MyNHLtraderumors.com brings you it’s 2011 Top 25 NHL unrestricted free agents. In creating the list we didn’t just list rank on talent alone. We took into consideration: age, position, and likelihood of signing with a different team. Ie. Niklas Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne would make the list based on talent, but if they return next season it would only be with their ’10-’11 clubs.
# Player Pos. 2010-2011 Team 10-11 Cap # 2011-2012 Team
1 Brad Richards C Dallas Stars $7,800,000
2 Ilya Bryzgalov G Phoenix Coyotes $4,250,000
3 Christian Ehrhoff D Vancouver Canucks $3,100,000
4 Brooks Laich C/LW Washington Capitals $2,067,000
5 James Wisniewski D Montreal Canadiens $3,250,000
6 Joni Pitkanen D Carolina Hurricanes $4,000,000
7 Tomas Kaberle D Boston Bruins $4,250,000
8 Kevin Bieska D Vancouver Canucks $3,750,000
9 Tomas Fleischmann C/LW Colorado Avalanche $2,600,000
10 Jussi Jokinen LW Carolina Hurricanes $1,700,000
11 Tomas Vokoun G Florida Panthers $5,700,000
12 Michal Handzus C Los Angeles Kings $4,000,000
13 Andrei Markov D Montreal Canadiens $5,750,000
14 Curtis Glencross LW Calgary Flames $1,200,000 Re-signed with the Flames. 4 years, $10.2 million.
15 Ed Jovanovski D Phoenix Coyotes $6,500,000
16 Jason Arnott C Washington Capitals $4,500,000
17 Alex Tanguay LW Calgary Flames $1,700,000
18 Tim Connolly C Buffalo Sabres $4,500,000
19 Roman Hamrlik D Montreal Canadiens $5,500,000
20 Bryan McCabe D New York Rangers $5,750,000
21 Ville Leino LW Philadelphia Flyers $800,000
22 Milan Hejduk RW Colorado Avalanche $3,000,000 Re-signed with the Avalanche. 1 year, $2.6 million. Up to $3 million with bonuses.
23 Eric Brewer D Tampa Bay Lightning $4,250,000
24 Simon Gagne LW Tampa Bay Lightning $5,250,000
25 Tomas Kopecky
The Flyers have acquired Bryzgalov's negotiating rights. This doesn't make much sense, since they are up against the cap as it is, and Bryz wants top dollar.
The Flyers have acquired Bryzgalov's negotiating rights. This doesn't make much sense, since they are up against the cap as it is, and Bryz wants top dollar.
Just saw this. They have made a lot of these moves in the past. Some have worked (timonen/hartnell) and some have not (hamhuis).
Hopefully carter is traded for a bag of pucks next
EDIT: looks like ed snider is going to have some money to burn after he dumps the cancer that is the sixers franchise. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Rich Winter, who has represented his share of competitive goalies over the years, doesn’t mince words about Ilya Bryzgalov.
“If your study his performance the last couple of years, the only Flyer goaltender to have a statistical performance like that was Bernie Parent,” Winter said of his newest client.
“Look at the best two seasons a Flyer goaltender ever had and the only one who ever had a performance like that was Parent in back-to-back seasons when the Flyers won the Stanley Cup.”
Parent posted a .933 save percentage in 1973-74 and .919 save percentage the next season – the only two years the Flyers won a Cup.
Bryzgalov posted a .920 save percentage in 2009-10 and .921 this past year in Phoenix.
On Tuesday night, the Flyers acquired the 30-year-old Bryzgalov’s negotiating rights from the Coyotes in exchange for left wing Matt Clackson, plus the Flyers’ third-round pick in 2012, and a conditional draft pick.
Once again, general manager Paul Holmgren is attempting to strike first before Bryzgalov becomes a free agent on July 1.
Holmgren has employed this move before – acquiring rights before free agency – going back to 2007 with Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell.
He did it last summer, too, by trading for Evgeni Nabokov’s rights (from San Jose) at the NHL draft. The Flyers failed to sign Nabokov.
“We’re going to give it our best shot,” Holmgren said of Bryzgalov. “You give up an asset to get in early, so we have every intention of trying to get a deal done.”
Winter will be looking for a minimum of a four-year deal worth at least $5 million a season for Bryzgalov, who has six years of NHL experience.
“We’ll see what we can do,” Holmgren said of signing the Russian goalie. “He’s certainly not an old goaltender. I feel like he has a lot of good years left in him. We’ll see how it goes. When you get into a negotiation like this you are dealing with a salary cap and you try to get a number you can live with.”
For all practical purposes, the Flyers need to clear about $5 million in cap space, although the New York Post reported the cap may rise to as much as $63 million next season from its present level of $59.4.
In other words, the amount of space the Flyers need to sign Bryzgalov could decrease in the weeks ahead once the cap is set for 2011-12. Right now, the Flyers have less than $450,000 cap space going into next season.
“Once we know what the salary cap is for next year we’ll have a better idea of what we have to do down the road,” Holmgren said. “We have options.”
Holmgren and the organization have said in recent months they feel Sergei Bobrovsky is their goalie of the future, but needs another year or two of development.
Four or five years might be a stretch to sign Bryzgalov. Holmgren was asked during a conference call about whether he felt confident “Bob” was still his goalie of the future. This time, he seemed to back off on his earlier pronouncement that “Bob” was.
“I don’t know,” Holmgren replied. “We’ll see if we can get a deal done with Ilya. I still think the world of Sergei and I think he’s one of the top young goalies in our game.
“Having said that, and again as I said at the end of the year, we continue to try to make our team better. Right now, the position we’ve put ourselves in, negotiating with Ilya, if we can get him signed it’ll make our team better.”
Flyers chairman Ed Snider said last month he wants the goalie position solidified. It’s not a stretch to say that the club’s nagging question mark during so many years from the late 1990s till now has been in goal.
As good as Michael Leighton was in last June’s Cup Final against Chicago, he was mediocre in the Final while Antti Niemi was average and won the Cup for the Blackhawks.
“Our idea is to put ourselves in the position to win the Stanley Cup,” Holmgren said. “We haven’t really had an opportunity to talk to Ilya’s agent yet. Once we get the ball rolling there we’ll see if we can get him signed.
“If we do I think we’ll have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league. I feel confident in saying that, anyway.”
Bryzgalov made the Coyotes a competitive team – essentially carrying the club start to finish – in the Pacific Division which was easily the most competitive in the Western Conference.
In many ways, every game Bryzgalov started for Phoenix, which doesn’t have the talent of San Jose or even Los Angeles, forced him into almost a playoff mode. He represented his team’s best chance of winning on a nightly basis these past four seasons.
Bryzgalov appeared in 68 games last year with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. He had seven shutouts (the Flyers had none last season).
He is a former runner-up for the Vezina Trophy (2009-10) and was the backup to J.S. Giguere in 2007 when Anaheim won the Cup. He’s played with both Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell.
In 27 career playoff games, he is 12-13 with a 2.55 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Winter, who found out about the trade late Tuesday, said he had an “inkling” that the Flyers might move to get his rights. Holmgren said he had not spoken to Winter yet.
One question is whether Bryzgalov can “mentor” Bobrovsky. As a source told CSNPhilly.com last month, this probably would not be Bryzgalov’s strong suit. Put it this way: goalie coach Jeff Reese has a tight relationship with “Bob.”
Yet, there’s something to say for Bobrovsky having a fellow Russian to lean on.
“I don’t know him that well – in fact I hardly know him at all,” Holmgren said of Bryzgalov.
“Just from talking to some of our guys … when Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell played with him he was a young kid behind [J.S.] Giguere. Some of the information we have on him from his days in Phoenix, it’s all good.
“He’s a team guy, and he must have gotten along pretty well with the guy who was playing behind him in Phoenix. I don’t see an issue with that. I think the fact that they’re both Russians probably would help.”
One thing Bryzgalov brings the Flyers is some pedigree. Again, he backstopped a team that was many degrees lesser than the Flyers.
“I know last season he and his team took Detroit to seven games in a hard-fought series, and this year was obviously not as good for Phoenix in the playoffs, but he’s one of the better goalies in the league,” Holmgren said.
“You can make the argument that he’s among the top 10 goalies in the league, if not higher.”
If the Flyers sign him, this will likely kill any chance of re-signing Ville Leino, who turned down offers from the club last season that would have guaranteed him $3 million a year.
Matt Read, the 24-year-old collegian the Flyers signed in May, has been slotted into Leino’s spot on the roster. Unless Leino signs for less money, he won’t be back.
“Obviously, we still have the intention of trying to sign Ville,” Holmgren said. “With the salary cap, you can only do so much. We’re trying to get the best team we can get to get ready for the 2011 season. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot of things that need to happen between now and July 1. We’re going to see what we can do.”
Holmgren wants to get a deal done with Bryzgalov before July 1 and ideally would like to have it announced by the NHL draft later this month.
Winter said Bryzgalov was “excited” at the news but … a contract is still a long ways off.
Winter has represented a number of NHL goalies, including Domink Hasek, Ron Hextall and Grant Fuhr.
Now he represents Bryzgalov, who could get an opportunity to play for a Cup in Philly.
“He’s carried teams,” Winter said.
Whether he carry the Flyers through the month of June remains to be seen.
My drinking team has a hockey problem
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
Maybe it just me but i don't Bryzalov as our goalie for 5 years. If bob is the goalie of the future then why not go for a Vokoun or someone like that who can mentor Bob.
Maybe it just me but i don't Bryzalov as our goalie for 5 years. If bob is the goalie of the future then why not go for a Vokoun or someone like that who can mentor Bob.
if this guy is as good as they are making him out to be, you ride him and either play bob 20 games a year or you trade him. being that they should get bob for cheap, i would keep him as the backup unless somebody offered up a lot of value for him.
I just can't see Bryzgalov signing with Philly before testing the market. Why would he? Rumors are that he wants to be paid in line with the top players in the league, so unless Philly blows him away with an offer, why wouldn't he wait to see what else is out there? And would Holmgren really throw $7 million out there on a goalie?
My whole life
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
I just can't see Bryzgalov signing with Philly before testing the market. Why would he? Rumors are that he wants to be paid in line with the top players in the league, so unless Philly blows him away with an offer, why wouldn't he wait to see what else is out there? And would Holmgren really throw $7 million out there on a goalie?
i'm sure he has an idea of what a top flight goalie is worth....and he had to be prepared to pay it before he made the deal.
As for Bryzgalov signing...he may look at it as a great opportunity to win the cup with a solid team in front of him, vs what he has played with the last sevearl years in AZ. maybe he takes a tad less money for a better chance of winning the cup.
best way to lower the gaa for flyer goaltenders is to get some forwards to play D ... sure, the current roster is not fantastic but goalies are a huge reflection of the system and players in front of them ... there were too many times this post season where the goalie was left hung to dry and lot of it is the pride the forwards take on playing in their own end ...
Comments
Laich is a nice fit for this team and style
I wouldnt mind Leino back
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
it's like a who's who of flyers past and presnt
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
Just saw this. They have made a lot of these moves in the past. Some have worked (timonen/hartnell) and some have not (hamhuis).
Hopefully carter is traded for a bag of pucks next
EDIT: looks like ed snider is going to have some money to burn after he dumps the cancer that is the sixers franchise. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
I heard the cap is going up also but either way someone has to be traded to make room
Bryzgalov this year in the playoffs: 0-4, 4.36 GAA, .879 SP%
2010 playoffs 3.44 GAA .906 SP% 3-4
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
Rich Winter, who has represented his share of competitive goalies over the years, doesn’t mince words about Ilya Bryzgalov.
“If your study his performance the last couple of years, the only Flyer goaltender to have a statistical performance like that was Bernie Parent,” Winter said of his newest client.
“Look at the best two seasons a Flyer goaltender ever had and the only one who ever had a performance like that was Parent in back-to-back seasons when the Flyers won the Stanley Cup.”
Parent posted a .933 save percentage in 1973-74 and .919 save percentage the next season – the only two years the Flyers won a Cup.
Bryzgalov posted a .920 save percentage in 2009-10 and .921 this past year in Phoenix.
On Tuesday night, the Flyers acquired the 30-year-old Bryzgalov’s negotiating rights from the Coyotes in exchange for left wing Matt Clackson, plus the Flyers’ third-round pick in 2012, and a conditional draft pick.
Once again, general manager Paul Holmgren is attempting to strike first before Bryzgalov becomes a free agent on July 1.
Holmgren has employed this move before – acquiring rights before free agency – going back to 2007 with Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell.
He did it last summer, too, by trading for Evgeni Nabokov’s rights (from San Jose) at the NHL draft. The Flyers failed to sign Nabokov.
“We’re going to give it our best shot,” Holmgren said of Bryzgalov. “You give up an asset to get in early, so we have every intention of trying to get a deal done.”
Winter will be looking for a minimum of a four-year deal worth at least $5 million a season for Bryzgalov, who has six years of NHL experience.
“We’ll see what we can do,” Holmgren said of signing the Russian goalie. “He’s certainly not an old goaltender. I feel like he has a lot of good years left in him. We’ll see how it goes. When you get into a negotiation like this you are dealing with a salary cap and you try to get a number you can live with.”
For all practical purposes, the Flyers need to clear about $5 million in cap space, although the New York Post reported the cap may rise to as much as $63 million next season from its present level of $59.4.
In other words, the amount of space the Flyers need to sign Bryzgalov could decrease in the weeks ahead once the cap is set for 2011-12. Right now, the Flyers have less than $450,000 cap space going into next season.
“Once we know what the salary cap is for next year we’ll have a better idea of what we have to do down the road,” Holmgren said. “We have options.”
Holmgren and the organization have said in recent months they feel Sergei Bobrovsky is their goalie of the future, but needs another year or two of development.
Four or five years might be a stretch to sign Bryzgalov. Holmgren was asked during a conference call about whether he felt confident “Bob” was still his goalie of the future. This time, he seemed to back off on his earlier pronouncement that “Bob” was.
“I don’t know,” Holmgren replied. “We’ll see if we can get a deal done with Ilya. I still think the world of Sergei and I think he’s one of the top young goalies in our game.
“Having said that, and again as I said at the end of the year, we continue to try to make our team better. Right now, the position we’ve put ourselves in, negotiating with Ilya, if we can get him signed it’ll make our team better.”
Flyers chairman Ed Snider said last month he wants the goalie position solidified. It’s not a stretch to say that the club’s nagging question mark during so many years from the late 1990s till now has been in goal.
As good as Michael Leighton was in last June’s Cup Final against Chicago, he was mediocre in the Final while Antti Niemi was average and won the Cup for the Blackhawks.
“Our idea is to put ourselves in the position to win the Stanley Cup,” Holmgren said. “We haven’t really had an opportunity to talk to Ilya’s agent yet. Once we get the ball rolling there we’ll see if we can get him signed.
“If we do I think we’ll have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league. I feel confident in saying that, anyway.”
Bryzgalov made the Coyotes a competitive team – essentially carrying the club start to finish – in the Pacific Division which was easily the most competitive in the Western Conference.
In many ways, every game Bryzgalov started for Phoenix, which doesn’t have the talent of San Jose or even Los Angeles, forced him into almost a playoff mode. He represented his team’s best chance of winning on a nightly basis these past four seasons.
Bryzgalov appeared in 68 games last year with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. He had seven shutouts (the Flyers had none last season).
He is a former runner-up for the Vezina Trophy (2009-10) and was the backup to J.S. Giguere in 2007 when Anaheim won the Cup. He’s played with both Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell.
In 27 career playoff games, he is 12-13 with a 2.55 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Winter, who found out about the trade late Tuesday, said he had an “inkling” that the Flyers might move to get his rights. Holmgren said he had not spoken to Winter yet.
One question is whether Bryzgalov can “mentor” Bobrovsky. As a source told CSNPhilly.com last month, this probably would not be Bryzgalov’s strong suit. Put it this way: goalie coach Jeff Reese has a tight relationship with “Bob.”
Yet, there’s something to say for Bobrovsky having a fellow Russian to lean on.
“I don’t know him that well – in fact I hardly know him at all,” Holmgren said of Bryzgalov.
“Just from talking to some of our guys … when Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell played with him he was a young kid behind [J.S.] Giguere. Some of the information we have on him from his days in Phoenix, it’s all good.
“He’s a team guy, and he must have gotten along pretty well with the guy who was playing behind him in Phoenix. I don’t see an issue with that. I think the fact that they’re both Russians probably would help.”
One thing Bryzgalov brings the Flyers is some pedigree. Again, he backstopped a team that was many degrees lesser than the Flyers.
“I know last season he and his team took Detroit to seven games in a hard-fought series, and this year was obviously not as good for Phoenix in the playoffs, but he’s one of the better goalies in the league,” Holmgren said.
“You can make the argument that he’s among the top 10 goalies in the league, if not higher.”
If the Flyers sign him, this will likely kill any chance of re-signing Ville Leino, who turned down offers from the club last season that would have guaranteed him $3 million a year.
Matt Read, the 24-year-old collegian the Flyers signed in May, has been slotted into Leino’s spot on the roster. Unless Leino signs for less money, he won’t be back.
“Obviously, we still have the intention of trying to sign Ville,” Holmgren said. “With the salary cap, you can only do so much. We’re trying to get the best team we can get to get ready for the 2011 season. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot of things that need to happen between now and July 1. We’re going to see what we can do.”
Holmgren wants to get a deal done with Bryzgalov before July 1 and ideally would like to have it announced by the NHL draft later this month.
Winter said Bryzgalov was “excited” at the news but … a contract is still a long ways off.
Winter has represented a number of NHL goalies, including Domink Hasek, Ron Hextall and Grant Fuhr.
Now he represents Bryzgalov, who could get an opportunity to play for a Cup in Philly.
“He’s carried teams,” Winter said.
Whether he carry the Flyers through the month of June remains to be seen.
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
if this guy is as good as they are making him out to be, you ride him and either play bob 20 games a year or you trade him. being that they should get bob for cheap, i would keep him as the backup unless somebody offered up a lot of value for him.
i want to win now, not in 5 years
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
i'm sure he has an idea of what a top flight goalie is worth....and he had to be prepared to pay it before he made the deal.
As for Bryzgalov signing...he may look at it as a great opportunity to win the cup with a solid team in front of him, vs what he has played with the last sevearl years in AZ. maybe he takes a tad less money for a better chance of winning the cup.
if they can sign him watch out...Flyers are going to over take the Rang......errr.....never mind....
yup and maybe will actually win a cup.... :?
its only been 35 years or so
I have no idea what CB's cap space or anything but just a rumor I heard
I think in 2012 Carter's NTC kicks in so moving him now would be a lot easier
The ONLY thing better than a glass of beer is tea with Miss McGill
A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
what was it, 54 years in the big apple? current run is back up to 17. is that right?
yup..but that was the past ....this is the present
94 was awhile ago....and the flyers are 18 years b4 94.....
win a cup bud
2 in 36 years is still better than 1 in 72 years.
if u say so..personally i would rather have the last one 17 years ago rather than 35
dude. once you hit 10 years it's ancient history.
1994
then the flyers are relic's dude
both ancient history. that's the point. the statue of limitations on talking shit about a championship from 1994 ended before No Code came out.
Statute.
statute
ha...i think this is an inadvertant seinfled reference. is it not?