Leighton Signed, Holmgren Kicks Off Free Agency
NHLHS Philadelphia Flyers Correspondent David Strehle takes a look at the Flyers’ signing of Leighton and what may lie ahead on the opening day of NHL Free Agency.
Goaltender Michael Leighton was brought back into the fold yesterday as he signed a two-year, $3.1 million deal.
While GM Paul Holmgren now has his two netminders from the end of last season under contract and in place (Brian Boucher is signed through 2010-11), there is much speculation as to whether or not the reigning Eastern Conference Champions are done with the crease position.
Aside from doing nothing, there is a growing sentiment that there are two highly probable routes that Holmgren will choose between when the clock strikes twelve noon.
Build a stronger defense and go for a B-tier goaltender
With Leighton re-signed, one school of thought is that Holmgren will go after one of the premier defensemen available, presumably former Ottawa Senator Anton Volchenkov. The 6′ 1″, 227 pound rearguard plays a very physical style, and is well-suited for head coach Peter Laviolette’s type of game.
Once opposition teams got through Chris Pronger’s shifts, there wasn’t a whole lot of physicality to the rest of the Flyers defensemen’s games. Volchenkov would change that in a big way.
After already inquiring into the contract demands of UFA goaltenders Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco and realizing their camps are both going for the huge pay day, Holmgren could turn his attention towards Chris Mason or Dan Ellis.
Mason won 30 games last season with the St. Louis Blues and will make any team that signs him a much better club moving forward. Highly under-rated, the 34-year-old earned $3 million last year and should be in line for a modest raise. This would put him in the area that Philly is looking to spend.
The 30-year-old Ellis won 15 games last year with the Nashville Predators, mostly in a backup role to Pekka Rinne. His rights were traded to the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the week, and as of Thursday morning, no deal had been announced.
Ellis would be a great fit in Philadelphia for both sides. As it would appear that the Habs have a more defined role in mind for him as the second string to Carey Price, the Flyers have already told Leighton that he will have a chance to compete for the starter’s position for next season. That role is not being given to him and he was not signed as the incumbent.
This course of action is not bad at all, but can only work if restricted free agent Braydon Coburn is also re-signed.
And with the money saved on moving down a tier in the goaltender pay scale, there may be enough leftover to also sign a couple other free agent defensemen.
It was obvious that there was a tremendous drop off after the top four of Pronger-Matt Carle and Kimmo Timonen-Coburn. It got to the point that Laviolette had no confidence in his third pairing of Lukas Krajicek (also an UFA as of today)-Ryan Parent (since traded to Nashville). Things got so bad in the Stanley Cup Finals for Parent that he saw just 41 seconds of ice time in game one, sported a -1 rating, and was a healthy scratch the rest of the series.
Parent’s replacement was Oskars Bartulis. The 23-year-old Latvian blue liner is a nice seventh defenseman but not a top-six, at least not at this point of his career.
Candidates to fill the five and / or six spots are Kurtis Foster and Zbynek Michalek, both 28 years old.
At 6′ 2″, 210 pounds, Michalek is especially interesting because he would give the Orange-and-Black a right-handed shot from the point, something they did not possess last season.
Foster, 6′ 5″ and 230 pounds, was a nominee for the Masterton Trophy this past season, as he worked his way back from a horrific injury while playing for the Minnesota Wild in early 2008. Last year in his first full season back and playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Foster was the best Bolts defenseman, leading the Lightning D-men in goals (8) and setting a career-high for assists (34) and points (42).
Leave the defense “as is” and go after one of the high-priced netminders
Holmgren could just re-sign Coburn and Krajicek, and then set his sights on Nabokov or Turco.
The problem with this scenario is that much of the hopes will be thrown onto one player in net, and it also sets up the top two blue line pairings for nearly 30 minutes of ice time per game.
Holmgren was not happy that Pronger played so much, especially during regular season contests midway through the season. But in Laviolette’s defense, the Flyers had dropped to 14th place in the East and risked the prospect of missing out on the postseason altogether.
With the first route explored, the 35-year-old Pronger and Timonen could tire, especially in the playoffs. Any scenario that saves wear and tear on their best rearguards bodies would be preferred.
And add in the fact that this option also sets up for monumental failure and disappointment if that one player that you put your hopes in suffers a long-term injury. You will know exactly what I’m talking about if you look back at the Flyers’ injury situation between the pipes last year.
As improbable as it is that it would happen again, stranger things have happened.
And so begins the free agent frenzy at noon today. It remains to be seen which direction Holmgren will take as he sits at the fork in the road between spending a large portion of his remaining cap money on defense or a goaltender.
But then again he probably considers this situation as a luxury, since he hasn’t had any cap space with which to deal with for a couple of seasons.
Here’s to hoping that you spend wisely, Paul.
David Strehle
NHLHS Flyers Correspondent / NHL Writer
dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @PhilaDAVEia
