2011 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason Assessment: Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers most certainly ended their 2010-2011 regular season run on a high note, but fell one place to the second number spot in the Eastern Conference due to a four-game losing streak during the closing games.
Their early exit from the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs, in round-two, was without a doubt an indication that the team needed not only to reorganise themselves, but also make much needed changed to get them back in Stanley Cup contending position
like they were during the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals.
Finishing off with a 47-23-12, 106 point record was all well and good, but being cleanly swept by Boston Bruins, as history repeated itself, was not tolerable at all, for the club, its management and dedicated fans all around the world.
This offseason brought about major changes for the Eastern club, as we saw a blockbuster trade involving their team captain and a high flying shooter. Namely Mike Richards and Jeff Carter faced their sudden departure to different teams, Los Angeles Kings
and Florida Panthers respectively, but according to Philadelphia, it was a much needed trade.
Richards scored 66 points (23 goals, 43 assists) while Carter mimicked with 66 points (36 goals, 30 assists), but it was not enough to keep them with their original draft team.
It was later learnt that the two sharpshooters had been traded for unequal players, like Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds who are both second and third-line forwards, just to clear up salary cap space, in order to make room for a much bigger addition. Superstar
goalie of Phoenix Coyotes, Ilya Bryzgalov, who declined to re-sign with the Arizona team due to salary issues, found an offer he liked with Flyers.
Philadelphia grabbed the veteran, 31-year-old goalie with a huge nine-year, $51 million contract and ensured that they would have a strong defending line-up for next season, a major change from last season as they let in the most goals amongst the top four
teams.
Flyers general manager, Paul Holmgren was nevertheless even more dedicated to revamp the team and found an ample opportunity in signing legendary attacker and former Most Valuable Player (MVP), Jaromir Jagr, who after three-years of having left the NHL,
decided on making a highly anticipated comeback.
Initially, Pittsburgh Penguins, Jagr’s original team, were thought to have secured the veteran 39-year-old, but Philadelphia surprised everyone as they announced his signing onto their club on the first day of July, as soon as the free agency kicked off.
Flyers gained a highly regarded shooter by giving him $3.3 million for one-year with them, which was reported to be $1.3 million more than what Pittsburgh offered. It is believed that both Flyers and Jagr regard this as a test season for the former MVP and
term this as a decision making timeframe for both whether to continue in the future or part ways for good.
Also acquired during the offseason were Brayden Schenn, Maxime Talbot and Andreas Lilja. Players who were either not re-signed or traded were Ville Leino, Nikolay Zherdev, Darroll Powe, Kris Versteeg, Daniel Carcillo, Sean O’Donnell and Brian Boucher.
With a number of valuable additions, Philadelphia Flyers, under the guidance of GM Holmgren, have certainly walked the walk. So many changes in such a limited amount of time are a serious way to express that this team will surely give it their all in the
upcoming season.
Surely, it will be exciting to not only see how the new players adapt and perform to a different environment, but to also observe how the club will do without the players it once had.
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