Why buy out niskanen he was great this year?

Welcome to CapFriendly! Sometimes it's not so friendly.

There's no need to buy Niskanen out. The ar lots of teams that would be willing to take him off your hands. Eagerly willing.

I think Petro to the Flyers makes a lot of sense - might have to be willing to sell low on JVR or Voracek before it's time to extend Hart/Sanheim but it's a really strong team.

Ghost stocks keep on falling, at some point if that's the price I don't see why a team wouldn't take a swing on him. Also you don't go from 65 points to 23 (Prorated) throughout your prime years for no reasons, wouldn't he be a candidate to the "Change of scenery would help him" theory?

To accommodate Pietro's contract)

Alex Pietrangelo is remaining a Blue, Reportedly he wants 8 x $9.5m to stay in St Louis. There's noway he's taking less to play anywhere's else.

But why buy him out when you can trade him for something of value?

Daggit dude you're taking my job lol

I don't know if that's the price, in this case it was just a cap dump to clear space for Pietro.


That's just my fantasy) I don't think the Flyers can afford this signing long-term.

Like the idea of signing Pietrangelo, but 72M over 8 years is a steep contract to hand out. I think based on how well Niskanen played this past year that it's plausible to see them resign him after 2020-21 if his play was as good 2019-20. He's not as good as Pietrangelo, but given the pay raises to Couturier, Hart, Sanheim, etc. coming up, it may be more beneficial to allocate the cap to them.

Out of respect, so he can sign wherever he wants.

Looking at this roster from an age perspective, I'd be worried if I was a Flyers fan. Its a terrific team for the short term, no doubt, and there are a lot of long term good pieces but the best players on the team are almost all over 30. And many of them still have major term. When they start declining, you'll be San Jose, huge dollars committed to guys getting paid huge contracts for what they used to be able to do.

It is indeed a hefty contract but if you want to lock a number one defenseman you know that's what you need to pay, yes the back end of the contract will suck (36 yo+) but at some point the team needs to make a push. Flyers would be intelligent in doing so, using all their cap space before Sanheim and Hart gets their raise also before your top line start their decline (Age), it's a perfect timing for it to happen.

I disagree. Who do you think their best players are? Couturier, Konecny, Hart, Farabee, Provorov, Sanheim, Myers (and potentially Patrick and Lindblom) are already taking over as key players. None of them are over 30. Adding Pietrangelo while Giroux and Voracek are still impactful would push them over the top. The Sharks don't have anywhere close to the depth in prospects and young players that the Flyers do... not a good comparison IMO.

Can't agree. After this season JVR has only 3 years left, Voracek 4, Giroux 2. Flyers have a lot of young talent coming. Provorov, Sanheim, Myers, York, Zamula, Wylie, Konecny, Frost, Farabee, Patrick, Lindblom, Brink, O'Brien, Hart and many more. Of course not all of them will pan out, but that's pretty darn good depth, plus Couturier is only 27.

The weirdest thing about him is he never seems to be able to put 2 good or bad seasons together. One year he's good, the next awful, then good again. He's just impossible to pin down. Is he good or bad ? Nobody seems quite sure at this point.

Habs pass on down trending Ghostie

Maybe but I still think Giroux is their best player and the other problem is when Voracek, Giroux and Pietrangelo start declining, with their big contracts they will be very hard to move. And those deals will make it hard to keep the young guys in play if they need big raises.

How do you pay for all those guys, when you are still paying the old guys?

For this make sense with the Cap going after Piet for 9M...
You should send to MTL Voracek & Ghost (12M) for Domi (2yx5M)+ Lehko = 5M in savings and you keep Niskanen.
And too much for Myers with 70 g in two years... Qualify offer @ 1,7M

PHI already inked Konecny and Provorov to good long-term deals, and in 2 years Giroux might be replaced (or signed for cheaper). Then JVR's money comes off the books the following year. You may be overestimating just how much cap they'll have going to aging players. In 3 years, Hayes + Voracek + Pietro would take up roughly the same space as (on your fav team) Rielly + Muzzin + Tavares, call it 25-30%. The Leafs will be able to fit those guys in even with the huge payouts they've already given to MMN. Without doing all the math, I'd say the Flyers could do it too. If you want to contend, you should be spending to the cap and getting impact players. When they get old, hopefully there is some silverware to show for it.

That is the appeal for this plan, it would make them contenders for sure. I just don't know for how long. For the comparison to TO, Let's be honest JT, Rielly and Muzzin are significantly better than Hayes, Voracek and Pietrangelo. Voracek already looks like hes declining and Hayes has a crazy contract for what he is capable of. Pietrangelo is also going to be 30 to start this deal and who knows how long he'll be a top end player. Age catches up on people fast. Look at Neal, he was coming off a 30 goal season and now barely looks like an NHLer.

Devil's advocate: Giordano won a Norris at 35 and Giroux scored 102 pts at 30

Your argument/m.o. if you're Philly and you pass on UFAs like Hayes and on Pietrangelo is - pay only for players in their prime, and don't sign anyone over 29 yrs old. It sounds more idealistic than practical IMO. If you've already got Giroux and Voracek on their inevitable descent, and you have a good young supporting cast with affordable cap hits (Coots/Prov/TK) and a stud goalie, what good is it to have huge holes at 2C and 1RD? Fill those holes. Spend to the cap. They can afford it, even if those older guys exit their prime.

What if WSH let Oshie walk, then Carlson walk, then Backstrom walk... their cap situation might look a lot better but their fans sure wouldn't be very excited about it. They'll figure out the cap stuff later. BTW I totally understand where you're coming from re: smart deals and age curves, and I don't think you're wrong by being concerned about Petro's next monster deal or Hayes' money; I'm just trying to show a different perspective.

Its all about timing, and I do get the desire to just go for it and take a risk. There are moments where that makes a lot of sense. I also really think it would be cool for a team to realize the writing is on the wall, they will be declining soon and instead of doing the Red Wing hold on for dear life until you finally fall flat on your face, I'd rather see a scorched earth approach and a faster rebuild.

For example, Imagine if Pittsburgh next year has a slow start and are out of it by Christmas, they could trade Crosby and Malkin for a pile of assets, have a top 5 pick for 2 years and completely replenish their cupboards and possible be right back on top in 5 years? Or they can keep those guys until they retire and watch the team barely make the playoffs and lose in the first round year after year. I am not saying that is what Philly is doing I am just not sure this plan would completely pay off. It could but for some reason this team just doesn't fill me with confidence. Not sure why.