  A good defensive forward with a proclivity to fight, Laperriere generally scores only about ten goals per season.  A higher scoring forward would have been nice; now the Flyers have four low-scoring fighters when you include Riley Cote, Aaron Asham, and Dan Carcillo.  This signing will allow at least one of them to be dumped, preferably Cote who scored zero goals last season and who loses about half his fights.  Flyers fans are grumpy about this as they were expecting a higher scoring forward to be signed.  The Flyers are evidently gambling that Briere will return to form and that Claude Giroux will have a really good season to replace the goals they lost.  Laperriere (and Chris Pronger) will help keep the shots against down, which absolutely has to happen, and he hates to lose. That’s a good thing – this team is too nonchalant about losing and now they’ve added three players (Emery, Pronger, and Laperriere) who will get in people’s faces when the effort isn’t there. (Hear that Jeff Carter?). This might actually all work out, but if it doesn’t and there’s early losses, things will get ugly at Broad and Pattison. 

Unhappy with test results on Niitymaki’s hips, the Flyers signed former Flyer goalie Brian Boucher from the San Jose Sharks for a pretty good price (two years/$1.8 million).  This is a decent signing – Boucher is a better goalie than he was when he was here before. He had a solid season in San Jose as Nabokov’s back -up, with a 2.18 GAA and .917 save percentage in 22 games.  New Jersey’s Scott Clemmensen signed with Florida for $1.2 million per season. The Flyers probably could have gotten him for that and he may be a better goalie than Boucher, but the cap-conscious Flyers opted for the less expensive goalie. 

Defensive forward Ian Laperriere will join the Flyers

Brian Boucher returns to Philadelphia

Free Agency Starts Today; Heatley to Edmonton?

The NHL’s free agency period begins today and it will be interesting to see who signs where and for how much.  The Flyers and their rivals will be of special interest to Philadelphia fans and the Flyers have some decisions to make quickly.  First, they would like to re-sign right wing Mike Knuble. Although 37 years of age, he has been a pretty consistent player for the Flyers and has been solid on the power play. With Joffrey Lupul’s trade to Anaheim, it becomes even more crucial that the Flyers ink Knuble.  They also have to consider whether they will re-sign defenseman Andrew Alberts and goalie Antero Niittymaki.  Ideally, they would also sign a centerman who is good at face-offs.  The problem is that they are still right up against the salary cap with only $4.2 million to spend. 

There are several possibilities with the goalie situation.  They could re-sign Niittymaki if they can do it for under $1.5 million – this is all they have marked to spend on the back up goalie.  If Niitymaki wants more than that or if the Flyers decide to go in a different direction, there are three experienced goalies that the Flyers would be interested in – New Jersey’s Scott Clemmensen, Florida’s Craig Anderson, and San Jose’s Brian Boucher (a former Flyer).  Each of the three could probably be had for under $1.5 million.  Clemmensen was great in filling in for Martin Brodeur when he was injured this past season.  Another possibility is that the Flyers could go with rookie Jonas Backlund for less than a million.  That would save money but it may be wise to have a proven NHL-calibre goalie as a back up in case Ray Emery does not pan out as hoped. 

If the Flyers don’t re-sign Knuble or another winger, look for them to try to fill holes with players in their system like Andreas Nodl and James van Riemsdyk.  The Flyers really want JVR to make the team this coming season and will give him a very long look especially if they haven’t signed another forward. 

As for the face-off center, Mike Sillinger of the Islanders and Mike Comrie of Ottawa could be possibilities, but they may not come as cheaply as the Flyers need.  It will be interesting to see how they Flyers try to squeeze their needs under the cap, if they are able to do so. 

The Senators and Oilers have agreed to a trade with Dany Heatley going to Edmonton for forwards Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner and defenseman Ladislav Smid.  Heatley must approve this deal because of his no-trade clause.  Supposedly Heatley was due a $4 million payment of front-loaded salary at 12:01 am July 1, but this may be able to be deferred until midnight on July 1.  So, if this deal is going to happen, if would likely be today. I would think the Sens would want to deal him before the payment had to be made.  Other talk has Heatley nixing this deal, so that saga continues.