caluso

It is beyond comprehension. This is a guy who was benched in the playoffs and we pay him like he is a savior. What does this say about Patrick. If Patrick is really going to become the 2nd line center, then we will be paying our 3rd line center 7.14 million a year. We trade for Braun whose numbers are beyond bad; we trade for Niskanen whose numbers are declining and we retain salary, for good measure What's next, trading for Chara? It took years to free up cap space and "Fleece-Me" Fletcher undid that in less than a week. Comical.

What is "good" about acquiring an older, worse, player AND retaining salary. Lose, lose and lose. Typical Flyer deal.

agreed. there's no point in simply giving him away. perhaps another centerman will get injured, in which case VLC will have some value. who knows, but the VLC signing was a typical Gomer blunder

here you go: It would cost them $9 million in cash over the next three seasons to buy out Umberger. His current $4.6 million salary-cap hit would become $1.6 million for the next 3 years, then $1.5 million for the next 3 years after that. It's an immediate cap savings of $3 million. With that Canadian television deal kicking in, the salary cap is expected to rocket to $75 million in 2015-16. Meaning that $1.6 million in dead space due to Umberger would be an increasingly smaller drop in the bucket each year the cap grows, which it will with continuously record-setting revenues. So, why would the Flyers buy out Umberger after just trading for him? He's a lot cheaper to buy out than Scott Hartnell, who had 2 years more left on his deal. That's a savings of $10 million in cash for a team that is now internally pulling on the purse strings. The fourth-round pick in last week's trade would just be a bonus. Umberger was in town last week and was not given any indication he would be bought out. Players must be bought out by 5 p.m. today. Since the Flyers are desperate to rid themselves of a bad deal, Umberger makes even more sense than Lecavalier. A bad year for Lecavalier is 20 goals; it would be a borderline career year for Umberger to climb over that mark again Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20140630_Salary_cap_not_friendly_to_Flyers.html#TcgFT1DjpYAKp8uH.99

that's funny....in a weird sorta way

they couldn't just buy hartnell out without having major cap implications. as i understand it, umberger has a clause in his ocntract that allows him to be bought out and the cap hit will only be 2 mill.

that might be the EXACT reason they traded for him. especially, if the whole goal was to clear cap space. as i understand it, if they buy him out, it will only cost 2 mill against the cap.

i read he could be bought out for 2 million. i honestly don't know if such a clause is legal or not, but other hard salary cap leagues permit such things. hmmm....

i read that umberger has a clause that he can be bought out. is that true?

I would have been thrilled with 2 number 2s. What does umberger bring that raffl, read, heck, even Bellemare, doesnt. Wouldn't it have been better to rid the Hartnell contract entirely...

Aaron Portzline @AportzlineFollowThis is a huge lift off #CBJ GM Kekalainen. Club was contemplating a compliance buyout on Umberger if they couldn't move him before draft.

I agree wholeheartedly with what Meltzer writes: Nevertheless, this trade perplexes me a bit, unless it is the first of multiple moves. Umberger's cap hit ($4.6 million) is not that much lower than Hartnell's ($4.75 million) and his contract runs through 2016-17, so this trade cannot be characterized as one that has significant cap-related advantages. Hartnell and Umberger are both 32 years old. If the draft pick had been a higher one, I would have understood the benefit immediately. If Philly had gotten an extra second-round pick or some such, the deal could be explained as general manager Ron Hextall starting to collect assets. Umberger is strictly a third-line player, albeit a good one. The pick the Flyers got is a negligible additional asset in exchange for someone who has been a first-line left winger on the club and has been part of several successful line combinations over the years. Umberger is a definite upgrade over Steve Downie as a fit on the third line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read. He wins a lot of battles and usually plays a disciplined game, whereas Downie has rarely done the latter in his NHL and was not doing much of the former this past season. Now the big question: Who will be the Flyers new first line left winger? As of now, the job may go to Brayden Schenn, along with Hartnell's role on the top power play unit. If that's the case, it means the Flyers will be in the market for another top-six forward. We shall see in the days and weeks to come what Hextall has planned. We shall see....

it's funny, i was going to post that the VLC signing might be Holmgren's worst move yet. yes, even worse than the Bryz deal; at least Bryz was signed to fill a perceived (key word, cause i loved Bob) void. the VLC signing made no sense given that our supposed strength was up the middle. why not throw that money at a winger or d-man.....i guess that's what happens when you have no real plan and you insist on throwing darts. gomer just doesn't get that this is a hard salary cap league and every penny matters. what are the odds that our resident genius gives somebody a second rounder to take VLC off our hands. we don't need a stinking second rounder, anyway.

When I watched Voracek develop, it was clear he had the skills. I see no signs from Schenn that he will be more than a role player. Do you watch him play? Do you ever come away and say, "what a great game he played." I don't.

Averaging a half a point per game as the team's second line center and as someone who also plays on the power play ain't chopped liver. They are the stats of a mediocre player; and if that player is a top 6 forward, that is a sign that the team is in trouble. And the point of the ppg analysis was to point out that he has not progressed at all. In fact, he is trending in the wrong direction.

the Flyers have an alarming habit of mis-valuing their own players. the list is endless. if they stick with Schenn as their number 2 center, they will be very easy to defend in a short series: stop G and V and the Flyers won't be able to score, outside of the PP. sound familiar? what makes you say that his upside is still in front of him? what has he shown you that i am missing? he was gifted the number 2 center position and failed to deliver, showing no improvement whatsoever along the way. as brelic inadvertently pointed out, his ppg is exactly the same now as it was when he came into the league. he has no hockey sense; i can't take anymore of his ridiculous behind the back passes to the opposition. additionally, he's a turnover machine and his creativity is non-existent. what the hell was he doing in game 6 before he flubbed that pass to simmonds? as i said in another post, how many times have you said, "man, schenn played great today," or something to that effect. he just doesn't positively impact the game for the flyers and you can't be saying that about your number 2 center. he is a detriment to the flyers success.

i completely agree with what you are posting. i have been posting how overvalued our youth is, especially B Schenn. Schenn has no upside. There are at least 40 players his age - or younger - who I would rather have. The fact that he's our second line center kills us - it puts too much pressure on our top line, which, as i have been posting, is really only 2/3 of a top line.

i see a pattern

You realize that on a ppg basis Schenn has made No progression at all.

What progression has Schenn made? He is given second line minutes yet produces like a third or fourth line player. His positive influence on games is so infrequent. When was the last time you said, "Wow, Schenn is all over the ice?" Or something to that effect. I am tired of the argument that he is 22 and will only get better. Really? IMHO he has no hockey sense and has a very low ceiling. Look at the Colo / Manny series if you want to see what real young talent is supposed to look like.