News Article A vote for Holmgren as GM of Year

[Digityman]

This is a pretty good article

As the NHL'S general managers reconvene today in Boca Raton, Fla., for their annual meetings, it is a fitting time to finally handicap the GM of the Year race.

The way we see it, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren should be right at the top of the list with Nashville's David Poile and St. Louis' Doug Armstrong.

The Predators, with their recent additions, are one of the odds-on Stanley Cup favorites. Poile has never won the award, despite spending less and appearing in the playoffs more than most. Armstrong had the cojones to fire a solid, young coach just 13 games into the season. The Blues are the NHL's best team with 97 points.

Even Phoenix' Don Maloney, the inaugural winner of the award in 2010, is worth a look since the Coyotes are looking like a playoff team despite losing their top goaltender in Ilya Bryzgalov.

Maloney is a perfect segue to Holmgren, who can thank Bryzgalov's hot play over the last 12 games for pushing him into the finalist's category. (It would have been hard to include him just a few weeks ago, considering Bryzgalov's mediocre play and his behemoth contract.)

But Holmgren has done so much more. Put aside last summer's trades of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, bold moves - trading known commodities for projected promise - few of the NHL's general managers would have made in June.

Forget about the fact that just one part of that trade with Los Angeles, Wayne Simmonds, has more goals (22) and points (41) than Richards. Or that Sean Couturier, who fell into the Flyers' lap with the No. 8 overall pick from Columbus, is already one of the most defensively responsible forwards in the NHL.

Look at the contributions from undrafted rookie Matt Read (19 goals), who garnered a gaudy $2.7 million commitment out of college, and signee Max Talbot (18 goals). That's not to mention the $3.3 million gamble that has paid off in Jaromir Jagr's 46 points and his numerous off-ice contributions.

Could you imagine where the Flyers would be at this point in the season, down Kimmo Timonen, Chris Pronger, and Andrej Meszaros, if Holmgren did not add Nicklas Grossmann and Pavel Kubina (though injured) before the trade deadline?

They would be fighting for their playoff lives. And if Holmgren didn't act when he did, they would have been stuck with a Mike Commodore-type player on Deadline Day.

Instead, Holmgren will leave Boca Raton to search for new diamonds in the rough like Read on the college free-agent market. His team is salary-cap compliant and in a strong financial position for next season. And the Flyers farm system jumped from a No. 30 ranking from The Hockey News last March to No. 17 this week, thanks to those trades.

The Flyers' system would be teeming if Couturier and Brayden Schenn hadn't already graduated. In fact, averaging their annual first-round draft position since 2008 (30th), the Flyers have the league's third-best draft performance, according to The Hockey News.

Yet, Holmgren's marks have depended largely on one player.

"I think Philadelphia is always hard on a goaltender," Scott Hartnell said yesterday. "It's been a while since they've had a legit, No. 1 guy. Bringing 'Bryz' in this summer, I think [fans] expected him to stop every single shot that came at him. That's just not reality. There were some weak ones, and I'm sure he'd be the first to admit it."

Bryzgalov - and Holmgren - are not out of the woods just yet, but the reality is that "Bryz" is now playing much closer to the level of a $10 million goaltender. He was named the NHL's First Star of the week yesterday. He has more shutouts (five) this season than any Flyers goaltender over the last decade, since Roman Cechmanek in 2001-02.

The beauty of Bryzgalov's deal is twofold: His contract is severely front-loaded and his average annual salary (cap hit) of $5.667 million per year is just the sixth-highest among goalies.

In the past, Holmgren has said that some of his best trades as a general manager are the ones he didn't make. That is the case with not mortgaging the future for Columbus' Rick Nash before last month's trade deadline - or acquiring an insurance goalie in case Bryz continued to falter.

Watching it all, you realize it's not an accident. It's time Holmgren is recognized.

GM meetings update

After being discussed for the last 6 years at the annual meetings, it appears that hybrid icing is finally gaining traction at the annual meetings this week in Boca Raton, Fla.

Hybrid icing, already adopted by the NCAA and USHL junior league, is a way to still keep competitive battles for icing in play by taking out the dangerous hits along the end boards. Under the new rule, a linesman would call the race - between an opposing forward and defenseman - for an iced puck at the faceoff dot instead of forcing the defenseman to touch it first to send the faceoff down the other end of the ice. And there doesn't appear to be a downside.

At least 20 out of the NHL's 30 general managers would need to vote on a proposed change today, before sending it for NHLPA and Board of Governors approval. The meetings run through tomorrow.

Paul Holmgren also told reporters that Chris Pronger is "still not doing very well" in his battle with postconcussion symptoms.

"I think the key thing is we continue to talk about player safety," Holmgren said. "We're learning more and more, it seems, not only on the diagnosis of concussions but also the treatment. The diagnosis part, I think we're getting down pretty good. I think the treatment part is the great unknown right now.

"Our players have always been our most important asset. So it behooves us to look at anything that could possibly improve their safety."

BRACKETOLOGY:

Fyers forwards Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn picked their March Madness bracket yesterday on Comcast SportsNet for all to see.

Schenn picked the East and Midwest Regionals, while Simmonds focused on the West and South side of the bracket. The two met in the middle and played "Rock, Paper, Scissors" for their Final Four winners.

Surprisingly, the "Simmer / Schenner" bracket – as they called it – produced a hometown national champion in Temple. Schenn picked the Owls to upset North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

While Simmonds is a big basketball fan, don't put much stock in Schenn's Temple selection. He wasn't even sure of the Owls' chances. "Are they any good?" Schenn asked.

Injured forward James van Riemsdyk, the resident NCAA expert who had foot surgery a week ago, chimed in on Twitter. "Two Canadians filling out a college bball bracket? #bracketbusted," van Riemsdyk (@JVReemer21) tweeted.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Tonight vs. New Jersey. 7 o'clock, TCN

The Flyers will try to avenge Sunday's 4-1 loss in Newark, N.J., with fifth place in the East on the line. The two teams are tied, though the Flyers have one game in hand.

Thursday at N.Y. Islanders, 7 o'clock, CSN

After righting their ship against the Islanders on March 1 with a 6-3 win to prevent a sweep at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers now have a chance to clinch a season-series sweep at Nassau Coliseum. New York is 10 points back of a playoff spot.

Saturday at Boston, 1 o'clock, CSN

How fitting: The Flyers have a St. Patrick's Day matinee scheduled in Boston. While the green beer will be flowing, the Flyers will look to beat up on Tim Thomas and the Bruins, who are just 9-12-1 since Thomas snubbed the White House on Jan. 23.

Sunday vs. Pittsburgh, 12:30 p.m., NBC

By the time Sunday rolls around, Sidney Crosby may well be back in Pittsburgh's lineup. Crosby, who has missed the last 40 games with a concussion/neck injury, said he would wait until at least tonight's game in New York to return. Pittsburgh has won nine straight.

Frank Seravalli

[Vanflyer]

@Digityman

One of Franks better pieces.

P.S. I like the JVR dig on the "canadian" hockey players in regards to NCAA poll.

[five6four]

i always thought Frank was one of the better Flyers writers in his first year or so writing for the DN, but over time it seemed like he got sucked down to the typical philly media level. Definitely a great article, and for my money Homer should be a runaway. The other guys may be doing great with substantially smaller budgets, but no one has had as much success with as dramatic a makeover as the flyers underwent.

(Also loved JVR's bracket tweet)

[doom88]

Homer certainly deserves to be in the mix. Not sure about the best of the season (haven't put much thought into it and the season isn't over), but easily one of them.

[flyercanuck]

Holmgren has done some good things. I think his eye for young talent is as good as anyones. His draft record in the 1st round is amazing. Matt Read was a great signing that is like a free 1st rounder. I just wish he'd stop signing players to these ridiculous longterm contracts. He bailed on Carter and Richards. Prongers looks brutal. Brieres, at the halfway point is starting to look bad, and Bryzgalovs looked terrible right out of the gate. His lack of knowledge in the CBA is embarrassing, but that hasn't really factored in this year. He's easily in the top half of gms, but there's plenty of bad ones. But there are no gms that don't make mistakes...except for Brian Burke...just ask him.

[terp]

Prongers looks brutal. Brieres, at the halfway point is starting to look bad, and Bryzgalovs looked terrible right out of the gate.

Holmgren still has time to look like a genius but he needs a new CBA to bail him out. Pronger's contract is going to kill us this offseason and there is pretty clearly a gap between Briere's production and his cap hit. He's 34 and there isn't much hope that he'll ever earn $6.5MM again.

[flyercanuck]

@terp

I honestly don't think you should give anyone over 30 a contract longer than 4 or 5 years. Or anyone for that matter. But the game has morphed into a younger mans sport, and Holmgren has been burned on every longterm he's given out. I thought he would have learned BEFORE he signed Bryzgalov. Stop the madness!

[canoli]

@flyercanuck

So we hate the long-term contracts but what is the alternative?

"Just walk away from the deal" right? Okay. But that means we're a completely different team right now; no Kimmo, no Pronger, no Talbot, no JVR, no Briere, no Bryzgalov - maybe even Coburn depending where you draw the line. Giroux will certainly find a team willing to give him 8 years when his contract is up in 2 years.

I agree 100% with the sentiment, and Bryzgalov's contract is the poster-child for "Just Walk Away." But the driving force behind any franchise is the owners and investors mandate to make money.

I'm just not sure anyone is ready for a Flyers team "featuring" zero stars, 3rd-line fwds, no-name D-men and Marty Biron in net.

[flyercanuck]

@canoli

OK, let's just say we don't get Timonen, Hartnell, Briere, Pronger (we'd still have an underwhelming JVR). So the year after we drafted him, we'd likely end up near last again, right? So instead, we have Stamkos? Or Doughty? Pietrangelo? $20 million in capspace. All I'm saying is (and I've been saying it for years) is for Holmgren to think things out instead of this reactionary diving in head first that at this point is what will likely be all that holds a really good young team back from being a legitimate contender. Seriously, at this point couldn't Prongers or Brieres or Timonens or Bryzgalovs salaries been much better spent? Just have a plan.

[canoli]

No, sure, that's certainly true - but it's my point too - things would look quite different for the Flyers. Maybe we get Stamkos but maybe we don't. It's pretty hard to figure the what ifs and the if onlys.

In any case I'm with you, this "reactionary diving in head first" (bryzgalov) has got to end.

[Mad Dog]

@flyercanuck

So we hate the long-term contracts but what is the alternative?

"Just walk away from the deal" right? Okay. But that means we're a completely different team right now; no Kimmo, no Pronger, no Talbot, no JVR, no Briere, no Bryzgalov - maybe even Coburn depending where you draw the line. Giroux will certainly find a team willing to give him 8 years when his contract is up in 2 years.

I agree 100% with the sentiment, and Bryzgalov's contract is the poster-child for "Just Walk Away." But the driving force behind any franchise is the owners and investors mandate to make money.

I'm just not sure anyone is ready for a Flyers team "featuring" zero stars, 3rd-line fwds, no-name D-men and Marty Biron in net.

I sort of agree with both - you and FC. FC is right in the sense that these long-term contracts Homer has been signing players to are frustrating. To his defense, he is not the only GM who does that and basically what started happening after the lock-out ended 6 years ago is that a new CBA was put in place and GMs started doing these crazy signings left and right. So when others set a precedent and the pattern is followed, the players start having a feeling *they* are in the position to negotiate and get a favorable result of that negotiation.

But there are several factors also to consider here, which were mainly situational.

Briere, Timonen and Hartnell deals almost *had* to be made. The Flyers have completed the worst season in the team's history and utterly embarrassed its fanbase. That was actually one incident when I am glad Snider stepped in and ordered Homer to go out and bring some veteran stars. And again, the NTC, NMC, and the longevity were probably a prerequisite to signing all three. Otherwise, they would’ve signed somewhere else. There is no doubt the Flyers had to cater in to their demands. There was basically no choice.

The Pronger deal - as detrimental and disastrous as it looks now - had to be made. I am not faulting Homer too much for giving up a lot. What *does* look a bit puzzling to me is why he had to sign him to this contract in the ensuing summer. My only guess is that Pronger's camp gave the Flyers an ultimatum, but then again, Pronger verbally indicated, time and time again, that he liked it here and wanted to stay. Is this current deal really the best the Flyers could do? Was there even a negotiation involved or Homer simply gave Pronger the contract he asked for right out of the gate?

Bryzgalov deal is clearly a joke and disgrace. And I am saying this even in consideration that his play has improved over the last few weeks. But as was mentioned time and time again, this signing was more on Snider than on Homer. I don’t know the exact conversation, obviously, but I am guessing Snider’s words were probably along the lines of, “Go and sign him at whatever price”. I am sure Homer and Bryzgalov’s agent have negotiated; that much is known. But the question is, could the Flyers push a little further instead of settling on this? Could the duration be reduced? I am guessing, when the Bryzgalov’s agent told Homer that was the final offer, Homer ran to Snider and Snider said OK.

What else? Am I missing any other ridiculous contracts?

And again, those bad contracts happen throughout the league. The Flyers are not alone. I am sure if you ask the Rangers, they are not at all happy with Drury and Gomez contracts. At least we got some quality play out of Briere, who has been nothing short of phenomenal in just about every single post-season the Flyers had. The Rangers, on the other hand, have nothing to show for AT ALL.

Wade Redden is another head-shaking contract. And by the way, as far as I know, the Rangers are still playing him almost $7 mil/year to play in the minors. That contract alone is what gets your GM fired.

The Sabres signing Leino to a 6-year deal? All I can do is laugh hysterically every time I think of that signing.

Florida will pay Sean Bergenheim $11 million (!!!!!!!) over the next four years.

What about LeCavalier’s contract? The guy can still play. Sure. But 9 more years for a 31 year-old at almost $8 million per season?? Are you kidding me?

What about Columbus giving James Wishiewki of all people six years and $33 mil (roughly $5.5 million per year)?

After having looked at all these beyond stupid signings, can we really complain much about Timonen, Briere and Hartnell? I don’t think so. Pronger and Bryzgalov – most definitely.

[Bakanekimiwa]

i would give my vote to holmgren or poile. when you consider what poile has done over the years, it's nothing short of amazing. however, i think the edge goes to homey this year. i mean... he completely stuck his neck out and completely re-tooled the team. what other gm has the guts to trade away the 2 centerpieces of the franchise on the same day? none.. that's who.

the season has been as expected so far, but we're still in contention for the ultimate prize. i don't think anyone expects that this year, but homey completely gutted the team and here we are again.... in contention. in other words... everything is going according to plan. this is what good gm's do.

now as for his detractors... wth is a gm supposed to do in the salary cap era? circumvent the cap, that's what. and that's what the bryz deal does. it's front weighted, so who really gives an F 9 years from now when the cap is $125m/year!?

also, this is a discussion about GM of the YEAR. THIS YEAR. do bringing up the pronger deal into this conversation makes about as much sense gasoline powered shoe polisher.

sure that was a mistake... but, that was early on in his reign... give him a break. and guess what? he didn't win GM of the year that year.

anyway, while we're at it... i think Lavy should be strongly considered for the Jack Adams. he's had to juggle the goaltenders for the first half of the year. that could have put us out of contention very early on. a team that loses their corner pin on defense and suffers various injuries to very important players and manages to keep it all rolling is doing a good job. playing 8 rookies a night!? sure, you could argue that we're just very lucky to have great rookies, but these things go hand in hand for any coach/gm.

fact is... if holmgren deserves to be considered for GM of the year(which i think he does), ipso facto Lavy should be considered for the Coach of the year. Homey's the hardware and Lavy's the software that keep this confuser competing.

[radoran]

@Mad Dog

Pronger's contract "had" to be signed that summer because the Flyers were playing fast and loose with the CBA and hoping they could get Pronger in as a non-35-plus contract. IMO, at least.

The NHL's ruling against them made it a 35+ deal. IMO, it was the right call as getting Pronger in at under $5M on the cap was a clear attempt at circumvention and resulted, in part, in the new regulations about difference between highest and lowest years in a contract.

The Flyers definitely wanted Pronger and vice versa, but they were also in the position of needing to re-sign Richards/Crater and had Kimmo already on at $6.33 and Briere/Hartnell up front as well. They tried cap shenanigans, as Pronger was clearly not going to sign a $4.9M 4-5 year contract regardless of how much he liked it here.

It's also a reason why we had ham-and-eggs in goal for a run to the Finals - they couldn't afford more.

I like Homer and his work this past off season, but he's been digging himself out of self-created problems more often than not.

Credit where credit is due can go both ways.

[JackStraw]

My take on Homer's contracts so far:

I'm fine with Timo, Briere, and Hartnell signings. At the time I wasn't crazy about the Briere signing but given the other options (Gomez, Drury) Briere now looks like a stroke of genius. I think he's been a really good Flyer, good with the media, good with the young guys, and he's been money when it counts most. When he's been on a line with guys who compliment his smart, sneaky, style, he produces. I think that's the problem he's having this year. Timo was a great signing. Imo, the guy has been the Flyers most valuable player over the period of time he's been here. Hartnell is coming up big this year but his production in past years really hasn't been much out of line with his salary. He's given the Flyers their only consistent net presence (until Simmonds this year) and "talented-gritty-annoyingness".

To me the "bad" ones are Pronger and Bryz. I've been a long time Pronger fan but I didn't like what Homer gave up in the trade and the contract made it even worse. If there is a "get out of cap jail free" option in the new CBA I think it has to be used for Pronger. Bryz is looking like a hero right now, but eight more years is a really long time.

[terp]

@flyercanuck

Like it or not, the Flyers organization is run to maximizes operating income, not cups. They will never, ever spend years rebuilding and stocking up on high picks. The most we can hope for is for them to be somewhat more judicious about giving up picks for immediate gratification.

Part of me is tempted to agree that you don't ever want to do more than a 5 year deal. If an organization were to choose that policy, it would be hard for me to fault them when they fail to land a player I like because another team is willing to give a longer term deal. While I definitely agree that the Flyers do it far too often, there are cases in which a longer term deal can make sense. I think it makes more sense when a player is under 27 (e.g. I would give Steven Stamkos a 10 year deal). I also think it makes more sense to give a longer deal to a defenseman than a forward and more sense for a goaltender than a defenseman. Defenseman and goaltenders have a better shot than forwards at being productive later in their careers (with apologies to Selanne and Jagr).

As I said above, the Flyers give long contracts to older guys a bit too often for my tastes. But if you look at each of their recent, big FA signings in a vacuum, the above decision rule has some merit. I'd say Hartnell's deal looks pretty good (he was under 27) as does Timonen's (defenseman). Briere's looks bad (forward, over 27). Pronger's was marginal at best but he was a future HOF and it wasn't insane to think that he could be productive until 40. I wouldn't have done it but it wasn't completely crazy. His injury isn't a function of his age or at least I don't think so, so it might be called an OK move that didn't work out as a result of unusual circumstances.

I saved the best for last: As well as Bryzgalov is playing right now, it is still hard to imagine him being productive until he's 39. Even if he's great until he's 37, he'll still have a couple of years left at that point and his cap hit will be the same then as it is now. It is also hard to believe that the going rate for a back up goaltender in 6 years will be $6MM so on the surface, this signing doesn't make any sense, even though we're talking about a goaltender. The only plausible explanation I come up with is that Flyers sign these contracts with the CBA in mind: they figure they'll have a buy out opportunity every 5 years. They sign now and figure they can clean it up later if things don't work out. Put another way, it is another method of gaming the cap and spending above it. This is great until the small market teams revolt and punish teams like the Flyers by refusing to permit one time buy outs.

I had one question: you referred to a "young man's game". Why is that? Is it because of the speed of today's game and the requirement to be ultra fit or something else?

[terp]

I've been a long time Pronger fan but I didn't like what Homer gave up in the trade and the contract made it even worse. If there is a "get out of cap jail free" option in the new CBA I think it has to be used for Pronger.

I doubt there will be any opportunity to buy out players on LTIR. On the other hand, expect the Flyers and some other teams to seek relief for career ending injuries. LTIR cap space helps during the season but it goes away in the off season, preventing teams from dealing with the permanent loss of a player under contract. This is going to raise some messy questions but I think it is a area where management and the PA can come together. I expect the Flyers will be able to fix the issues created by Pronger's career ending injury once the new CBA is in place.

[AJgoal]

I saved the best for last: As well as Bryzgalov is playing right now, it is still hard to imagine him being productive until he's 39. Even if he's great until he's 37, he'll still have a couple of years left at that point and his cap hit will be the same then as it is now. It is also hard to believe that the going rate for a back up goaltender in 6 years will be $6MM so on the surface, this signing doesn't make any sense, even though we're talking about a goaltender. The only plausible explanation I come up with is that Flyers sign these contracts with the CBA in mind: they figure they'll have a buy out opportunity every 5 years. They sign now and figure they can clean it up later if things don't work out. Put another way, it is another method of gaming the cap and spending above it. This is great until the small market teams revolt and punish teams like the Flyers by refusing to permit one time buy outs.

There's another out in the CBA which was brought up in the offseason, that is often overlooked: The cap floor. Now, let's assume that Bryzgalov is an average goaltender at 37. His contract is actually quite tradeable. Why? Say you're Columbus, or Florida. A team with an internal budget that doesn't come close to the cap. You can pick up Bryzgalov for an actual monetary cost of 2.25 million dollars, but he gives you 5.67 million, more than double his actual salary, towards the cap floor. That can be invaluable to a franchise with a thin wallet.

[terp]

@AJgoal

Yeah but...

This is possible hypothetically but I don't recall ever hearing of a trade being made with this motive. Maybe if they jack up the floor in the next CBA but as things stand now it isn't likely to happen.

[flyercanuck]

@terp

Not 100% sure but I think part of the reason Florida got Campbell was for that .

[terp]

@terp

Not 100% sure but I think part of the reason Florida got Campbell was for that .

@AJgoal

Campbell's salary is flat so I tend to think it was more a case of a salary dump for the 'hawks and the Panthers being able to afford the hit for a good player they picked up for nothing.

[radoran]

Bryzgalov's salary isn't lower than his cap hit until 2016-17.

http://www.capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=1141

IMO, "retirement" is much more likely in the last four years of the deal than any GM cap-floor shenanigans.