Bright: Free Agent Ville Leino’s Value To Flyers
Ryan Bright
In the face of unrestricted free agency, a player’s on-ice production, both potential and registered, is typically in direct correlation to the dollar amount they make or are set to bring in. In other words, compensation for personal efforts.
Yet, when it comes to UFA to-be Ville Leino and the Flyers, the 27-year old Finnish forward’s production is just one part of the equation. Danny Briere’s production is the other piece.
Wrapping up a two-year, $1.6 million contract that ends officially July 1, Leino will be looking for a substantial raise, likely in the $2-3.5 million per season range.
Leino is coming off a 53-point season and a record-breaking 2009-2010 playoff run. In a salary cap world, you can debate his worth. His European style of game and his chronic hip injuries are red flags on the possibility of overpayment, there is one thing that should be noted — his undoubtedly positive effect on linemate Briere.
His first year with the Flyers aside, where he scored 72 points with 31 goals, Briere was a mild disappointment in his production. His eight-year, $52 million deal was signed with the notion that he would become an annual 70-plus point guy. Instead, the 33-year old scored just 37 combined goals in his next two seasons, his 2008-09 campaign cut short due to injuries.
During the 2009-10 regular season, playing next to center Jeff Carter, Briere scored 26 goals and 27 assists in 75 games. An improvement, but still under performing his $6 million salary. Briere’s contract began to appear more like an albatross than asset.
All that changed when Leino showed up for the 2009-10 postseason.
“I used to have linemates that were guys getting in to bang the body and try to get open,” Briere told the media in Jan., prior to his trip to the 2011 All-Star game. “I’d get the puck and try to create. When I was in Phoenix, I had Shane Doan. In Buffalo, I had J.P. Dumont who was a scorer and Jason Pominville, who was a scorer. When I signed here, I was supposed to play with [Simon] Gagne, who was a scorer, and even last year, when I played on the wing, I played with [Jeff] Carter.
“Ville is the first guy I’ve played with that is more of a playmaker.”
The playmaker made his playoff debut and moved into full-time work with the Flyers in Game 5 of the opening round against the New Jersey Devils. After that, during the 19 games the he and Briere played together on a line with Scott Hartnell and paired on the power play, they were listed together on 10 goals. Briere moved on to score 11 goals and 16 assists during that time and Leino struck for seven goals and 14 assists.
But while playoff production is something Briere has done without Leino in years prior, he carried that success into the 2010-11 season playing aside the puck-possession expert, scoring a career-high 34 goals and adding 34 assists. It was Briere’s best season since his first with the Flyers and he finished the year a remarkable plus-20, while Leino followed suit with a career season of his own.
So in calculating Leino’s value, individual statistics should be taken in stride because in re-signing him, the Flyers are getting him and the best of Briere as well.
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