Bryz gets an offer ... in Vladivostok!

[brelic]

Yeah, that's right. In the middle of nowhere.. saddled between China and North Korea.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/frequentflyers/Bryzgalovs-first-offer-elswhere-surfaces.html#U5iQrPtbLRyr7jtm.99

On June 24, one day before his client was bought out, Ilya Bryzgalov’s agent bragged in an e-mail to the Daily News that he had “half a dozen” NHL general managers saying they would “have (Bryzgalov) on their team anytime.”

More than a month later, Bryzgalov has not yet found a home for next season.

Last week, Bryzgalov was left off Russia’s Sochi Olympic evaluation roster, even though he played for his country at the World Championships in May. Sergei Bobrovsky and 38-year-old Evgeni Nabokov were invited.

Meanwhile, there has nary been a whisper about any offer for Bryzgalov – let alone in the NHL. On Friday, word of Bryzgalov’s first official offer from Russia’s KHL finally surfaced – though it appears to be a much less than desirable one.

Former NHL star Alexander Mogilny confirmed to Sport-Express that he has made an offer to Bryzgalov. Mogilny is president of new expansion franchise Vladivostok Admirals, which will begin play in the KHL this season.

There are two potential problems: (1) Mogilny firmly acknowledges that his club may not be able to pay Bryzgalov’s require rate and (2) Vladivostok is in the middle of nowhere.

Vladivostok is now home to the KHL’s eastern-most club. The city of 592,000 people, while home to the Russian pacific fleet, is situated on the border between North Korea and China.

Hey, Bryzgalov said earlier this offseason he saw "logic" in Joseph Stalin. Perhaps he will enjoy being close to communism is North Korea.

Vladivostok is approximately a 15-hour flight from Vladivostok to Prague, home of the KHL’s western-most team, where the team must travel at least once during the season. It is a 9-hour flight from Vladivostok to Moscow, where the bulk of the league is located, and upwards of four time zones away from division rivals like Ufa.

Plus, the Admirals are likely to struggle on the ice, having culled players from various teams in an expansion draft.

“About Bryzgalov, I can only say good words,” Mogilny said in a rough translation. “A great goalkeeper. You do not have to hang all the dogs on him for the defeat at the World Championships.”

When asked why he would be interested in Bryzgalov, since his stop in Philadelphia was characterized as “abysmal” by a reporter, Mogilny responded by saying: “Who told you that?”

“Do you know how many games last season he won and lost?” Mogilny asked. “His contract was bought out, so it’s the financial policy of the American team. Bryzgalov is now without a club, and I am pleased to have invited him to the Admirals. However, we are not a rich club, so I do not know whether he will accept our terms and conditions.”

The Flyers are paying Bryzgalov $1.6 million for each of the next 14 years, so money should not be much of an issue.

Bryzgalov opened his goaltending school for 12 elite young prospects on Friday, the third year he’s conducted such a camp. His first session of the summer is in Yaroslavl, with children from the local “Lokomotiv” club, from the same franchise which tragically lost 45 team members when their plane crashed on Sept. 7, 2011. Former Flyers defenseman Brad McCrimmon, coach of the Lokomotiv team, lost his life in the crash.

In addition to on-ice and video work, Bryzgalov will “reveal secrets for correct mental preparation” and “explain the nuances of communication with the media,” according to Championat.

No, we weren’t making that last part up.

Bryzgalov will move his camp to Chelyabinsk from July 30 to Aug. 1. Perhaps, by then, other offers will come in for him to find a place to play next season. The KHL season begins in early September.

And Vladivostok is a far cry away from the “half a dozen” NHL teams that supposedly had interest in that e-mail from Bryzgalov’s agent, Ritch Winter, to the Daily News.

[DaGreatGazoo]

This proves there are hockey gods.

[radoran]

Amazing to watch the Philly hockey reporters display on a regualr basis that Bryzgalov's opinion of them was entirely accurate.

[murraycraven]

" A-alright! Da Bryz a gonna play da hockey for us! A higha five!"

Edited July 26, 2013 by murraycraven

[brelic]

Amazing to watch the Philly hockey reporters display on a regualr basis that Bryzgalov's opinion of them was entirely accurate.

Agreed. Their knowledge and understanding of communism is shockingly primitive.

[jammer2]

"Bryzgalov opened his goaltending school for 12 elite young prospects on Friday, the third year he’s conducted such a camp. His first session of the summer is in Yaroslavl, with children from the local “Lokomotiv” club, from the same franchise which tragically lost 45 team members when their plane crashed on Sept. 7, 2011. Former Flyers defenseman Brad McCrimmon, coach of the Lokomotiv team, lost his life in the crash."

At the risk of sounding crass, I know he's doing a good thing here, but I wouldn't want this man to teach my kids funamentals of goalkeeping, under any situation. Could you imagine? Bryz, how do you go crease to crease properly when the puck is behind the net? Or even better, how do you stop a breakaway Bryz?

[brelic]

"Bryzgalov opened his goaltending school for 12 elite young prospects on Friday, the third year he’s conducted such a camp. His first session of the summer is in Yaroslavl, with children from the local “Lokomotiv” club, from the same franchise which tragically lost 45 team members when their plane crashed on Sept. 7, 2011. Former Flyers defenseman Brad McCrimmon, coach of the Lokomotiv team, lost his life in the crash."

At the risk of sounding crass, I know he's doing a good thing here, but I wouldn't want this man to teach my kids funamentals of goalkeeping, under any situation. Could you imagine? Bryz, how do you go crease to crease properly when the puck is behind the net? Or even better, how do you stop a breakaway Bryz?

"If puck comes fast at head, juus duck out of the way. People might get mad, but I say why you hef to be med?"

[jammer2]

@brelic HA HA!!!

[radoran]

Agreed. Their knowledge and understanding of communism is shockingly primitive.

It's more Seravalli's entire tone during the whole article. Purported to be a "news" story about a former Flyer goaltender, it is rife with his personal innuendo and exhibits a triumphalism which is at best unbecoming of a "journalist."

Mind you, he would never aim the same fire at the guy(s) who signed Bryz as essential to the future of the organization.

But I'll wager he will happily join in on attacking and sabotaging any other player he doesn't like.

Who's next?

(To be clear, in the shoutbox I asked if Tommy Walker was the GM in Vladivostok - the deaf, dumb and blind kid from Tommy)

[NRH]

"Bryzgalov opened his goaltending school for 12 elite young prospects on Friday, the third year he’s conducted such a camp. His first session of the summer is in Yaroslavl, with children from the local “Lokomotiv” club, from the same franchise which tragically lost 45 team members when their plane crashed on Sept. 7, 2011. Former Flyers defenseman Brad McCrimmon, coach of the Lokomotiv team, lost his life in the crash."

At the risk of sounding crass, I know he's doing a good thing here, but I wouldn't want this man to teach my kids funamentals of goalkeeping, under any situation. Could you imagine? Bryz, how do you go crease to crease properly when the puck is behind the net? Or even better, how do you stop a breakaway Bryz?

In fairness Bryz knows the position and despite his shaky play in net he could very well be a amazing coach for it.

Wayne Gretzky tried to teach people to play hockey and ended up giving up as a coach.

[jammer2]

@ Sorry, I have a tough time believing the most fundamentally flawed goalie I've ever laid my eyes would make a great coach. Then again, Jeff Reese does it for a living, so anything is possible. I suppose all the Bryz backers are taken aback by how much time has elapsed between Philly showing him the door and his next job offer.

[NRH]

Oh, I'm not surprised by his lack of a team, I'm just pointing out that the quality of the player talent has little to do with his ability to teach.

He isn't going around telling people to do some of the things he does wrong on a daily basis, Bryz was just an old slow butterfly goalie, he preferred to be peppered from the points, he over-commits and gets beaten on the deflections every time, he is incredibly slow post to post, his 5-hole is open at all times unless he is stacking the pads and laying on his side.

For Bryz to have had success in Philly, he'd have had to adapt a more Stand-up style goalie play style, but he had trouble getting the boos out of his ears even when he was winning games.

Granted he could be doing exactly what you guys have been joking about(you're joking right???) and telling the kids to duck pucks and act the fool in-front of the media the moment they get any sort of attention when dragging a team like Phoenix to the play-offs.

[peter puck]

@ Google Bryz ducks from puck. He's done it a couple of times once in the Worlds against the U.S, and once again against the Canadiens.

[NRH]

@ Google Bryz ducks from puck. He's done it a couple of times once in the Worlds against the U.S, and once again against the Canadiens.

I've seen those goals, I was hoping they were just joking when they said he was teaching kids this method.

I've ducked pucks while in net as well as rising shots while being a keeper in soccer because I didn't want to let off a rebound if I could get away with the puck behind the net or the ball out of bounds.

Granted doing this has a huge chance to make you look incredibly stupid if the shot ends up leveling out or knuckling down into your net.

The last time I seen a puck hit a mask it ended up as a goal as the rebound kicked out to a Sedin twin and the goalie collapsed due to his mask cracking and taking him out of the game.

I'll be the first to admit that I give goalies far to much credit(playing the position in most sports)

and I'll never be afraid to say that I'd be happy to sign bryz as an NHL owner, but I'd have never spent 50 million or signed him for more than 4 years.

[jammer2]

@ Yeah, Bre was just cracking a duck joke there.

[flyercanuck]

@

There's a huge difference between you or I ducking a puck and a guy getting paid $10 million dollars in one season to stop them. The guy was not liked by his teammates on 2 different teams. Didn't even get an invite for the Olympic team.Doesn't sound like a good recipe for teaching to me, but I guess you never know.

Maybe Russian kids will be inspired that they too could make millions upon millions for basically having not much talent and to NOT play on an NHL team.

[radoran]

Maybe Russian kids will be inspired that they too could make millions upon millions for basically having not much talent and to NOT play on an NHL team.

Is there any wonder that every average fan believes they can do a better job as GM?

[NRH]

@

The guy was not liked by his teammates on 2 different teams.

Did his whole team really hate him that much? I'm a bit baffled that the flyers would have kept him and were considering not buying him out until next season if he was shunned by most the team while he was in Philly.

I also only duck pucks I believe are going over the net behind me because a puck off the mask is probably the fastest rebound after a shot and the hardest to track once it smacks your mask.

Of course $10 million is a lot to let someone score and I can't find the video of sedin scoring on the rebound but I don't think it's a good investment to be removed from the game either. If one of those pucks turned Bryz into PRONGER 2.0. We'd have had issues for years ontop of years.

Edited July 27, 2013 by NarrowRoadHeros

[flyercanuck]

Did his whole team really hate him that much? I'm a bit baffled that the flyers would have kept him and were considering not buying him out until next season if he was shunned by most the team while he was in Philly.

Did he seem like the kind of guy you'd like in your locker room? Jagr didn't even want to eat lunch with him on 24/7. I know that's a small sample, but he sure seemed a little too wacko for my taste. I saw a totally diffferent team play in front of Mason when he came in.

I also only duck pucks I believe are going over the net behind me because a puck off the mask is probably the fastest rebound after a shot and the hardest to track once it smacks your mask.

Sure. But ducking ones that are going INTO the net are a different story. And it wasn't just once.

Of course $10 million is a lot to let someone score and I can't find the video of sedin scoring on the rebound but I don't think it's a good investment to be removed from the game either. If one of those pucks turned Bryz into PRONGER 2.0. We'd have had issues for years ontop of years.

Bryz wasn't an over 35 contract. So if he went on permanent IR insurance would cover his contract and it wouldn't count against the cap. Who knows, maybe a puck to the head turns him into a decent goalie.

[NRH]

Jagr always tried to eat lunch alone, during that episode he was trying to eat by himself.

I always thought of him like a adult child, always trying to tell you about something that you find interesting and annoying at the same time.

As for ducking, it's hard to tell as a 6 foot guy when a puck is coming at your face wether to duck or jump to absorb the blow. Then again it happened twice but I believe he still won those games.

He was clearly not meant to get eaten alive in Philly. If he remains in the NHL I'd say he should go to Winnipeg and try to replicate his better years in the desert.

I still hate the horrible CBA the NHL recreates every lockout.

[peter puck]

Bryz was an average goaltender at best when the flyers signed him. Just because a FOOL decided to pay him 51 million dollars what makes people think he's suddenly going to turn into Marty fricking Brodeur. I think Bryzs agent was a genius as he was able to take a piece of **** and sell it for a kings ransom. As to the 24/7 circus do you really think those guys were acting like they normally do off camera? If you do you are as big of a fool as Homer was when dealing with Winter.

Edited July 28, 2013 by peter puck

[NRH]

Bryz was an average goaltender at best when the flyers signed him. Just because a FOOL decided to pay him 51 million dollars what makes people think he's suddenly going to turn into Marty fricking Brodeur. I think Bryzs agent was a genius as he was able to take a piece of **** and sell it for a kings ransom. As to the 24/7 circus do you really think those guys were acting like they normally do off camera? If you do you are as big of a fool as Homer was when dealing with Winter.

Homer outbid himself, at least in his insanity he trapped weber in Nashville for 14 million a year until 2020

[brelic]

Bryz was an average goaltender at best when the flyers signed him. Just because a FOOL decided to pay him 51 million dollars what makes people think he's suddenly going to turn into Marty fricking Brodeur. I think Bryzs agent was a genius as he was able to take a piece of **** and sell it for a kings ransom. As to the 24/7 circus do you really think those guys were acting like they normally do off camera? If you do you are as big of a fool as Homer was when dealing with Winter.

Bryz was way more than an average goaltender when we signed him. He was a Vezina finalist... twice.

If the system in Phoenix made him look better than he really is, the system in Philly made him look worse than he really is.

It doesn't excuse the way they went about it (i.e. creating their own market), the length, or the $$.

[radoran]

Bryz was an average goaltender at best when the flyers signed him. Just because a FOOL decided to pay him 51 million dollars what makes people think he's suddenly going to turn into Marty fricking Brodeur. I think Bryzs agent was a genius as he was able to take a piece of **** and sell it for a kings ransom. As to the 24/7 circus do you really think those guys were acting like they normally do off camera? If you do you are as big of a fool as Homer was when dealing with Winter.

Bryz's agent was a genius? As far as I can tell, his agent had to pick up the phone and agree to Homer's offer.

The whole concept that we need to go out of our way to find things to show what a massively stupid and ridiculous decision the signing was is absurd.

His play is what got him bought out - and rightly so. Nothing else matters.

If he had won a Cup in Philly, it wouldn't matter if Jagr wanted to have lunch with him or if his teammates hated his guts.

He didn't. He's gone. He's not the Flyers' problem anymore.

The people who signed him still are.

[NRH]

Well for 14 years and 30 million I could imagine bryz still playing in Philly or being traded rather than being bought out.