Photo Credit: Ricky Brown
With all the numerous trades and signings that the Flyers’ general manager (GM) Chuck Fletcher made this past off season to try and better his club, perhaps the two who have been outshining the rest so far this camp are late editions: forward Derick Brassard, and defenseman Keith Yandle. Both of these veteran players have great familiarity with the Flyers’ head coach Alain Vigneault’s system (from their time playing for him in New York) and were inked for not far above the league minimum!
The now well-traveled 34-year-old center Derick Brassard is set to make Philadelphia his 9th NHL franchise that he has played for. But don’t let that number of teams fool you: This former top-10 pick has been coveted by a vast number of clubs in the past for a reason. Brassard is the quintessential 200 ft. player that Vigneault yearns for in his lineup and, to add to that, he comes with 117 playoff games under his belt. That wisdom gained from experience has been made evident by his immediate impact throughout training camp and the team’s preseason games. If Philadelphia’s young forward prospects want to know what they have to do to make the team’s opening night lineup they need to do nothing more than to watch how this guy plays the game! Seemingly every time Derick steps foot on the ice, he somehow comes away with either an excellent scoring chance because he chooses to crash the opposing teams’ net (to try to cash in on a rebound) or he gets back just in time to prevent the puck from crossing his own team’s goal line by making a heads up play in his own end. In saying that, Brassard is- of course- a welcome addition to the team’s atrocious penalty killing unit of last season and should be a force to be reckon with wherever he happens to wind up playing amongst the teams bottom 6 forwards.
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While all those things may be impressive and fairly noticeable to the average fan, it is things like Derick’s recent decision to take the risk of being penalized for being the third man into a fight in order to protect his team’s star defenseman Ivan Provorov against the Capitals that impresses this writer the most. As we know, Provorov is no heavyweight champion and seeing the ramifications/hardships that would come to the team if he was lost due to injury Brassard’s quick wittedness and cojones to step in to protect him is something that this team has lacked for a long time. In order to win championships in this league, you have to keep your stars players on the ice to be able to contribute but if your star is lost to injury that can not occur.
For all these reasons and many more (that Brassard will unveil to us over the course of this season) Chuck’s decision to sign him this year for just $825,000 will prove to be a wise one and should be a contributing factor as to why Fletcher should have his name mentioned as a candidate to receive the Jim Gregory Award (given to the general manager of the year) this season.
The second of these very economical signings is a player who has already come in and proved his worth on the back end. This player is 35-year-old defenseman Keith Yandle who the Flyers’ GM was able to bring to Philly for just $900,000 this season. This bargain deal was able to come to fruition after the Florida Panthers bought out the remaining 2 years of Keith’s previous deal; a move that would prove to help out both clubs with the Panthers saving $4 million dollars this season in cap space and the Flyers being able to replace the power play prowess that was lost when the team shipped out Gostisbehere to the Coyotes for mere pennies on the dollar. There’s no doubt that during training camp and the team’s preseason games Yandle has been a very active leader both on and off the ice thus far. Whether it be keeping things light in the locker room or the sense of calmness he brings while out on the ice, it is quite clear why Chuck and Alain both jumped at the chance to bring in this iron man on defense. Gifted with the rare ability to move the puck around the ice with ease, the other Flyers players have had to make it a point to always be ready to receive a pass on their stick blade when they are in a prime scoring position- an action that players like the newly re-signed center Sean Couturier could find himself getting used to after torching a goal past the Bruins netminder in a recent game after receiving a perfectly placed saucer pass from Yandle out at the point while on the powerplay.
Having the depth to play these two wisely old veterans in a role that they are now most suited to excel in is one thing but the decision to bring them on in the first place to fill a role that the team was lacking is what should be applauded. Not only do these two players possess the mindset of ‘when in doubt put the puck on net’ (creating chances for others), but both equally possess the skill set to capitalize on their own chances as well. Both of these succedents will prove to be a substantial upgrade over the ones they are set to replace. Brassard will be that defensively responsible bottom-six center that the team needs in order to give its stars the proper rest (as opposed to Nolan Patrick who last season was a near league worst -30). And as far as Yandle goes, not only does he provide a bridge gap until the team thinks that the young Cameron York is ready for a full-time role with the Flyers, but he also stands to be a more affordable upgrade over other blue liners like former Flyers Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hägg as well.
Chuck’s proficiency in both upgrading the roster while still harmoniously managing to stay under the cap this off season (with these types of signings) will be the reason why the Flyers have a very real possibility to return to playoff contention. How late the team will play into the season this year is now up to them but, unlike years past, no one can say that Chuck Fletcher has not done his part.
Flyers Cuts:
As expected, some cuts were made by the Flyers today (9):
Samuel Ersson, Logan Day, Samu Tuomaala, Mason Millman, Maksim Sushko, Wyatte Wylie, Max Willman and Matthew Strome have been loaned to Lehigh.
Elliot Desnoyers heads back to Halifax
