Flyers Add Veteran RW Ian Laperriere
by Geoff Detweiler on Jul 1, 2009 5:57 PM EDT
in 2009 Free Agency
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PrintWell... this isn't what was expected. With the loss of Mike Knuble, the Flyers added veteran RW Ian Laperriere for 3 years and $3.5 million, a $1.17 million average. Laperriere is a 17 year vet with over 1,000 games played. He adds depth to the Flyers lineup, as well as veteran leadership and an effective penalty killer. Some quick stats:
| GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | TOI/G | SH/G | Hits | BkS | GvA | TkA | |
| 08/09 Regular Season | 74 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 163 | 13:50 | 2:51 | 103 | 69 | 22 | 49 |
The 6'1" 200 pound winger received a 3-year deal despite being 35 years old. Without seeing Laperriere play, I will base my opinions on the stats. He is a defensive specialist, playing nearly three minutes of short-handed time a game. His 163 penalty minutes are inflated, however, due to 17 majors, 3 misconducts, and 1 game misconduct. He drew 19 minor penalties, one less than Arron Asham and the same as Mike Richards. I am curious what the misconducts are, but in general, he's a disciplined player who drops the gloves. Penalty wise, he had almost identical numbers to Arron Asham, who most people don't see as an undisciplined, lazy player. In terms of hits, he had one less than Scott Hartnell. In terms of blocked shots, he had more than any Flyer forward except Mike Richards. He had exactly as many giveaways as Claude Giroux, and four less than Mike Knuble. He had more takeaways than any Flyer forward except Richards and Jeff Carter, and his turnover differential was almost opposite Joffrey Lupul's (-23). Those are a lot of stats, but mainly he appears to fight like Asham and do the little things as well as anybody we have. He throws his weight around, sacrifices his body constantly, and protects the puck really well.
Most importantly is his penalty killing time. Both Richards and Carter averaged over three minutes of PK time per game. I don't think anyone is under the impression that they can do that and carry the load offensively. Having Laperriere might/could/should take Carter off the PK entirely. Imagine all that can do for our team. Carter averaged 3:03 per game on the PK. Obviously having Carter on the ice for 21 minutes is good for the Flyers, but everyone agrees the team spent too much time killing penalties, and having their best offensive players doing it just compounded the problem. Hopefully, this can allow Richie and Carter to focus more of their energy on scoring.
I will hold out judgment on Laperriere, mainly because I don't think he is Dan Carcillo, Riley Cote, Scott Daniels, or any of those other guys. I think he can be a very important piece on this team. Maybe the Flyers are done after this, but hopefully not. This doesn't solve their face-off problem, which needs to be addressed. The problem with that is the cap space. Manny Malholtra is still available at press time. (Ha!)
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Carcillo’s gonna have a big year. First full year on a good team, and he’s only in his 3rd year. A lot of people give up on Carcillo without even knowing what he can bring.
I agree. Need to give him time. He doesn’t have the scoring touch of Upshall, but he’s not dreadful.
I really hope you guys turn out right about Carcillo…
I nearly had a heart attack when I glanced at Carcillo’s prospect grades the day he came here, since I had never heard of him… Hockey’s future had given him a 4B, which translates to "4 – Top minor league forward / defenseman / goaltender — players unlikely to have long careers in the NHL, but will be recalled when injuries or other circumstances arise. and B – Should reach potential, could drop 1 rating – likely to reach potential, but may have a hole or two in his game that will keep him from reaching his full potential. ". That scared me a lot, so I’d definitely prefer that they were wrong!
by DragonGirl0583 on Jul 1, 2009 10:31 PM EDT up reply actions
“His 163 penalty minutes are inflated, however, due to 17 majors, 3 misconducts, and 1 game misconduct. He drew 19 minor penalties, one less than Arron Asham and the same as Mike Richards. "
Like to see the whiners from the other posts respond to this. That’s gotta be a lot less minors than Knuble, who had 63 PIMs and never fights.
ok I stand corrected…i’ll admit i rushed to conclusions (had a lot to do with the fact that I was angry over Knuble leaving).
I’m going to do a complete 180 and say this is a good pick up. I wanted us to pick up a defensive minded forward and this is exactly that, at a good price too. PK is huge too, now we dont have to constantly where our big guns out on the penalty kill.
Faceoff guy
Laperierre is/was actually decent in the faceoff circle. He’s played center before, and with another good faceoff guy, we could have solved one of the largest problems…next to goaltending.
Deller
I stand by my previous statement
Jibblescribbits is absolutely right...
Hey guys, I’m an Avs fan from over at Mile High Hockey, and let me tell you,. you guys are going to love Lappy. He’s a heart and soul player who will fight anyone. He blocks shots, kills penalties, sticks up for his teammates, and even chips in the occasional goal. He’s going to be a favorite on Broad Street. It sucks to see him go, but I’m glad he’s going to a great hockey town and a team that is a great contender.
by The Extra Attacker on Jul 1, 2009 6:37 PM EDT reply actions
First time poster and must say I am glad I found this blog recently. Finally a good place to talk Flyers hockey.
I am really pleased with this signing because, as many others have stated, this club could use some more veteran leadership and hate to lose attitude. Also, I am a much bigger fan of the traditional 3rd line in that they are good checking/defense/occasional scoring line.
Here’s to hoping, like others are, they can find a good faceoff man for the third line. Someone dependable to take some key draws during the year. Anyone have any idea what types of guys are available still to fill this role?
Faceoff Guy
Manny Malhotra CBL (ranked 4th in league 58%) last season salary – 1.5 million 11G 24A
Sammy Pahlsson CHI (ranked 19th at 54%) last season salary – 1.4 million 7G 11A
others include Saku Koivu (15th), Brandon Dubinsky RFA (19th), and Dominic Moore (14th) but these will all cost way too much as a realistic option.
Carcillo – Pahlsson/Malhotra – Laperriere 3rd grind line is an interesting option all are tough players to play against.
Pahlsson to CBL
Cross off Pahlsson TSN reports he is signing with the Blue Jackets at a heft 2.65 million per year cap hit.
Welcome Aboard
Broad Street Hockey -
Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Jul 1, 2009 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions
intangibles
lappy should provide the defense, energy and leadership that we lacked going into the playoffs last year….thus helping to prevent complete meltdowns during games….the team’s overall attitude has changed quite a bit with lappy and pronger coming in……one more piece to the puzzle (center) and we’re looking great…..
How much, if any, money do we have left (baring a trade of course)?
Malhorta would be nice, but is unrealistic. We might be looking at Powe and Ross as our 3rd and 4th line centers.
we have ~2m left
give or take, given current situation
The solution
Sign Malhotra to 2 Million.
Bid fair adieu to Riley Cote and someone else we don’t need.
Use the extra money to sign Syvret.
Done.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
We don't really need a faceoff specialist
I’d love Malhotra for his defensive talents, but I am unconvinced that FO’s really matter. See my fanpost for more thorough statistical reasoning.
carter and richy won slightly more faceoffs the manny… they matter… especially PP faceoffs won…!!! that separates the winner from the losers… sid was no. 1 in 09
I urge you to read my fanpost
since my response to your response is basically in there. PP faceoffs have slightly more importance than regular FOs, but so do PP giveaway/takeaway ratios.
And on the whole, they don’t matter to the point of a noticeable difference. And Carter/Richards did not have better FO %‘s than Manny, but I’m not sure what your point was there anyway.
If FO win%‘s were indeed what separated winners from losers, Flyers should go ahead and trade Carter/Richards, sign Malhotra/Pahlsson, sign Scott Nichol, and find another guy who only wins FOs, and watch the magic happen. Obviously, they won’t (thankfully), and that’s because for a centerman FOs don’t really matter all that much compared to other skills necessary.
well – they also took about 700 more FOs then your boy- you have a point about turnover ratios and lupul was weak there.
dude, you have to score goals and play defense as well?!?!… my only point about FOs was you need to win them in your offensive zone. carter lost a bunch there…
im just not in the manny parade with you. we already have lappy… we dont need another one. they’re all a bunch of mandervilles to me anyway.
+1
Adding Manny would be redundant right now I think
by AshburnAlley on Jul 2, 2009 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Well then...
As soon as I posted that, I realized that we’d be up against the cap again, AND that the cap is going down next year.
We’ll have to make do with what we have, unless we can make a trade for Mike Zigomanis or some low-rent faceoff specialist like that.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
Rathje..
Every time I see that salary on the spreadsheet I just wanna kill Clarkey.
Lappy on WIP?
Unless I heard incorrectly, Lappy will be on WIP within a few minutes.
If you have a way of recording it, that would be excellent
by Ben Rothenberg on Jul 1, 2009 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Am I the only one who doesn’t have a serious problem with people referring to the Flyers as the Broad Street Bullies again (compared to 07-08/08-09 anyway)? I mean, a negative connotation referring to only dirty hits is one thing, but… I mean… look at our team… Pronger, a ‘clown,’ the projected bottom two lines minus Ross, and a goon with a glove… that’s obviously a pretty drastic oversimplification but if you don’t follow the Flyers and take a look at our roster…
Don’t get me wrong, I like our roster a lot, and if other teams don’t look at us as at least serious contenders, they need new management. But I think that, given our players, Broad Street Bullies is pretty appropriate and we should take more pride in that than maybe we have in the previous years.
I love the title, especially because everybody else thinks it’s negative. There’s nothing more rewarding than winning when everybody hates you.
Broad Street Hockey - SB Nation's Philadelphia Flyers Blog. Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Travis Hughes on Jul 1, 2009 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions
I’ve never had a problem with it, and I’ve always been proud of it. I don’t think the title was ever intended to mean we were unskilled…it started with Clarke’s captaincy, and it’s not like anybody would argue that he had no skills or we weren’t contenders.
by DragonGirl0583 on Jul 1, 2009 10:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Congrats!!
On the great pickup! You guys are gonna love Lappy!! He will be an asset to your team as well as to your town. If you didn’t check out the website the Jibbles attatched above you should. He does wonderful things for his community, is a flat out team player, and will do anything to defend his teammates.
I hate to say it, but I might have to watch some Flyer hockey this year.
It really is ALL ABOUT LAPPY!
I admit I don’t know much about Lappy, but after reading how Avs fans love this guy and are happy for us with the signing (classy too I might add) I have to say I’m rather excited to get this guy and see our new team in action next season. I’m not a big Homer fan, especially after this whole Briere fiasco, but I think he’s made some damn good moves this off season that have only make us better. I wish the season started next week!
Laperriere's Misconducts
One of Laperriere’s misconducts was from a fight with Stortini where both got misconducts (vs. Edmonton, 10/24/08). I don’t know the reason for the second misconduct (vs. NYR, 2/28/09). The last misconduct and the game misconduct were for kicking a broken stick that inadvertently struck the puck (vs. Vancouver, 3/27/09).
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
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