Quote:
Originally Posted by BringBackStevens
Its unfortunate that bryz's inability to live up to expectations is going to lead to the inevitable destruction of what looks like a great young core
Holmgren dug his own grave though. Even if bryz was posting a .920 that contract would still be abysmal.
I wish he had the slather ability to get rid of these awful contracts without gutting the team but I don't see it
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Don't sell Homer short. If Sather could pull off that kind of magic, he can too. Look what Homer did this past offseason. I think he could swindle -- no, entice -- Howson into taking the Bryzgalov contract, it just is going to cost one of Couturier or Schenn to make it happen. That's the price the Flyers will have to pay for digging their grave here. Bryz is better off playing in a less visible market where there's no pressure. I firmly believe that. If the Flyers honestly feel they made a mistake -- which they did -- and are willing to bite the situation in the ass before it has a chance to get even worse, they need to do everything possible to make Bryzgalov part of any deal for Rick Nash. As I've thought about it more and more, I realize that I'd love to get to Nash Philadelphia. I think he'd have a Voracek-like career renaissance here, but way better and more impactful. Making that move while unloading Bryz and his contract would be in the best long-term interests of the franchise. As for the NMC, who's to say Bryz wouldn't definitely wouldn't be open to waive it to go somewhere else where he can just focus on playing hockey and being his regular, carefree self? Maybe it'd be a breath of fresh air for him, instead of being hailed as the franchise savior. Bryz could go back to a place where he won't be so virulently "scapegoated" by fans who expect their goalie to be competent, especially when said goalie is being paid as one of the game's best players. Maybe that's what he needs to flourish -- an environment like he had in Phoenix. Besides, Bryz will still make his money, which is really the number one thing he wanted this past offseason (we all saw the reports both before and during his negotiations with the Flyers that he wanted to be paid as one of the top
players in the league, not just goalies). I'm just spitballing here, but I'm willing to talk myself into believing this isn't necessarily as crazy as it all sounds.
Bear with me here, as I normally don't go for the trade proposal nonsense. But I'm going to give it a shot with this ridiculous blockbuster. Go big or go home, right?
Ilya Bryzgalov ($5.666667M cap hit through 2019-2020)
James van Riemsdyk ($1.654166M; $4.25M starting in '12-13 and running through '17-18)
Braydon Coburn ($4.5M through '15-16)
OR Andrej Meszaros ($4M through '13-14)
Brayden Schenn ($3.11M through '13-14)
OR Sean Couturier ($1.375M through '13-14)
for
Rick Nash ($7.8M through '17-18)
Steve Mason ($2.9M through '12-13)
Grant Clitsome ($1.25M through '12-13)
That's $11.95M in salary going to the Flyers, and going to the Blue Jackets will be...
a) $14.931M if the deal is Bryzgalov, JVR, Coburn, and Schenn
b) $13.196M if the deal is Bryzgalov, JVR, Coburn, and Couturier
c) $14.431M if the deal is Bryzgalov, JVR, Meszaros, and Schenn
d) $12.696M if the deal is Bryzgalov, JVR, Meszaros, and Couturier
Columbus can absorb those figures, and I have a feeling Scott Howson would push for option "d" the most. Trust me, it'd ****ing rip my heart out if the Flyers trade Couturier (I'd be more comfortable if Schenn is the one who goes), but I could live with it in this kind of scenario. That package is a spicy ****ing meatball, but it's the price of doing business when you paint yourself into a corner with an awful free agent signing. I swallow hard and say yes to the offer. ****, I'd even add in Marc-Andre Bourdon ($0.875M through end of season, then RFA)
OR Erik Gustafsson ($0.900M through '12-13) if the Jackets want either and have the available cap space.
(Perhaps it would also appeal to Columbus that Bryzgalov, even though his cap hit remains the same the entire length of the contract, is coming in with just $41 million real dollars left owed over the next eight years?)
For the Flyers, they add a superstar talent in his prime (turns 28 in June) to go with Claude Giroux as a franchise centerpiece. Imagine what G could do for Nash in light of what he's done for Hartnell. Imagine those two on a line. Are you not drooling? The Flyers could go with the Sergei Bobrovsky-Steve Mason tandem and then reassess the goalie situation going forward because both will be free agents after next season. It can't possibly be worse than anything we've already been subject to in this city.
So, can I play GM? Pretty please?
Nash-Giroux-Jagr
Hartnell-Read-Briere (Read can play center, and I don't want Briere there anymore)
Voracek-Schenn-Simmonds
Rinaldo-Talbot-Wellwood
Shelley
Timonen-Coburn
Carle-Kubina
Clitsome-Grossman
Lilja
Bobrovsky
Mason
I could dig it. Plus, there's a lot of flexibility in the form of cap relief on the horizon with Carle, Kubina, and Grossman becoming free agents in the offseason (to go along with Jagr). Voracek will be a RFA. Both Bobrovsky and Mason can finish out the string this season (and hopefully into the playoffs), each getting the opportunity to prove they can be the goalie of the future for the Flyers before the organization decides if it needs to look elsewhere for the next possible franchise goalie. Bob is in just his second year in North America, and Mason won the Calder Trophy in 2008 but has struggled mightily the past three seasons. Perhaps a change of scenery is precisely what he sorely needs as well -- specifically, to go from Columbus to Philadelphia. Mason's days as a Blue Jackets are likely numbered anyway, especially now that he's supposedly running afoul of Todd Richards.
Anywho... flame away.
