Misappropriation Of Funds: How The Flyers Can Avoid Making Those Same Mistakes Again

Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

There’s no hiding the fact that over the years the Philadelphia Flyers have made some major mistakes when it comes to who they prioritize handing money out to. If you think back long enough, you could back-date this problem for some time. But, to keep it relatively recent, you have to mention the decision to give Ilya Bryzgalov a 9-year $51 million deal which the team later had to buy out because of his horrendous play- essentially deciding that it was in their best interest to pay him millions of dollars over the course of the next few seasons to not play for them. Then, there was the acquisition and re-signing of Andrew MacDonald (where the team opted to sign him to a 6-year $30 million extension that they again had to later buyout). Or, who could forget Paul Holmgren’s decision to go out and outbid everyone else by a landslide for the services of the once-great Vincent Lecavalier who, at the time the Flyers signed him to a 5-year deal worth $22.5 million, was already 33 years old. 

While Hextall did perform miracles like fighting his way out of the salary cap purgatory that was left to him by his predecessor Paul Holmgren, his time as the Flyers’ general manager did not come without his own bad deals and signings. Like when Hexy traded away an aging fan-favorite Scott Hartnell just to bringing back a broken-down R.J. Umberger with a $4.6 million cap hit that he then had to buy out. Not to mention the decision to keep signing mediocre players like an injury-prone goaltender Michal Neuvirth, forward Roman Lyubimov, or defensemen Carlo Colaiacovo and Evgeny Medvedev. 

With that being said, the Flyers have still not learned from their past mistakes. Their problem of misappropriating funds still holds true today with players like Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek “the believed leaders of this team over the last decade” who make $8.275 million and $8.25 million a season, respectively. My question is: Why pay essentially the same player that much twice? Both are “pass first” players, wouldn’t it have made more sense to pay one of them that much and then dish out that kind of money for one of the league’s prolific scorers to go with them? While both have seemed to be productive over the years, in their combined 27 seasons in the NHL only once has one of them (Giroux) ever eclipsed the 100-point mark. To add to that, over their careers, Voracek is only a .762 point per game player (PPG) and Giroux a .909 PPG player. While those are not a bad averages at all it does not compare to the players that they are in the same tax bracket with: Claude is the 31^st highest paid player in the league and Voracek is the 32^nd. The highly loathed Sidney Crosby is the 27^th at $8.7 a season and has managed to operate at a 1.27 PPG average over the course of his career and is just a few goals away from topping Giroux and Voracek’s combined career goal totals. Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay and Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton are tied for the 28^th highest paid player in the league at $8.5 million a season and they too are over a point-per-game players. Currently, Stamkos averages over a half a goal a game or in terms that make more sense “good for a goal every other game” and, in just seven years in the league now, Draisaitl has hit the 100-point mark twice (with one of those even occurring during the shortened ‘19- ‘20 season). This is not to discredit either Giroux’s or Voracek’s play over the years, but rather to question the Flyers’ management’s decisions to agree to allocate such a large portion of the cap on not only the same type of player but ones that don’t quite meet the criteria to be deserving of carrying around such heavy pockets. 

Next up is Kevin Hayes, the defensively responsible veteran center who was brought in to help make the then-new Flyers’ head coach Alain Vigneault’s system a smoother transition. This acquisition is costing the team a pretty penny as well. Yes, I agree the team had to do something that off season at the center position- especially after deciding to move their captain and long-time center Claude Giroux to wing. Then, there’s the fact that Nolan Patrick still had not managed to live up to his draft hype. The Flyers were in a bind. But was shelling out a 7-year $50 million contract to Hayes really wise? I, for one, love the play of this 6’5 216-pound center who was hurt for the vast majority of this season and will surely rebound next year after going under the knife to correct the issue. But Hayes makes $7.14 million a year and thus is getting paid more than the 4-time Frank J. Selke Trophy award winner Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins who only makes $6.8 million a season, plays on the 1^st line (not the 2^nd like Hayes), and who also has a Stanley cup ring to prove his worth. Not to mention Hayes is currently making more than other star centers around the league in their prime like the Islanders’ Matthew Barzal, or the Lightnings’ Brayden Point who, year in and year out, have their team playing deep into the playoffs. 

So, if you look at it without black-and-orange colored glasses on, if Hayes wasn’t worth the money they dished out to him at 27 years old, how is he going to compare to the rest of the players who are getting paid as much as him at the end of his contract when he is 33 years old?

How about the free agent signing or reacquisition of the Flyers’ former # 2 overall draft pick James van Riemsdyk? Hextall inked him to a 5-year, $35 million contract that counts for $7 million a year against the cap after he had a great year in Toronto in which he was able to amass an impressive 36 goal campaign. Well, that return on investment hasn’t quite managed to pay off, has it? JVR (a career -37 player) may still produce some points but his lack of hustle and inability (or want) to get back in his own zone hindered his ability to stay in the lineup in the 2019-2020 season. Even though James’ play may have seemed to turn a corner this past season it still doesn’t compare to fellow 2007 1^st round pick Max Pacioretty who was drafted 20 spots after JVR. Matt currently plays the same position and gets paid the same amount of money but has managed to amass more goals, more assists, and more total points than van Riemsdyk in the same time span- while also averaging a career +61. 

For that matter, van Riemsdyk’s play doesn’t warrant him to be compensated anywhere close to the following (who get paid the same or less than James does): The Flames’ Matthew Tkachuk & Johnny Gaudreau; or Flyers-killers, Bruins’ David Pastrnak and Chris Kreider of the Rangers. 

Now, let’s address some contracts handed out by the Flyers on the back end. The team’s #1 guy in Ivan Provorov- who the current Flyers’ general manager Chuck Fletcher shelled out a 6-year $40.5 million dollar contract to recently- gets paid $6.75 million a year until the end of the 2024-2025 season. On it’s face this looks like quite a bargain considering some of the best defenseman in the league are getting $9-$11 million dollars a year and the Flyers believe that one day soon Provorov will be playing at their levels. But just how good of a contract is it really and just how great is Ivan currently? Without question, he is the best the Flyers have on their roster. At just 24 years of age, he already logs an insane amount of minutes a night and is definitely a top defensive line player. But is he a true # 1 shutdown guy? This iron man may not ever miss a game, but his 0.42 PPG is not overly impressive compared to the St. Louis Blues’ veteran blueliner Torey Krug’s career 0.64 PPG average who he is paid more than. Nor is Provorov’s +9 career average when you compare it to the likes of the Lightning’s Ryan McDonagh’s career +200 average who he is paid the same as. 

Again, this is no knock on any of the Flyers players, it is merely questioning the logic and/or reasoning behind the Flyers’ management agreeing to hand out these inflated contracts to players who haven’t quite earned them yet. Why are they not comparing apples to apples? Such as the case with Ivan- who, at the age of 22, was inked for the type of salary an 8-10 year proven veteran makes instead of basing his potential wage off of the more reasonable deals some of the rest of the leagues young star blueliners got around the same time period- such as Golden Knights’ Shea Theodore who, just a year before at 23 years of age, signed a 7-year deal worth just $36.4 million. Or how about Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski who, at just 23 years of age, signed a 3-year $15 million dollar bridge deal paying him $5 million a season. This was much like the Bruins’ Charles McAvoy who, at just 21 years of age, signed a 3-year deal worth just $14.7 million, requiring a cap hit of just $4.9 million a season; Both of whom signed these deals at the same time as Ivan. 

Does no one in the team’s management look at these things when discussing contracts? Why do the Flyers continually overspend when trying to re-sign their own players? Do they really think that Provorov is worth $1.5 million more a year than these other great young defenders? I don’t think so!  

Shayne Gostisbehere’s contract would be a name most would think would be next to be mentioned here because of the albatross that it appears to be now, given his play. But at the time when he signed it back in June of 2017 it was a good deal. Especially when he went off for 65 points that following season. 

However, another contract that does lead one to question is Travis Sanheim’s last deal when, in 2019, the Flyers signed this then 23-year-old to a 2yr. $6.5 million dollar deal which paid him $3.25 million a season. This may not sound like a ton, but when you compare it to the contracts some of the best young defenders signed in and around the same time it is quite extravagant. Brandon Carlo of the Boston Bruins is a career +58 compared to Sanheim’s -28 and signed a 2yr. deal at the same time that paid him just $2.85 million a season. Ryan Graves of the Colorado Avalanche finished atop the entire league in the ‘19- ‘20 season in plus/minus with a +40 and inked a 3yr. deal at the start of this past season that only pays him $3.16 million per season for the length of the contract. He’s now a career +58. Why did the Flyers really feel the need to be overpay Sanheim? Sanheim should have been given around the same amount that his partner Philippe Myers received this past off season when he agreed to a contract that pays him just $2.55 million a season. This may not seem like such a big difference in price but when a team like the Flyers continually overpay time and time again for their players it adds up to the point that they cannot bring in the players they really want or need. 

One way they can be more responsible is to not overpay key restricted free agents this year, the biggest name of them being Carter Hart. He is not yet a true number one goaltender. He is still part of a goalie-by-committee- or tandem, if you will. So, he should be paid as one! A perfect comparison to show Hart and his agent this off season when they all sit down to talk contracts is Columbus Blue Jackets’ Joonas Korpisalo’s, who also plays in a tandem role in Ohio and, this season, played in more games than Hart, won the same amount of games this season as Hart, and who had both a better goals-against-average (GAA), and a better save percentage (SV%) then Carter while doing so. Korpisalo’s yearly cap hit is just $2.8 million.

Another name who draws remarkably similar comparisons to Hart who could be used to compare is the Devils’ Mackenzie Blackwood. Just a year before Hart, Mackenzie was also taken in the second round of the NHL draft (slightly higher mind you). Blackwood also played in a tandem role in New Jersey this past season but managed to play in more games and had a better GAA and SV% then Hart this past season; and Mackenzie is inked for the foreseeable future for just $2.8 million as well. 

The Flyers cannot let Hart’s agent come in and push them around. The facts of what he did for the team in the ‘19- ‘20 playoffs are a thing of the past. This is a business and, sadly, it’s about what have you done for me lately? All of Philadelphia hopes and believes that Carter Hart can return to the form we saw in those playoff games.

But what if he doesn’t?

The Flyers appear to overpay so many players who have talent but haven’t fully proven it yet. When will they learn to allow salary to grow in response to a player’s value, not expecting players to grow into their salary? Player by player, the team’s numbers are high in comparison to equal or better players from other teams which hinders the Flyers from bringing in new players to further help the team, which, after last season, is clear has to happen. That’s why Philadelphia has to be careful not to continue along this path that they have been on for some time. This misappropriation of funds has to stop!