Gagne angry Flyers didn't offer him a contract

Left winger Simon Gagne sharply criticized Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren in an interview with LaPresse, saying he was misled about getting a contract.

Gagne, 33, who has said he wanted to finish his career with the Flyers, is an unrestricted free agent who is searching for a team.

"All summer, the Philadelphia Flyers kept hinting that they wanted to offer me a new contract, and I even told Robert Sauve, my agent, not to negotiate with other teams," Gagne told LaPresse, a French-language daily in Montreal. "We trusted them. We put all our eggs in one basket and we got caught. We never thought we'd be stuck in this situation at this time of the year."

Holmgren said he never offered a contract to Gagne.

Gagne said that when he heard Tuesday that the Flyers were offering a tryout contract to winger Dan Cleary, "it was like a slap in the face. I'm disappointed."

Cleary reconsidered the Flyers' invitation and re-signed with Detroit.

"I knew that hockey was a business, but with all the positive discussions we had with Paul Holmgren, I can't believe I'm not back with them," said Gagne, who was drafted by the Flyers in 1998 and spent 10-plus seasons with the organization.

Gagne said that he had trained hard in the summer and that "I've got good hockey to give."

After watching the Flyers' third day of training camp Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center, Holmgren said that he and the team's brass had "discussed" offering Gagne a tryout contract, but that "it didn't work out."

The Flyers could not offer Gagne a regular contract because they don't have cap room.

After the 34-year-old Cleary turned down the Flyers, Holmgren said, he decided to have the young players in the organization battle for a forward opening.