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With or Without Weber, what do the Flyers do for Offense?


Guest iban3z

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It sure has been a quiet offseason for the Flyers. That was however, up until July 18 when the Flyers signed RFA Shea Weber to a huge offer sheet. With just a day remaining for Nashville to match, one has to wonder what the Flyers are going to do with offense. If Nashville does not match and the Flyers get Weber without having to work out a trade, the Flyers will have $4.9 million remaining in Salary. They still have RFA Jakub Voracek that needs to be signed and he is looking for a raise from his $2.25 mil from the previous season.

The Flyers have lost two big forwards in Jagr and JVR when it comes to points, but many people would point out, not nearly as many from the previous offseason. (Richards/Carter) The Flyers are going to need some offense regardless. If they do work out a trade, most likely Read and or Voracek will be dealt and that will make four offensive departures this offseason. Fans may point out that Bobby Ryan is still being shopped, but the asking price is still high for Ryan. Also who do you trade for him if the Flyers end up losing Read and Voracek?

Holmgrim is not looking to blow this young team up again as he did last year. The last thing he wants to do is trade five players to bring in two. Best case scenario, the Flyers get Weber without Nashville matching and could end up trading Read or Voracek, plus a D-man (Coburn or Meszaros) in a package deal for Ryan. The Ducks could believe that they could ask a high price for Ryan, but remember Ryan’s comments, indicating that he does not want to play for Anaheim anymore. The front office knows this and the last thing an organization wants, is an unwanted player in their locker room. The team who is the most patient will obtain Ryan and probably at a reasonable cost.

Still could the Flyers afford Ryan if the price did drop?

If you look at the Flyers current roster here is the breakdown:

F- Danny Briere. Cap hit of $6.5mil. The NHL’s most consistent scorer when it comes to the post season. His veteran presence and leadership as well as his skill level would hurt the Flyers if he were to be dealt.

F-Scott Hartnell. Cap hit of $4.2mil. It wasn’t long ago where Hartnell was at the top of the rumor mill of being traded. That was before Hartnell has the best season of his career by leading the team in goals and earning his first trip to the NHL all star game. Even before Hartnell became a scoring leader, he still had put up 20+goals five out of six seasons and he’s that gritty player that will win battles off the boards, drop the gloves and give it his all every night. Trading him will only downgrade the team’s size which they’re already lacking in the offensive dept. Not to mention even though he’s in a contract year, he’s willing to come back at a discount.

F-Max Talbot. Cap hit of $1.75mil. Talbot also had a career season with the Flyers and was a huge player on their PK and is a younger version of Ian Laperriere. He will sacrifice himself for the team and to win games. He’s also a veteran presence with Stanley Cup experience. Dealing him could cripple the PK.

F-Wayne Simmonds. Cap hit of 1.75. Simmonds, like Talbot and Hartnell, had his best season last year with 28G, 21A for 49 PTS. He’s a younger version of Hartnell. He’s very valuable on the PP, isn’t afraid to drop the gloves and has tremendous potential of being a career 30 goal scorer. His salary is friendly to the Flyers and given if another player is traded, his responsibility will only increase. His name isn’t something you’ll hear every night on the NHL Network, but he is one of those valuable role players that will make whichever team he is on, better. Trading him would come back to haunt the Flyers.

F-Matt Read Cap hit $900,000. Read was an undrafted rookie and probably made plenty of NHL scouts, smack their heads. Read is probably the Flyers’ biggest trade piece because of his rookie season and potential to be a star in the NHL. However his $900k is good for the team asking for him, but no good for the Flyers. If he was moved, another big salary player would have to go with him.

The untouchable players I’ve labeled are: Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Brayden Scehnn. Some may also forget that there is

a young player looking to make a name for himself, who is buried down in the Flyers roster. I’m talking about Eric Wellwood. Wellwood has some of the fastest skating I’ve seen since Simon Gagne’s rookie year. He played very well in replace of an injured JVR playing 24 games scoring 5G and 9A. I expect him to make the roster and play on the 3rd line. We had nine rookies make suit up last year for the Flyers, so why not give him a shot?

We’ll have to wait and see what were working with here, since a lot can happen between now and the deadline for Weber. Will the Flyers become a better team Wednesday night? As a Flyers fan, I can only say, “I sure hope so!”

Follow me on Twitter @iban3zhead

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I would expect Couturier and Schenn would add more goals. Weber will help inncrease thhe offense.

There is also the possibility of Doan. We really didn't lack a whole lot for offense this past season. Briere had a lousy year and we were still 2nd in the league right?

Maybe Briere picks it up. Like I said Couturier could break out offensively. He has that ability.

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Seeing what the Rangers gave up for Nash, it would seem to me that the price of Ryan just dropped a bit. But the Flyers no longer have any 1st round picks to add to the pot, so it would have to be roster players or prospects or someone (Danny boy) to waive his NMC.

At the moment, I would trade Schenn for Ryan, but that's probably not a popular opinion. So Schenn and Couturier and some as yet unknown source are going to have to step it up this year. Just like JVR was supposed to do.

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Right now we are down 3 forwards (Jagr, JVR and Voracek). If Voracek is part of the Webber deal who takes those spots? Sure Schenn and Couturier can step it up but there are still 3 vacant forward positions on this roster. Is Harry Z up to the task? Holmstrom? Who do you move up? Who is up to this task?

In a perfect world they sign Doan to a reasonable contract and resign Voracek. This is doubtful as the CAP will likely make it difficult. I'll leave it to the "capologists" to figure out this scenario.

Let's say Voracek is sent to Nashville. We sign Doan. We still need another forward. JVR wasn't much of an asset last year but Jagr was. Who replaces Jagr in this lineup? Do we depend on our AHL player to fill in at some of the forward positions? That will likely mean a loss of depth.

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Good post Iban. I am not worried about the offense (just as I was not worried about it losing Richards and Carter). We lost Jagr and his 19 goals and JVR was out most of the year and when he was in the lineup kind of invisible.

I believe whether it is Jake or my first choice; moving Danny Briere to the top line, there will be an increase to Jagr's 19 goals. I think Briere is our best sniper and with Giroux he is easily good for 35 goals.

JVR scored 11 goals last season and Schenn scored 12. Schenn started out really slow but as the year went on got stronger and we saw why he was the top ranked prospect not in the NHL by the end of the season. I expect him to score between 20 and 28 goals this year.

Couturier scored 13 goals playing with limited ice team on the 4th line and the PK. He is gifted offensively and I expect his ice time to increase and approach the 20 goal mark as well.

The area of concern that could impact the offense is the defense. We upgraded defensively and physically with Schenn but Carle did make good outlet passes and was good on the rush.

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@Dynamo 47 There is no way in holy hell Briere can go into any kind of extended slump like he did last year. We will see a far more consistent Danny B next season. I like your idea of moving him on the top line, frees up time for the youngsters to develop quicker and gets the most out of one of the top snipers on the team. G will find him out in front for roof jobs quite frequently. If there is one thing Danny can do great is lay in the weeds and magically appear at the right time...G will take full advantage of that. Danny has the time and space thing down to a science, but he has lacked the linemates with vision to take full advantage of this skill.

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Hartnell-Giroux-Briere

Simmonds-Schenn-Read

Voracek-Talbot-Couturier

Fedotenko-Wellwood-Sestito/Rinaldo

I like the Top 10 - no matter how they are distributed.

I could see Homer taking a shot at Semin, given the chance with Zherdev.

Defensively it's all about health. And around the league, defensively, it always is.

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I could see Homer taking a shot at Semin, given the chance with Zherdev.

if the price and term is right , i could see that gamble working out, pretty amazing to me that he's still available. i would have thought he'd have found a place to play in the NHL by now. it's not like he lacks for skill. must be a russian thing.

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@radoran

I can't see Voracek on the third line. I think he'll be playing on the top line with Giroux. I think we might see:

Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek

Simmonds-Briere-Read

Schenn-Talbot-Couturier

Fedotenko-Wellwood-Sestito/Rinaldo

I also think Wellwood has the potential to crack the third line and shift Talbot down to the 4th.

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@radoran

I can't see Voracek on the third line. I think he'll be playing on the top line with Giroux. I think we might see:

Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek

Simmonds-Briere-Read

Schenn-Talbot-Couturier

Fedotenko-Wellwood-Sestito/Rinaldo

I also think Wellwood has the potential to crack the third line and shift Talbot down to the 4th.

I wasn't really intending to do real "lines" in July - but I think that those are three pretty good scoring lines no matter how you number or arrange them.

Wellwood has shown me speed. Not much else. Happy to see more.

If Fedotenko and/or Wellwood show any real production, that's still a deep O in my opinion.

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