Will Jagr, Carle return?
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Will Jagr, Carle return?
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Now that their season is over, where do the Flyers go from here?
Well, one of the first things on general manager Paul Holmgren’s agenda is trying to resign defenseman Matt Carle ($3.4 million cap hit this year) and right winger Jaromir Jagr ($3.3 million), a pair of potential unrestricted free agents. The Flyers would like to sign both players, a source said.
The Flyers have $61.2 million committed to next year. If Chris Pronger is on the long-term injured reserve list again next season, the Flyers will get $4.9 million of cap relief.
That would mean they would have about $56.2 million committed to 2012-13 salaries. The current cap is $64.3 million, but it is expected to rise to around $69 million.
So the Flyers would have about $13 million of cap room, and that number will drop when they sign restricted free agents Jakub Voracek and Marc-Andre Bourdon.
They could free more room by dealing winger James van Riemsdyk ($4.25 million), and, remember, Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter, a potential UFA who figures to get a big raise from his $3.5 million salary, is on the Flyers’ radar.
The 40-year-old Jagr, who scored just one goal in 11 playoff games _ none against the Devils _ said he didn’t know what would happen in the off-season.
“I have to say, thanks for the support from the fans,” he said. “I love everyone on this team. That was probably the most enjoyable year I’ve ever had. I’ve won some Cups, I’ve won some trophies, but I loved this year. From the organization to the last player on the team, and the fans, they were so nice to me.
“I hate to finish it right now; that’s the worst feeling. You finish the whole story, the whole year, that’s a sad day today for me…I wanna cry right now.”
Breakaways. Claude Giroux said overconfidence played a role in the series loss the Devils. “I think we thought we were going to walk over New Jersey,” he said…..In the last two games, the Flyers had a total of 34 giveaways while the Devils had 11…..It marked just the 11th time (out of 96 playoff series) that the Flyers had lost four straight in the post-season.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Comment removed.
Jaromir is very likable, but he really didn't do much in the playoffs and he missed so many regular season games with injuries that he has to take a cut to come back. Carle constantly turns the puck over, glides in his own end, finds himself way out of position and is too small to play with any kind of physical presence.- i think you have to look at the sucess of the first line this year and give jags a little more credit. Yes, he had a bad 2nd series, but so did every forward. I think Carle will garner a bid deal in FA and it will be a no brainer for the Flyers to let him go. I wouldnt change much w/ the exception of adding versatile D men and a cheap grinder who can win battles on the boards. I like the way this team is constituted. Need a few tweaks.
You know what you have in Bryz. You know what you need to make him effective....big physical D-men. You need at least 1 for every d-pairing.— fuss77- Precisely. This is shown by the effect a healthy Nick Grossmann had on Bryzgalov's performance.
— icarus - Please, no more Carle. Whatever offense he provides is more than offset by his shoddy D.— scribbles
- I agree with you 10,000%. He was brutal. The passing in this past series was brutal. But Carle took the cake. — Jayjjay
- Unless Jager wants to play on the cheap. They do need to upgrade the D. There is no way Timmo, Carle, and Gus can make up half of your D based on size alone. They should also look into luring Sean Burke away from Pheonix to be the goalie coach here. Bryz was obviously better last yar and look at Mike Smith this year.— chham57
- Look at Mike Smith last year.....he took Tampa to the conference final. He is that good! — kozykoz26
- You may want to go back and look. It wasn't Mike Smith that took Tampa to the conference finals. — Bundini25
- Who was it? They have the same key players still there. — kozykoz26
- I believe you meant to say...Look at Mike Smith, he was waived through the entire NHL without being claimed, then was signed as a free agent by a team with a commitment to defensive hockey. His numbers then became similar to Bryzgalov's when he played behind the exact same team, that committed to protecting the goalie. — Hexy4GM
- Carle was one of the few Dmen that could actually get the puck out of the zone this series. I would definetly keep him but Jagr is useless in playoff hockey when the other team doesnt let you freelance.— glide22pops
- Carle is a turnover machine! There is no way we should give him a deal. Let him go, and spend the money on someone who plays actual defense. — kozykoz26
- turnovers by defensemen is a stupid stat. Generally those turnovers are caused by the forwards being on the wrong side of the puck and not offering support. This Flyers team, used the stretch pass far too often, and all New Jersey did was force the dman to his backhand, funnel the puck to the middle, and clog the passing lanes. The Flyers wingers were behind (wrong side of the puck) the Devils wingers, and therefore caused a lot of neutral zone turnovers. — Hexy4GM
