Grindin' In The Corner with Moose

Woops!

Earlier today, I reported that Simon Gagne was going to be a Los Angeles King. And of course, I was wrong. RDS, a French Canadian sports site, as well as TSN, are reporting that Simon Gagne has infact been dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Matt Walker and a fourth round draft pick in 2011.

Aside from cost cutting, this is a terrible move. In Tampa, Steve Yzerman is doing cartwheels in his office after being able to get rid of this guy. Last season, he played 66 games, recorded a whopping five points and was a minus 11 for the year.

Walker has bounced from team to team, shuttling between the NHL and the AHL. He's never played a full season, and he's never had more than 14 points total in a season, unless you count the Western League, where he had 23. Walker makes 1.7 million dollars, so the Flyers have managed to get their cap into the black, with $900,000 to spare.

More details to come...

Earlier today, it was announced that the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes is finally over, as he has signed on to return to New Jersey.

Per the Devils website:

"Since the free agent signing period began on July 1, almost every day brought new speculation on where the two-time 50-goal scorer might be headed. One of the most coveted unrestricteds in history, Kovalchuk finally ended the suspense Monday, following the Devils' announcement that he’s staying in the Garden State. A 1 p.m. press conference will be held Tuesday at Prudential Center."

This has strong implications for Simon Gagne as well. I predicted here on the blog that Gags would end up with either Los Angeles, New Jersey, or in New York with the Islanders. Now that the Devils have locked up their guy, hockeybuzz.com is reporting that Gagne to Los Angeles for Justin Williams is highly likely at this point.

Both Gagne and Williams have good numbers. When Gagne is healthy, he contributes more, obviously. But that's the trade off with these two. Williams is probably more durable, but not quite as gifted as a scorer. Like I said, it levels them out, and that's fine.

The concern I have is Williams' salary. The Flyers are already 2.4 million over the cap. Trading Gagne puts them 2.6 over. Williams makes 3.5 million a year. So how does this move work for the Flyers? They are losing the better player, and still not satisfying the cap situation.

There has to be another deal in the works, somewhere. Now, i'm not saying that this is going to happen, but the only player making significant money as well as being in the final year of their deal is Jeff Carter. I really don't see them getting rid of both Carter and Gagne in this offseason, but that five plus million off the cap would make life alot easier for Paul Holmgren, who according to sources still wants to resign Darroll Powe, as well as go after a better netminder.

If any more news breaks on the matter, i'll let you all know through the facebook page. Stay tuned...

A favor, if you could

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Depending on who you believe, the Flyers have either convinced Simon Gagne to drop his no trade clause already, or it's just a matter of time before he does. In either case, it's pretty much guaranteed that he's leaving now that Nikolai Zherdev has been brought back from the KHL to play in Philly.

Rumor had it that the Kings were really interested in Gags, however I think they are waiting to see what happens with Ilya Kovalchuk in their on again, off again conversations. Originally, I thought that the Kings were gonna be the lone option, but with the Flyers now having the worst cap situation in the NHL (-1.4 million), he must be moved somewhere.

I'm thinking that the teams in the Kovalchuk sweepstakes are the teams most likely to land Gagne. You're looking first and foremost at the New York Islanders. On their current roster, there are only three players at 30 or older. This is a great place for a veteran leader to drop in and make an impact. This is a good fit for New York also. They are $28 million under the cap, and ownership is working hard to make the Islanders respectable in their efforts to get a new arena and/or possibly relocate the team to Kansas City.

Now, on to you, the Flyer fans. Alot of you are unhappy about moving the longest tenured athlete in Philly sports right now, but looking at it objectively, there isn't a better time than now. Despite his numerous injuries, he still has value. Another significant injury or concussion, that may not be the case. If Zherdev comes as advertised, he has a better skill set than Gagne does regardless. And then, of course, there's that cap issue. The Flyers are still looking to sign Darroll Powe, Dan Carcillo, possibly Arron Asham and they are still evaluating goaltenders. None of this happens if he stays.

Moral of the story. The man had a good run here, but it's time to let go. It's a new opportunity for him, and for the Flyers.

High noon. The NHL is ready to start their "Free Agent Frenzy". Awesome. The Flyers have already been busy, trading a pick for Tampa's Andrej Meszaros. They also had Braydon Coburn signed for 3 million and change by 12:20.

12:01 - The first signing of the day was Marty Biron to the Rangers for 900k per. Good for you, douchebag. God I hate the Rangers!

12:10 - Sergei Gonchar going to the Senators is a good move for Ottawa. They paid a little high (5.5 million a season for three years and a no trade clause), but he's a great player. It'll be nice to not see him as much now that he isn't a Penguin anymore.

1:00 - They just brought up a great point about Philadelphia. Apparently, the Flyers are paying five different defensemen over three million a season, which is unique to the league. Hopefully the D-men justify the salary.

1:05 - Speaking of justifying salary...Martin St. Louis and his Lady Byng trophy are staying in Tampa Bay for another four seasons. He just signed an extension, 4 years/22.5 million.

1:12 - Pittsburgh locked up a solid replacement for Sergei Gonchar here a few minutes ago, Zybenek Michalek from Phoenix, five years, $20M. I'll admit he wasn't exactly on my radar, but it's Phoenix for Christ sake. Who the fuck follows them?

1:15 - I just posted a question to TSN's chat room. I asked if the Flyers were done yet or if they had more moves to make. And my question never even made it to the chat. It really pisses me off the way that they are favoring Canadian teams. That's all they are letting in the chat at this point.

1:30 - Who the fuck is Alex Auld?

1:33 - The Flyers are posting out on Facebook this triumphant article about resigning Coburn. Funny what a couple decent playoff games will do. Guess Paul Holmgren forgot about just about the whole regular season, when Coburn had all the effectiveness of a broken coat hanger. As much as the move pisses me off, good for Coburn. If you can get some sucker to dole out three million dollars for your services when your lousy, well goddamn good for you, pally.

1:45 - Antero Nittymaki found a home in San Jose. That's a good thing, I was really disappointed when we let him go.

1:46 - Flyers are way more active this time than last year on July 1. they just signed another defenseman, Sean O'Donnell. All that really sticks out is that he takes alot of penalties, and he's pushing 40. Oh, Paul Holmgren, whatever are we to do with you?

2:00 - There's alot of talk over on the TSN chats about players being signed for more than they're worth. Colby Armstrong, for example, is in for 3 million per year as a third line center (projected). So, is a third liner worth that much. To that I say look at a team like Pittsburgh, using Jordan Staal on the 3. Is he worth that kinda money? Hell yeah he is. Mike Modano is too. The NHL used to be a two line league, but with the influx of talent from around the world, that's just not the case anymore. The Flyers had four lines of offensive ability this past season, and it was still not quite enough to get the job done. The third and fourth lines have arrived in the NHL, and they aren't going anywhere.

2:03 - I have to go feed a kid. I'll be right back.

2:29 - Sat down just in time to see that the Flyers signed Jody Shelley. This fuckin' guy has broken the single season penalty minute record just about everywhere he's played. He has zero offensive skill, he just fights alot. A whole lot. Makes me wonder if the Flyers were concerned about how they got knocked around in the final two rounds of the playoffs.

2:37 - New York just signed Derek Boogaard. Didn't get the details, don't care. He's another goon anyway. I'm wondering if they picked him up to avoid another incident like Danny Carcillo beating the living shit out of Marian Gaborik with his fellow Rangers standing there watching the clubbing. Honestly, I hope so. Because if Carcillo is returning (he's a restricted free agent), him and Boogaard could be the best fight Flyers fans have seen since Domi/Brashear.

3:05 - Things seem like they are starting to slow down a little bit. There's still alot of signings to be made, maybe the GM's all went to lunch.\

3:20 - This is gonna be it for today, things have died off and i'm getting bored. I guess the main thing to do is look at who they got and picture where they're fitting in at. Andrej Meszaros and Sean O'Donnell look like good pickups. I don't know what they're doing with Jody Shelley. I'm hoping they keep Carcillo and Asham, but realistically that's just not going to happen. Blair Betts was hurt alot last season, maybe this is for him?

I'll have another blog up with the moves that get made tonight sometime tomorrow. Until then, take care. And if by chance I have any Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day.

See ya next time, folks. Later!