Paul Holmgren, citing physical and emotional burnout after the arduous run to the Stanley Cup Finals has decided to take the summer off and has appointed me as the surrogate GM for the Flyers until he's able to resume his duties. He's given me free reign to reshape this team as I see fit, and my first order of business is the upcoming draft. I've decided that that chore will be delegated to MarioD, since he's the smartest hockey guy on this site, with the exception of yours truly. Since we have no picks until the 4th round, he'll have plenty of time to buy some darts to throw at the board of available players to make our picks. I will be attempting to enhance his chances by shopping Carter, Coburn and Parent at the draft to see if we can recoup some additional picks. Until that clarifies, I'll be acting as though those players will be with us next year.

My first order of business will be addressing the impending free agents as of July 1:

Available UFAs: F Arron Asham, F Ryan Dingle, F Krys Kolanos, F Mika Pyorala, F Jared Ross, F Jason Ward, D Sean Curry, D Lukas Krajicek, D Joey Mormina, D Mike Rathje, D Danny Syvret, G Sebastien Caron, G Ray Emery, G Michael Leighton

Of the UFA's, I'm going to try and re-sign Mika Pyorala and Jared Ross to two-way contracts with the expectation that they will start the year at Adirondack, and I do want to re-sign Lukas Krajicek if we can reach agreement on a minimal raise. The rest of the UFA's will be looking for work elsewhere. I know this includes Asham and Leighton, but we have to move on.

Available RFAs: F Josh Beaulieu, F Rob Bellamy, F Daniel Carcillo, F Matt Clackson, F David Laliberte, F Jonathan Matsumoto, F Darroll Powe, D Braydon Coburn, D Ryan Parent, G Jeremy Duchesne, G Michael Teslak

Of the RFA"s, Carcillo, LaLiberte, Powe, Coburn and Parent will be tendered qualifying offers, the rest will be looking for jobs elsewhere. I would like to get Carcillo and Coburn signed to 2 year contracts at reasonable raises. Parent I'd sign to a two-way deal for two years and LaLiberte and Powe I'd sign to a two-way deals, preferably for a year.

The next task will be to sort out the situation in goal. As I see it at the moment, Johan Backlund is the starter for the 2010 - 2011 Flyers. His numbers with the Phantoms were good for a player on a mediocre team and playing his first year of the North American game. Boucher would be the backup. My one concern is that I keep hearing that Backlund MIGHT need surgery to correct the issues causing his groin problems. If that is the case, or even if it isn't, get the surgery now, and don't wait for this to become a reoccurring problem in October or November.

I keep asking Paul if we have indeed signed Sergei Bobrovsky from the KHL and he keeps muttering something that sounds like we have, but I can't be sure. If we indeed have signed him, I want him over here to start for the Phantoms with Brian Stewart backing up.

Well, that pretty much takes care of my first day as surrogate GM. I think I'll take the rest of the day off and go play golf. I'll be back soon with my thoughts s to how the defense will look next year.

Does anyone know when the Penguin's tee times are?