Tell me if you've seen this before…
…in which you take a look at the Flyers four days into free agency, and see that their biggest signing to date is Michael Leighton.
Christ.
After missing out on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to the Minnesota Wild, Matt Carle has pledged his allegiance (get it?!) to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he'll sign a six-year, $33 million deal. At $5.5 million per year, you'll hear many say that Carle was overpaid for his future services, but he was the second-best defenseman in a relatively thin free agent class. This is the kind of shit that happens.
Even with the acquisition of Luke Schenn (and Danny Syvret, if that's worth mentioning… it's not), the loss of Carle really makes things shaky for the Flyers at defense. Kimmo Timonen was absolutely wiped at the end of last season and may not be able to give the minutes he did in the past. Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the Flyers will sign defenseman Bruno Gervais tomorrow, but he only played 50 games last year and doesn't show any signs that he can give the ice time that Carle does.
Some will tell you the Flyers defense isn't so bad, and they're not, but in addition to the changes this offseason, health is an issue. Andrej Meszaros was a big loss in the latter part of last season and the unfortunate situation with Chris Pronger doesn't need any elaboration. His career is probably over.
There is still plenty of time to make moves, but the names the Flyers are connected to include forwards like Anaheim's Bobby Ryan and Columbus's Rick Nash. No defensemen are linked as of this writing.
Carle's signing with the Lightning will begin his second tour with the team. He was dealt from Tampa in the 2008-09 season to the Flyers.
And yes, Shea Weber is a restricted free agent, but Nashville Predators GM David Polie will match any offer sheet for his star defenseman… especially considering that Polie is on suicide watch after Ryan Suter packed up for Minnesota…
…not even Homer, his whiskey, and his shotgun will be able to pull off such a move. But, there's always next year.
27 Responses
Most teams would trade their top 6 for Timonen, Coburn, Meszaros, Grossmann, Schenn, Gustafsson.
carle was horrible during the playoffs!!!
Look, if other teams want to overpay like this, then let them. Sit tight, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we spent a season developing the young guys and then actually enter next offseason with cap room for once. There is nothing special in this year’s FA class anyway, especially not when a turnover machine like Carle commands $5.6m/year. Parise and Suter are really good players, but $98m each for 13 years? No thank you.
carle fuckin sucked dick. he was too tiny to push pple out of the crease and got manhandled in the boards. he was only good controlling the puck in open ice. so glad hes gone
Anyone (Kyle) who is mad about this needs to calm the fuck down and pick a new sport to follow. Making the Flyers better does not mean overpaying (see: Parise, Suter, Carle, Jagr, etc) every summer just because someone is out there. No one that has signed so far, has signed for anything near what they are worth. Keep the money. See if Bryz can carry you, like a $51 million goalie should, and go after Weber at the deadline or next summer. The Flyers are weaker on D but they aren’t screwed. Everyone relax and enjoy the Phillies… HA!
First off, I’m Ryan, not Kyle. I wrote this piece, so maybe you should calm the fuck down, haha. Secondly, I never stated in this article that the Flyers should have signed Carle or paid him the money the Lightning did, so you’re projecting.
I think Bryz will be better next year, but defense is important for a goalie’s success in most cases. The Flyers will be in play for Weber next year regardless. Lastly, if you’ve been paying attention, there isn’t much to enjoy about the Phillies. Hopefully, that’ll change.
Carle was a good player for the Flyers, but he is NOT worth $5.5 million/season.
Wish him well, but glad that we didn’t waste that kind of money on him.
A full season with Grossman and adding Schenn & a healthy Mezaros will be a good D.
Learn to let his quiet, the thinking was down, slowly lowering the desire to things. The self often zero, every day is a new starting point, no age limit, as long as the things you desire the appropriate reduce, will win more chance to win.
Gervais played 71 games in 09-10. Check ya self before ya wreck ya self.
33 mill over 6 years for a human parking cone?
good thing no one is tampa bay cares about hockey or any sport at all really cause they would be pissed.
stop posting his stats and minutes played as if he was a norris contender, what the stats dont show is the amount of terrible turnovers he gave up, usually behind the net too.
time to resign voracek now.
So now that Carle is gone, the plan for defense is…something. Nobody knows for sure, except that it must be “something.”
The $ Carle got in TB is more than he really is worth. Unless the Flyers are chalking up next season as an expected loss already, the plan for defense seems to be pretty malformed. Carle played a lot of minutes per game. So that will be replaced with what? Luke Schenn and its even? Hahaha, ooooook.
Not every defenseman needs to be a lumbering giant whose sole purpose is “clearing the porch.” Some of them need to move the puck, too. Letting Carle go with nothing left in the FA market to fill the vacancy seems kinds of half-assed.
Puber, good lookin’ out. I misread something last night.
Carle = no back bone, turnover prone whenever he was pressured, offensively had no shot (useless for PP), although he logged minutes and was reliable (not very injury prone), he is NO WHERE near worth 5.5M a year. TB will be shopping him next offseason….
I get Holmgren not overpaying like all the other teams (DAL, MIN, TB, CAL) and do not put lack of moves yet against him. Do we really want more bloated contracts on this team with so many young players that will be need/looking for contracts in coming years? I think we need to grab some depth D-men and filter in our young defenders and see what we have.
We have lost more players than we have added thus far but I do not feel we are done dealing, so lets just hold off on the criticisms until off season is over….. just IMO
Actually, all of the free agency has kind of helped the Flyers thus far. NJ loses Parise, Pittsburgh loses Stall (and misses out on both Parise and Suter), and the Caps eventually lose Semin. Oh, and hte Rangers signed Asham! WOW! LOOK OUT!!
If anything, the Western Conference (Minnesota) has bolstered up. Jagr for $4.5 and will be in Dallas? I’m okay with that. Sure, we lose Carle and that may sting somewhat, but at $5.5 I’m okay with letting him move on and have Gus develop into the D man that Homer projects him to be.
We have a ton of space to work with. Re-sign Voracek now and give him at least 3 years. Give Giroux that monster extension now to manage his cap hit. Sign a gritty winger to sit in front of the net (Knuble) and make one final attempt to bring in Ryan (trade Read, Cousins, 2013 1st and a 2014 1st).
Next years free agent class looks a lot more attractive…
good lord all of this commenters are idiots. let’s celebrate our defense getting worse. woohooo.
its a loss. that being said, he played a lot better with pronger. i’m not gonna lose any sleep over this, losing jagr, or losing jvr.
this year’s free agent class was gonna be weak. i hope everyone knew that. make the run for Ryan and if you dont get him, definitely lock up G and Voracek and hope a lot of the kids grow more this year. we have a good core and they should be fun to watch.
You are complaining that the Flyers didnt give 10 mil dollars to Jagr and Carle?? “They havent done anything”… Id rather take my cap space into the season and make a trade in season if somebody is dumping salary.
boom-
What would you have Homer do? Overspend to make the defense marginally better? That would work out realll well.
Hey morons.. do you think Tampa’s GM knows a little more about Carle’s worth than you? Did you miss the news that Carle was playing hurt in the playoffs? Who’s his replacement?
Facts:
– Jagr and Carle received $10 million combined.
– Jagr and Carle combined are a -16 in the playoffs the past two years.
– The Flyers will have the money to sign Shea Weber who is a top 5 defenseman in the league.
I didn’t realize Matt Carle was only a turnover machine in the playoffs when he was hurt… like every other fucking NHLer out there.
Wait. No. He was a turnover machine all the time. Playing with Chris Pronger will make you look a hell of a lot better than you actually are.
Tampa needed a dman. So they overspent to get him. I’m glad the Flyers didn’t.
Timonen, Coburn, Meszaros, Grossmann, Schenn, Gustafsson
That’s a decent defense. Not a “holy fuck holy fuck we need to overpay just so we have SOMEONE” defense.
Thank goodness Carle & the Mole are gone & Luke Schenn is in. That’s what I wanted this offseason. Let the young guys develop. Why trade Brayden Schenn for Bobby Ryan when he could very well be Bobby Ryan in a year.
I would however sign Weber to a 1yr 14mil offer sheet. Nashville couldn’t afford to match, and he’d sign b/c he’ll get a huge 1year raise. I’d give up the four 1’s for the best Dman in the league at only 26 years old.
I am glad to see most on this feed get it – Carle was an absolute liability out there. He tried way too hard to do too much with the puck. Coburn does this every once in a while because he is way better than Carle. TB over paid and over reached for this guy. Good for him to get the money. Better for us. We are (for once) in a better cap position and will be able to make a good run at Weber.
People really overreact about the number of turnovers Matt Carle had, it’s not necessarily the number, it’s the timing of his mistakes. Way too often did a turnover of his directly lead to a goal against. It was unbelievable. I think Tampa overpaid, and he’ll be missed to some extent, but we’re fine without him.
LOL can’t wait to see everyone crying about letting matt carle come april
Bruno Gervais and Ruslan Fedotenko. hahahaha, wtf, really? Pardon me, but that’s just Weird.
I agree with all of the “let’s see where the D stands now with all the changes that were made” and “holy shit, under the cap a bunch for once” comments posted above.
Ice cream machine
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