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Ah yes, in the never-ending, quickly gaining momentum Steven Stamkos saga, beat writers Sam Carchidi and Frank Seravalli are going to the mattresses over whose source is right.
Carchidi, a longtime Inquirer reporter who once took on Brett Myers, claims the Flyers will make no attempt at signing Stamkos: [Philly.com]
Forget the reports about Tampa Bay superstar Steven Stamkos becoming a Flyer.
Two sources connected to the Flyers dismissed the rumors on Tuesday.
"Not happening," one club executive said.
"I think we're blockbustered out," said Peter Luukko, another club executive, referring to the bombshell trades that sent Mike Richards to Los Angeles and Jeff Carter to Columbus last week.
Seravalli, the Daily News’ Flyers beat writer and young cub in the pantheon of sports reporting (albeit one who "gets it" and does a good job of separating himself from curmudgeon hockey scriptuals), says the Flyers may submit a ludicrous offer sheet… today. Luda! [Um, also Philly.com]
Sometime today, the Flyers could take a big step in bringing electrifying restricted free-agent forward Steven Stamkos to Philadelphia.
A source close to the situation told the Daily News that the Flyers' brass spent yesterday afternoon crunching numbers and mulling over whether to send an offer sheet to Stamkos' agents.
The offer sheet, which would still allow Tampa Bay first right of refusal, would be expected to be a deal of around 13 or 14 years and north of $100 million, which would put Stamkos on the Flyers' payroll for a manageable cap hit if the Lightning chose to not match the deal.
As you are probably already aware, the Inquirer and Daily News are owned and operated by the same company, Philadelphia Media Network (previously Philadelphia Media Holdings, McClatchy, and Knight Ridder- phew). They share a building, printing facility, advertising staff, and management team. They are reporting completely opposite stories.
Carchidi is convinced that the Flyers will make no attempt at signing Stamkos. He sources Peter Luuko (it's worth noting here that the Flyers lie). Conversely, Seravalli’s sources say that the Flyers are working hard on figuring out a way to offer Stamkos a league-shaking contract. One of those reports is accurate… we'll find out soon which one.
UPDATE: Anthony SanFilippo sheds some more light on the situation, detailing what the Flyers would have to do to get Stamkos.
38 Responses
saw this this morning – glad you caught it as well. Interesting! FWIW – Eskin is with Seravalli (or vice versa) on this. And apparently he was one of the few who thought that Richie was on the block being shopped. Eskin has a good source somewhere (remember Pronger’s injury…?)
completely agree about eskin. he’s been right on with Flyers stuff
it’s “who’s” not whose. As in “who is”. Whose is singular
Say what you want about Eskin but he’s been dead on balls accurate when it comes to the Flyers and he reported on his show yesterday that the Flyers are going to go after Stamkos and pretty much confirmed everything that Frank reported yesterday.
dd- no it’s not.
it’s not “who is more accurate” rather “whose ____ is bigger”
dd we are talking about bringing #91 to philly and all you can think about is grammar? that’s mike piazza territory bro
maybe Eskin is Frank’s souce?
I’m constantly amazed that Howard has a Flyers souce considering he never talks Hockey and seems to dismiss it whenever he has a chance.
Believe it or not Horse he’s actually a big hockey fan. It’s his idiot callers that talk football all them time when nothing is relevant.
If Stamkos comes here, anyone who doesn’t like it should be forced to never be a Flyers fan again. (By the way, yes there are some who said they don’t want it to happen)
Yeah those are the same people still crying that Richards is gone.
Carchidi may be a bigger douche than Tim Pistaschio.
@ mvptommyd, i am kind of torn on it, well kind of like 60-40 in favor of it, i just worry about if tampa gets him an offer sheet and then we sign him above 6.5mill a year, we lose 4 first round picks…. that could be two top lines in a few years…. its just a lot of picks!
who cares about the two top lines in a few years …we want a cup NOW!
@Adam: As Lia said, who cares about 4 1st round picks? We are going for the Cup now and Stamkos is a once in a generation type player. He is also only 21 years old. The Flyers know exactly what they are doing either way. Look at their draft history. When they have a 1st round pick they usually do very well and when they trade their 1st round pick they usually get compensated very well.
Win the cup now! We have plenty of young guys now that we made these trades. Stamkos is only 21. Get it done now.
@Eric… you couldn’t be more wrong. The fans “crying” about Richards being traded are the ones saying they BETTER get Stamkos. That is the only way you justify trading away Richards for a kid who is supposed to turn into… the next Mike Richards. That deal does not make sense UNLESS you are pulling off a MAJOR deal- and Stamkos would qualify.
JT you may be the exception to the rule but I’ve heard otherwise and it’s quite annoying.
@ J.T.: You’re exactly right. There’s gotta be another shoe to drop.
@J.T. Couldn’t have said it better myself. They BETTER do something to replace the production that Richards and Carter brought offensively. Trading talented young players for unproven young “grinders” irks me. The Flyers never learn…
word kyle. wouldnt expect it but eskin is the $ when it comes to the orange.
My fear is the report that Tampa can and will match any offer. Here’s to hoping he pulls a Cliff Lee if the Flyers make him an offer!
Frank Servalli is the best Flyers beat writer. bar none baby
My concern is that if the Flyers make an offersheet that Stamkos signs, then Tampa has seven days to match it. If they wait all seven days and then match, we will most likely miss out on all the top tier free agents including losing Leino.
question for those who know the technicalities of RFAs, if Tampa matches, is Stamkos forced to remain or can he opt to play in Philly?
I kind of get the sense that he might not want to remain with the club. they lack a goalie unless the resign roloson. their back-up is good, but are they really contenders? obviously a lot of talent there but its florida for christs sake. it must be nice living near the beach and all, but when less than 12 people show up to your home games it must wear you down.
Henry, you brought up a good point about the RFA technicalities. From what I read (I just Googled it) it sounds like if an offer sheet is signed by Stamkos, the Lightning can either trade him, accept it, or decline it. If they accept it, he remains in Tampa under the contract details that the Flyers offered him. If they decline, he’s a Flyer under the offer sheet’s terms and Tampa gets four 1st round draft picks. So to me it seems like Tampa controls his destiny if he signs an offer sheet.
There’s no way in hell Tampa is going to settle for 4 first round picks for Stamkos. If the flyers put a “poison pill” in their offer so Tampa cant match you can guarantee they will use all seven of those days to start shopping Stamkos rights. For what its worth I read Tampa wants JVR, schenn, picks, and money for Stamkos.
For the RFA rules if Stamkos accepts the flyers offer sheet and Tampa matches, then Stamkos must accept the contract with Tampa with the same terms the flyers offered. Also if Tampa matches then they will not be allowed to trade Stamkos until next year.
the flyers don’t have to accept any trade tampa is demanding. if stamkos signs the offer sheet, tampa can no longer trade him or have contract talks with him. unless they accept the sheet that he signed, tampa will lose him.
@Jim yes the flyers dont have to accept a trade, but my point is if they really do want Stamkos that bad then they are going to have to swing a trade for him. Its not like Tampa wants to lose Stamkos so they arent going to give him away.
@Declan, Unproven young “grinders”? Where are you getting that information? You don’t use the 5th overall pick (Schenn) or the 7th overall pick (Voracek) on someone who you count on to be a “grinder” in their career. These guys have a lot of upside, and the Flyers would have had too many huge contracts if they signed Bryz and kept Carter and Richards. We got incredible value for some very good players, and now the Flyers are in the Stamkos sweepstakes, which would have been non-exisistent if the “irreplaceable” Mike Richards or Jeff Carter was still on the team. Embrace the future, we have a good young team and if we get Stamkos, we can be a Cup Contender immediately instead of a couple years down the road.
@John, If Stamkos accepts the offer sheet and they don’t match, they get 4 1st round draft picks. They don’t have a choice if they don’t match the offer sheet, but it’s not like he walks away for free.
Thanks Andrew good info. Looking unlikely. But we can certainly hope that it goes down.
Whether they are interested or not, why in the world would a club executive like Luukko say ANYTHING other than they are not interested?? It’s exactly what the Phillies were saying about Lee. No reason to tip your hand. Toronto goes all in on Stamkos and we may be hosed however. Pretty alluring to lead your hometown team and a mecca of hockey to the Cup.
It’s DD whose a rittard, and Kyle, your the man-boy for today.
I’d trust Severalli over Cardishi (They still play that Myers pissing match on Howard Stern’s commercial bumpers), and as much as I find Ekin annoying for his unabashed smugness, he’s had a pretty good track record so far when it comes to scoops on the Flyers.
Nice topic and post, as we were just talking about what things can happen in the medicine industry.
Frank is a FRAUD. Way to make the story about YOU Frankie. So much for the “Offer Sheet” Haha! I think ur silver hair dye is starting to cloud ur judgement!
Damn Iron Balls. That is harsh!
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