To talk to Bouwmeester before July 1, Florida Panthers want a draft pick, which would become a 1st...

To talk to Bouwmeester before July 1, Florida Panthers want a draft pick, which would become a 1st rounder if he signs.

- Kevin Allen of USA Today via Twitter via Kukla

almost 3 years ago Travis Hughes 11 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Wait

They don’t want anything concrete unless he signs? I would absolutely do that deal. It’s win-win for the Flyers. Either they sign him (he’s worth more than a 1st), or they fail and keep their first while losing nothing. This cannot be all that FLA wants in exchange for talking rights to Bouwmeester.

by Alon on Jun 22, 2009 8:05 PM EDT reply actions

I interpreted that as you lose a pick either way. If he signs with you its a 1st. If he doesn’t its something else (2nd, 3rd, ect.)

So we’d be losing a lower than 1st pick for nothing at worst, and trading a 1st for Bouwmeester at best.

by FredEx on Jun 22, 2009 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions

yep

that’s how it should be interpreted. Still, a 2nd or 3rd isn’t all that much. Real draft value comes in the 1st.

by Alon on Jun 22, 2009 9:46 PM EDT up reply actions

It sounds like a great deal, and it is — on the surface. But for the Flyers, they really needed a deal that took some serious money off the cap (by that, I mean Joffery). Getting rights to JBO is all well and good, but if we don’t have close to enough cap space to sign him, what’s the point? If Homer has another deal or something in the works somewhere else with a substantial net loss in cap hits, by all means, he should pull the trigger. But that’s a big if.

Unless Florida will take Lupul and his expensive long-term contract for free, but they’re only $2m under the cap and as it stands have 8 UFAs to deal with — of course, they’re guaranteed losing a $4.875m hit from JBO. In any case, Homer made it sound like Joffery was staying with the team in an interview published yesterday ( http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/117/2009/june/21/holmgren-flyers-face-big-decisions.html ), but he’s a sneaky guy.

by Ben Feldman on Jun 22, 2009 8:43 PM EDT reply actions

Right

Yes, trading for Bouwmeester would need to be preceded by a trade of Jones or Lupul or Briere (or some other darkhorse). I would hope it’s Jones out of the three (he’s an okay 3rd pairing d-man, but he’s paid like a 2nd pairing d-man), followed by Briere with Lupul as my least favorite option to trade.

My reasoning (more detailed until I accidentally hit the cancel button like an idiot) is that Lupul has the potential to be just about as good offensively as Briere, at 2/3rds the cost. He’s not there yet, but he probably will be, and thus trading Briere or Jones would be the most “efficient” way (value vs. cap) to clear enough cap to sign Bouwmeester.

by Alon on Jun 22, 2009 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree a 2nd (worst case senario) isn’t a bad price to pay for a potential big pay off.

I also agree with your ranking of those 3, however I’m not sure, Is dumping Jones going to be enough space to get Bouwmeester (and remain at least somewhat flexible to make more moves)?

by FredEx on Jun 22, 2009 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Assuming we resign Niitty for $1.5m (who knows) and knowing that Emery’s hit is $1.5m, with Jones next year’s payroll right now is $52,901,250 and the current cap is $56,700,000 (and is expected to either stay the same or go down a bit for 09-10).

Jones’ hit is $2.75m, so without him, the Flyers stand at $50,151,250. That is in all likelihood not going to be enough to get JBO, let alone have any space at all. Bouwmeester’s hit in Florida was $4.875m, and many analysts expect him to get a long term contract between $6-8m (almost certainly on the higher end of that range). Panotch seems to agree, saying the Flyers will need to clear no less than $5m in cap to have a chance at him.

Lupul’s a $4.25m hit and Briere’s a $6.5m hit, so if we can somehow dump Jones and trade Lupul or Briere, we should be in good shape to get JBO. No one wants Briere’s contract, though, and nor do they want his injuries. Lupul also has an above-average contract for a player like him (though Homer thinks his streakiness is due to personal regiment — or lack thereof — and that he can be a 40 goal/year scorer, so he’s going to stay on top of Lupul all this season).

Here’s the interesting thing, though - Panotch says there’s interest more interest in Gagne than Briere, and he thinks Knuble’s not going to be resigned. Knuble’s got a $2.8m hit, so losing Knuble while keeping Jones, while far from optimal for the team, is virtually the same thing for the salary cap. Gagne’s got a $5.25m hit and has a NTC, but there have been rumors that he’d waive it to go to Montreal. While it would be very sad to see Gagne go, especially after the incredible recovery he’s made, all the time he’s spent here as the longest-tenured Flyer on the roster, and all the huge goals … it might happen if Homer can get the right people (both skill and cap-wise) from the Habs.

I think the Flyers’ ‘Magic Number’ is around $47,500,000 with a $1.5m backup goalie already included. If we can somehow get to that figure, we are in good shape to both sign one Jay Bouwmeester, and have some actual breathing room should a need occur.

by Ben Feldman on Jun 22, 2009 11:20 PM EDT up reply actions

The strikethrough wasn’t intentional. Guess all those dashes have finally caught up to me (sorta).

by Ben Feldman on Jun 22, 2009 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks a lot. I didn’t think Jones was enough, but was curious after Alon’s comment, and was far too lazy to do any research.

It would be sad to see Gagne go. He’s getting up there in years and had one to many concussions, and is getting paid a lot, but is still a great two way player. Actually considering age, injury history, and salary I might not be quite as upset as I initially thought.

Still, I like our D enough to not want that to happen, unless Carey Price is involved (let me dream). Komisarek is good, but not worth it for Gagne (not to mention the added cap space is probably going to pay Bouwmeester if this were to happen) I guess if Briere is unmovable and they really, really want Bouwmeester it could happen.

by FredEx on Jun 22, 2009 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually Gagne’s only 29. He’s been with the Flyers for so long, and certainly doesn’t look it, most people assume he’s getting up there in age (unless you consider 29 up there?). I agree he has had one too many concussions, but given the extent of his problems, he’s made what I imagine is one of the best comebacks in modern NHL history. If they can, I’d like to see the Flyers hold onto him for the rest of his career. But that’s a whole different subject.

by Ben Feldman on Jun 23, 2009 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions

NHLnumbers.com

Here is a great site www.nhlnumbers.com to check for cap info in the NHL your cap hit is your average salary this is not the NFL where you can front load a contract and have it only count heavy one year and not the other. Right now we have slight over 7million without Knuble and a backup if we trade Lopul that give us 11.3 million to work with to sign JBo, Knuble a backup (Esche at 875,000??) and hopefully a skilled 3rd line vet who can kill penalties and take faceoffs.

by chrislanci on Jun 24, 2009 12:01 PM EDT reply actions