Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard

Salary-cap restraints limit Flyers in free agency

For those expecting general manager Ron Hextall to continue his magic and quickly make the Flyers a contender, well, reality struck when the first day of free agency arrived Wednesday and the team was able to add only a backup goaltender.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall. (David Swanson/Staff Photographer)
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall. (David Swanson/Staff Photographer)Read more

For those expecting general manager Ron Hextall to continue his magic and quickly make the Flyers a contender, well, reality struck when the first day of free agency arrived Wednesday and the team was able to add only a backup goaltender.

In other words, it's going to take Hextall time to climb out of the salary-cap hole he inherited.

The Flyers have about $4.5 million in cap space and still need to re-sign restricted free agent Michael Del Zotto. The Flyers made a $1.3 million qualifying offer to the defenseman, but a much heftier, multiyear deal is being discussed.

Signing a marquee free agent this year "would be crazy, but next summer might even be more crazy because we might have to move one of our good young players just to get under" the cap, Hextall said.

So far, Hextall has tweaked a team that missed the playoffs for the second time in three years and averaged 2.58 goals per game, 21st in the 30-team league.

Up front, the biggest change is the addition of center/winger Sam Gagner, acquired from Arizona on Saturday.

Gagner, 25, has been inconsistent in his eight-year career, but he has lots of potential and is on a one-year pact, meaning he has incentive to have a big season and earn a nice contract.

Oh, he also wants to prove Coyotes general manager Don Maloney wrong. After Maloney dealt the forward to the Flyers, he said, "We didn't think he could play center at the National Hockey League level for us."

Gagner may play right wing with the Flyers.

"We think Sam is a nice fit," Hextall said. ". . . I think in the right situation he can be a productive player for us.  He's a player we were going to try and seek, whether it was through a trade or free agency or whatnot. We did our homework."

Hextall said that he envisioned Gagner, a natural center, playing right wing, but that the decision would be new coach Dave Hakstol's. If Gagner plays right wing, Brayden Schenn is expected to be shifted back to center.

Late last season, Schenn was productive playing right wing on a third line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read.

Gagner has had some defensive shortcomings but is improving in that area, Hextall said, calling it "typical to a lot of young players. I think the defensive side of the game hasn't been a strength, but I know he's gotten better, and I know our coach and the rest of our players are going to demand that from him."

Hextall will try to move a defenseman (Luke Schenn?) to open more cap space and clear a spot in his crowded defense.

"I'm comfortable with our team right now," he said. "If we can upgrade it somehow, we'll look to do it, but we can't be going out and spending a whole bunch of money to upgrade it, otherwise we'll be back in the situation we're in."

Hextall has his eyes on the future, mindful that next year's cap will include a significant raise for star right winger Jake Voracek, who is in the final year of a contract that pays him $4.5 million this season. Negotiations between Hextall and Voracek's agent will soon get underway.

Goalie signed. The Flyers signed journeyman goalie Jason LaBarbera, 35, for the Phantoms. In 187 career games, he has compiled a 2.85 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 11 NHL seasons with six teams.

@BroadStBull