Now that the Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher has won yet another stand off and has secured his last remaining free agent (Phillipe Myers) to a team friendly deal of just $2.55 million a year. Who if anybody should he look to sign with the now $2,261,085.00 of available cap space left, per Capfriendly?
Philadelphia’s roster as it stands right now may look complete, but as we all learned last season that can changed fairly quickly. Just think of where the team might have finished if both Nolan Patrick and Oscar Lindblom were healthy and had not missed a single game all year. Now add to that the threat this season of the Covid-19 virus creeping into the locker-rooms around the league (like it has in the National Football League) and you can start to see the need for some added depth.
But just where should the Flyers look to add depth at? Not necessarily at the center position, the Flyers have so many on the team already that they converted both centers Claude Giroux and Scott Laughton to the wing. Plus, the Flyers have the young center Morgan Frost waiting for his chance. Certainly not on the blue line with names like Shayne Gostisbehere, Mark Friedman, Sam Morin, and Egor Zamula that are all going to be battling for their chance at making the opening night roster. Why adding another would just be redundant! The goaltending position seems set as well, with the resigning of Brian Elliott. So, the position of the most need (that was not addressed yet this off season) is the wing position! This point is hard to argue with given the positions lack of production in the playoffs which included the Flyers’ regular season leading goal scorer Travis Konecny who was held goalless throughout the teams’ entire time in the bubble this summer. That is why the Flyers should still at least be window shopping in order to possibly add some scoring depth on the wings.
Given this statement some of you may have already jumped to the conclusion that the Flyers should sign unrestricted free agent winger Mike Hoffman (previously of the Florida Panthers), but he is definitely out of Philadelphia’s price range and will likely sign in Nashville or with another team with a lot more cap space then the Flyers. Someone like Anthony Duclair who at just twenty-five years old led the Ottawa Senators last season in goals with twenty-three would have been a nice addition, but he just signed with the Florida Panthers for a very reasonable $1.7 million for next season.
So, with all that in mind who is left? Well, one potentially available free agent winger who will fit within the Flyers budget (who is capable of playing both sides of the center) is twenty-four-year-old Brendan Perlini. A former 2014 1st round pick who was selected 12th overall and has now grown to the height of 6’3 and 212 pounds. Perlini (who possesses the size and strength that the Flyers currently lack on their roster) has been known to be quite productive in the past, but for one reason or another has always been on a less than stellar team.
Originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes Brendan was able to excel while playing for the teams then Head Coach Rick Tocchet. Posting 17 goals, and 13 assists for a total of 30 points in 74 games played during the ’17-’18 season. This being quite the feat for anyone playing for the Coyotes that year, because they finished 29th in the league.
In fact, Perlini was developing so well that the next season the ever-struggling Arizona Coyotes decided to trade him and another talented 1st round pick named Dylan Strome to Chicago for a young center named Nick Schmaltz. (I know what you are thinking but nobody has ever said the Coyotes moves makes sense. They play Ice Hockey in a desert what do expect? Let us move on)
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Even with this trade occurring during the middle of the ’18-’19 season Brendan managed to make the Blackhawks starting lineup right away and began to provide quite the spark. Perlini’s totals that season were 14 goals and 7 assists for 21 points; but just when things were starting to go well for Brendan in Chicago his bad luck seemed to catch up to him. With the Blackhawks going through their own changes at this time which started off with the departure of the teams long tenured Head Coach Joel Quenneville (who led the Blackhawks to 3 Stanley Cup Titles during his time behind the bench in Chicago) getting the boot just 3 weeks before Brendan got there. Perlini was forced to have to deal with a new boss behind the bench in Chicago; and as with most new head coaches they want to make their own mark on the team and overtime Perlini began to find himself as a healthy scratch. This happening because the new Head Coach brought with him a slew of the organizations talented young prospects with him when he made the trip up from the American Hockey League ranks.
Now with Brendan finding himself on the outside looking in under this new regime, and his play becoming almost nonexistent Perlini became frustrated and asked the Blackhawks for a trade. This action was not received badly rather the opposite because the organization figure heads saw his point. The only problem was the trading partner that Chicago found was none other than the rebuilding (A.K.A. tanking) Detroit Red Wings. Who in exchange gave the Blackhawks their defensive prospect Alec Regula for Perlini.
This is where it really became ugly for Brendan. Perlini went from playing 2nd or 3rd line minutes in both Arizona and in Chicago (a role that he seemed to be flourishing in); to playing barley ten minutes a game in Detroit. This caused an obvious drop to Perlini’s point production along with his plus minus rating. However Brendan’s -18 average on the season last year did not even compare to the kind of horrific numbers other veterans on the team posted (some of which who have been NHL All Stars and are Stanley Cup champions in years past) like Valtteri Filppula’s -42, Mike Green’s -32, Andreas Athanasiou’s -45 averages to name a few. In fact, Perlini’s plus minus rating was even better than Detroit’s top point procedure last year Dylan Larkin’s -21 and the teams’ leading goal scorer Tyler Bertuzzi’s -23 ratings. In addition to that the Red Wings carousel of goalies last season who posted goal against averages (GAA) like Calvin Pickard’s 5.46 GAA, Eric Comrie’s 4.28 GAA, and Jimmy Howard’s 4.20 GAA and it should start to become more apparent of just how bad Detroit really was last season.
However, to think more positively this is why the Flyers might be able to retain Brendan’s services for cheap! Offering Perlini a one-year prove it type deal with a similar salary that he was making last season of just $874,125.00 should be enough to bring him into the Flyers ranks. Adding a player with his skill set might be wise because he can offer the Flyers a few attributes that are hard to find. Perlini’s breakaway type speed especially when the puck is already on his stick is hard to match, and always makes for some exciting hockey. Not to mention his ability to dance through the oppositions defense and his strong and accurate wrist shot which he often uses as his finishing move creating high light reel goals as he rifles the puck top shelf over the goalies shoulder (once they have committed to the butterfly stance). Feel free to watch these videos of him that I have provided, and you should begin to agree that his attributes show that he is deserving of another chance.
This is why although Philadelphia may not have a ton of cap space left to spend this off season, they should take advantage of the opportunity that this writer has presented and ink this player that would be a low risk high reward type signing that would add yet another youthful and offensively gifted player into the Flyers system. One who has proven to be very reliable and can be used up and down the lineup when injuries occur. Keeping all this in mind Perlini could very well prove to be quite the bargain signing and could replace the offense and versatility that the Flyers lost when winger Tyler Pitlick departed for Arizona during free agency.
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Keep your powder dry and wait until the trade deadline!