Cap Problems Once Again Forcing Holmgren’s Hand
Well, that didn’t take long.
Painted into the salary cap corner thanks to the eye-opening play of Matt Read and Sean Couturier and the five-game stays-on-the-cap suspension of enforcer Jody Shelley, the Flyers and general manager Paul Holmgren are in a roster jam.
Ratcheted up against the cap wall the Flyers were playing with fire to begin with, even without injuries or suspensions to start the preseason. And even before the season starts with the high salary of Brayden Schenn, the injury to Andreas Nodl and the weighing suspension to Shelley, they are paying for their financial decisions.
With just $175,000 under the cap to start the 2011-12 campaign, the Flyers are able to field a full squad with the solution of placing Ian Laperriere’s $1.16 million on long-term injured reserve and bringing up the impressive Read, who makes $900,000, while also sending Couturier ($1.375 million) back to juniors.
Easy, right? Of course not. The Flyers want to keep Couturier with the big club as long as possible before being forced to move him back to juniors, where he will likely play below his capability.
“The cap number is a little bit of a slippery slope, but the more time Sean stays here, the better it is for him and the Flyers in the long run,” Holmgren said on Wednesday. “He’s forced to play at a high tempo that he wouldn’t get if he was sent back. Getting an opportunity to play with guys who are NHL players on a daily basis, practices with them, working with them in the weight room, all those things are good for him and seeds can be planted on things that need to be worked on.”
In an ideal world, the Flyers would keep Couturier until his allotted 10 NHL games were up — then send the talented first-round pick back to juniors, where he’d come off the books. However, it seems as though Holmgren has developed a love affair with the kid and wants to keep him around, despite the fact that he’s a natural center and the Flyers already have four of those set to make the roster.
But regardless of the positional issues, can the Flyers afford both Schenn’s $3.11 million and Couturier’s contract at the same time? Probably not as the roster now stands — yet, Holmgren doesn’t view that as a problem.
“I don’t that’s out of the question,” Holmgren said. “I don’t think we can assume anything just yet.
“I think they’ve both been very good. We’ve been happy with both their games. They’re kind of different players. I think that Brayden’s got more scoring ability. Sean is more of a well-rounded player, probably looks to pass more than Brayden, but I think highly of them both. I think they’re both good, young players in our organization.”
Being able to use both youngsters poses a financial problem because of the fact that Shelley’s $1.1 million remains on the books through the first five games of the year, forcing the team to replace him on top of his money. The Flyers do have a 13th forward in Nodl, however, the Austrian has missed a majority of the preseason with an undisclosed injury, leaving no insurance.
Another issue is the emergence of Read, who is set to make $900,000. The rookie college signee has been the star of the preseason thus far with the Flyers, but with Couturier in the mix Read is a man without a winger spot.
This leaves Holmgren with a couple cap-friendly options heading into the Oct. 5 roster finalization deadline. One, he hits the regular season with a patchwork lineup featuring Couturier and Schenn, along with a player like Zac Rinaldo manning the fourth line and Nodl with Read, sent to the minors.
The other, is to make a trade. With no knowledge of who or for what, this option makes sense for the Flyers, who have young inexpensive wingers they adore in Read and Couturier and not enough spots or cap room to play them. Holmgren has made moves to gain some cap breathing room before, and it’s likely he’ll have to do it again.
Either way, the always active GM has some lofty decisions to make with his roster and he needs to make them rather soon, so stay tuned.
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