EDI-Flyer

I wouldn't bet on that...

For anyone interested in learning more about the early origins of the Flyers and their evolution under Shero I can thoroughly recommend Score! by Gene Hart. http://www.amazon.com/Score-Twenty-Five-Years-Street-Bullies/dp/0929387171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373450754&sr=8-1&keywords=Score%21+Gene+Hart A tremendous read and well worth the $.

Fantastic to see him finally get the recognition he deserved...

Yeah, this would be my main concern too jammer. Like you say if this was for four years then fine, but 7? Pass! That 30 goal season looked great but I personally think that was his career high and not likely to hit it again. 20-25 goals tops IMO tailing off in a few years time. Maybe I'll be proved wrong, the Leafs are certainly more offensively minded than the Devils so perhaps that will boost his numbers to a degree... I would agree that a trade could be made with the Avs but given that Stastny's cap hit is $6.6 million I'm not sure TO could fit him in... Next year when he is UFA possibly... From the article in the Globe and Mail:

Per the Globe and Mail: Whilst I like Clarkson as a player I don't like the term length on this deal, especially not if his scoring drops off majorly. The Bozak deal is slightly more palatable in terms of length but $4.2 million seems reasonable, albeit for what most people would regard as a fairly second tier centre. At least the Leafs had the sense not to give him the 8 year contract he was apparently seeking...

@jammer2 I could also see him ending up in Dallas too. They signed Gonchar and hopefully have Nichushkin coming onto their team too. Jim Nill has made some nice moves IMO, and he has the experience with the Wings to appreciate a guy like this.

This just in from TSN: All I can say is wow... He is really pissed, sounds like his relationship (or lack of) with Carlyle is what pushed him out the door. I still think he will go on to do well with another team.

That is some good company to be keeping... Hopefully a change of scenery will do him good.

@jammer2 I agree re the offensive production, certainly last season anyway but in general he puts up reasonable numbers. That said if they are letting him go in order to pay Bozak 8 million a year then they do indeed need their heads examined. Or given a hefty slap, maybe both. He is expensive at 5.5 but some other team is gonna pick up a good player for no outlay and pay him 3.5 to 4 million, which in my view is a reasonable price. No wonder the Leafs fans are pissed.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=426933 It wasn't that long ago that they were offered a decent pick for him and turned it down. Now he costs them $14.6 million to buy out. Almost Homeresque in term, except Grabo didn't get a NMC

Best of luck to Danny B in Montreal. Having said that 4 million doesn't seem to get you much in today's NHL. Seems a lot of $ unless he undergoes some of scoring renaissance next year with the Habs.

Whilst it may not be the best move from a financial standpoint I personally like the loyalty shown by the organisation. I hope it isn't but worst case scenario and his career is over 600k (even after tax) will certainly give him a good shot at life outside of hockey.

I beg to differ. Last year in particular Rinaldo showed that he has the tools to be a hard hitting energy line player. He works hard, is not a liability in his own end and skates extremely well. Oh, and he was a 6th round pick. I do agree that there was no need to draft Goulbourne in the 3rd and would prefer to have taken a player with a potentially higher career ceiling. Take him in the 6th by all means though.

Well it appears they followed the path they said they would. Last night they took 4 players from the OHL and 1 from the W. They did take a Euro too though, but not until the 5th round.

If Goulbourne plays first that is more of an indictment on the Flyers than on the other two prospects... Much as I love Rinaldo you don't really need more than one of that kind of player on your team.

Hagg

This much is true, this year at the worlds is just one example. I think they have one more shot and then there window is well and truly closed. Actually I don't even believe they realistically have one shot but maybe you give it one more year under Torts and then take it from there. If things aren't working then trade them and take what you can get. The problem is that unless the reworked draft system starts to produce significant results their hopes of rebuilding through the draft are slim...

An interesting article in today's Vancouver Sun on the Canucks issues with drafting players over the last few years. It's actually quite frightening to read that none of draft picks by Mike Gillis are playing regularly for the Canucks, albeit Cody Hodgson is now doing so for Buffalo. Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Canucks+roll+into+draft+without+homegrown+talent/8595402/story.html#ixzz2Xd3dC7Ci

@jammer2 Whilst I agree with you re the fact thar he lost a step last year I don't know for sure that this was entirely age related. Allegedly he turned up in poor condition and hadn't been looking after himself during the lockout. I do think he likely gets bought out next year but why not at least see if you can get one more productive year out of him...

@pilldoc It did look that way... Instead it looks like they are blaming Torts for his poor performance and giving Richards another bite at the cherry under Alain Vigneault to see if his game reignites. If not he can always be bought out next summer instead...

In fairness I think baggage handler would suit Homer perfectly, no difficult decisions to make, not too much thinking involved...

You might be right but even so with Danny B the way the deal was structured with 3 mill and 2 mill for the last two years would mean that if he was a worthwhile asset they would still have him under contract with no need to buy him out. If it wasn't for his cap hit I would keep him on the team for the wages he would be paid. Absolutely right, no dispute from me there!

Well it ain't quite $23 million but this is a pretty good effort. Dude hasn't been sacked yet!

To be fair I don't think the Briere buyout is a huge issue... 3.3 million paid out over 4 years ain't a large sum. And at least you can argue that Danny earned the vast majority of his contract, unlike sieve-galov. Danny would still be a Flyer if the cap hadn't dropped so drastically as a result of the new CBA.

@jammer2 My point was not so much that I don't think Bob is worth the 4 million a year, just that he might not get it from Columbus. That said, having looked on Capgeek they do seem to be willing to pay for talent (Gaborik at 7.5, Wisniewski at 5.5 etc) so he may succeed in getting the bucks from them. Given his talent they would be wise to lock him up for quite a few years IMO. As we know to our cost you can have all the other pieces but if you don't have great goal-tending you ain't gonna get too far (actually never mind great, if we had even had mediocre goal-tending in 2010 we would probably have won the damn cup...)