Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures: Flyers Edition

Photo Credit: Zack Hill

I think most Flyers fans remember back on July 18^th, 2012, when then-general manager (GM) of the Philadelphia Flyers, Paul Holmgren, made a very bold move and signed Nashville’s restricted free agent (RFA) defenseman Shea Weber to a then-unprecedented 14-year deal worth $110 million dollars. This resulted in the Predators being forced to match that deal in order to not lose their star blueliner who was an integral piece of their success on the back end. 

At that time, this was simply unheard of, as such action among the league’s general managers was viewed as a violation of one of their unwritten rules. Most general managers league-wide swore allegiance that they would never look to poach players from each other’s rosters in this manner for it was viewed as disrespectful and, if a team’s GM were to do so, it would most certainly come back tenfold on them with repercussions for their actions. How? By receiving similar treatment when, in the future, they are cap strapped and have a lengthy list of their own RFA’s to re-sign or being straight black-balled by the other GMs when that manger wants to make a trade in the future. 

But with a flat cap and as many holes in the lineup as the Flyers’ current GM Chuck Fletcher has to fill this off-season, desperate times may call for desperate measures! With a wide array of talented options out there this summer (such as Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi, Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, Nashville’s Eeli Tolvanen, Colorado’s Cale Makar, Boston’s Brandon Carlo, and yes- Chuck Fletcher’s own former draft product- Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov) there’s no time like the present! Herein lies the problem though: Much like Nashville did back in 2012, all of these teams have the cap space in which to match any offer that the Flyers would be willing to extend. For example, Detroit has an incredible $48 million in cap space to spend this off season. 

In order for Philadelphia to really pull off such a move, they will need to get creative and find a team with far less cap space who would not be able to match their offer. One that, at the same time, still has some players who (if acquired) may not be automatically labeled the new “face of the franchise” but will still be noteworthy contributors nonetheless. So, which team should the Flyers then look to? Well, how about the New York Islanders? A team that no doubt has had some recent success, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals the past two seasons. 

Achieving such an accomplishment does not come cheap though: The Islanders now have quite a lengthy list of both unrestricted and restricted free agents to sign back this off season and only $5.7 million in estimated cap space with which to do so. So, for the sake of this article, we will focus on the restricted free agents that the Flyers could manage to pilfer from the blue and orange’s roster. Names like the 24-year-old former 2015 1^st round pick, clutch forward Anthony Beauvillier. Anthony who has appropriately earned the nickname of “Mr. Overtime” over the course of his career, is an absolute scoring threat. On any given night he can be found using his speed to blow by anyone and everyone the opposition has on the ice in his pursuit to net his team a point when they need it the most. In just 47 regular season games this year, Beauvillier totaled 15 goals and 13 assists, for 28 points, all while managing a plus 15 on the season. More importantly, at such a young age he has already proven himself in the post season as well, playing in an astounding 49 playoff games where he has managed to scorch the back of the net for 29 points thus far. Anthony made just $2.4 million this past season and, if the Flyers managed to sign this player to a deal which the Islanders could not match, he could be just the offensive spark the team so desperately needed.

Another name that might ignite the interest of the Flyers is one that is not so well known, but that does not mean that he is any less effective: Adam Pelech, a 26-year-old (left-hand shot) shutdown defenseman who plays on the Islanders’ top defensive pairing. While you’re not likely to see Pelech’s name on the score sheet that often, his career +42 average means you will not see him hanging his head on the jumbotron during a replay of an opposing team’s goal either. Adam may not be the elusive right-hand shot that the team needs, but he would be the perfect replacement/defensive upgrade for Travis Sanheim if he finds himself being packaged in a trade this summer for, say, the rumored Seth Jones. And, while Pelech is most certainly deserving of a raise from the just $2.5 million he made this past season, it would be money well spent because, if acquired, Adam would instantaneously sure up Philadelphia’s defense. 

While these two names are impressive, another player that the cap-strapped Islanders have on their restricted free agent list that may top them both is the 25-year-old goaltender Ilya Sorokin, who they drafted back in 2014 in the 3^rd round. After a season in which the Flyers found themselves among the league’s worst in save percentage and goals against average this year it should go without saying that Chuck Fletcher will be looking for an upgrade between the pipes next season and, while this young goaltender who just finished his first season in the NHL might not seem like one of the league’s wisely old veterans that they may be looking for, he is most certainly not new to playing professionally. Before coming over stateside, this Russian netminder spent the past 8 seasons dominating in the Soviets’ top professional league the KHL; playing for the famed CSKA Moskva where he won the league’s Championship, along with other accolades like being named the playoff MVP and making five consecutive KHL All-Star appearances. In fact, while others coming over from Russia usually take some time to develop, Sorokin proved to be a quick learner because he won 13 of his 21 starts this past regular season (3 of them being shutouts) and posted a 2.17 goals-against-average with a .918 save percentage in the process. Ilya managed to ride his rookie success into the playoffs as well-winning four games this past post season. Now, Sorokin is coming off a season in which he was paid $2 million dollars by the Islanders. While he has indeed had some early success and looks to be their future # 1 guy, the question still remains whether they can even afford to keep him. They already have fellow Russian netminder Semyon Varlamov whose play was also noteworthy this past season, who they are stuck paying $5 million dollars to for another year. 

There’s no question that Lou Lamoriello (the Islanders’ GM) has some tough decisions to make this off season as these are just three of the big names that the team has to find a way to re-sign. That list of RFA’s also contains others (like former 1st round pick Kieffer Bellows who is a sniper and just started to hit his stride at the NHL level playing in 14 games this year) AND Lou has a list of unrestricted free agents as well that he will have to look to either re-sign or replace in order to fill out his lineup for next season. With just $ 5.7 million to spend this off season, and all of these players he is on the hook to resecure, I wouldn’t want his job of choosing who to protect. Lou definitely won’t be able to keep everybody and will most likely be forced to move other veteran players to make room to bring back these young stars. If the Flyers want to be aggressive and make major changes now, they should make their move while his hands are tied and offer a contract to one of these above-mentioned players that Lamoriello will not be able to match. Hell, even if he does match it Lou will then certainly not have the money in which to re-sign players like defensemen Ryan Pulock or Noah Dobson next off season. Or, for that matter, star prospects like forward Oliver Wahlstrom or defenseman Bode Wilde the year after. This would mean that Chuck could then implement these efforts year after year until he is able to obtain one of the Islanders’ young standout stars. Desperate times call for desperate measures and the plethora of young talent that is and will be playing up in Elmont, NY in the future is just too good to pass up. If the Flyers don’t do it, rest assured another team will!