The Flyers, like most teams in the NHL, will find themselves against the cap due to the flat cap for the next few seasons after Philippe Myers and Nolan Patrick re-sign with new deals. With some holes to fill, Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher will look to add cheap contracts for physicality purposes, and shoring up the special teams units with adding a nice bottom six Forward or two.
Michael Grabner is one player that became a UFA (Unrestricted Free Agent) at noon today after he officially cleared waivers, as the Arizona Coyotes have officially bought out the last year of his contract today. Grabner was placed on waivers by the Coyotes yesterday with the intent of buying out his contract. Even at the age of 32-years-old (Soon to be 33-years-old tomorrow), Grabner can still skate with the best of them. His offensive game may have fallen over the course of the past three seasons, but he’s still speedy nonetheless.
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Grabner signed a three-year $10.05 million contract with the Arizona Coyotes in July of 2018. During 2018-19 season, Grabner only managed to play in just 41 games due to a stick to the eye incident, where a stick accidentally grazed one of his eyes. On December 1, 2018, Sammy Blais’s stick caught one of Grabner’s eyes with the follow through of his stick. Grabner still finished that season with nine goals, and seven assists. Moreover, in 2019-20 Grabner managed to tally just eight goals, and chipped in three assists in 46 games played. He did manage to tally three goals in the playoffs, but Grabner just hasn’t the same player since the stick to the eye incident for the Coyotes.
With his numbers on the decline, Fletcher can take a cheap one-year gamble on him. Fletcher could sign Grabner to a one-year $900,000-$1.2 million deal. Grabner still has the wheels, and he plays a solid two-way game. He is an excellent and very effective Penalty Killer, where seven of his 17 goals scored in a Coyotes jersey were short-handed tallies. Grabner could fill a void on the Penalty Kill with the possible loss of Tyler Pitlick, where Pitlick might fall victim to cap casualty.
A cheap one-year deal would be worth it for a player that could provide a threat while being short-handed, and Grabner could also play the Power Play if need be, as well. Will there be other suitors for Grabner? Maybe, but Fletcher would be wise to look to add the speedy Forward in Grabner.
