Poll: Who should the Flyers exercise their compliance buyouts on?

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Posted on at 3:00 pm

As part of the tentatively agreed to CBA agreement between the NHL and NHLPA each team has two compliance buyouts they can use over the next two summers. Compliance buyouts would not impact the team’s salary cap.

I’ve included the obvious candidates as well as, for the sake of being thorough, the other long-term contracts on the roster.

*One thing to note, currently, like in the expired CBA, teams cannot buy out injured players. That could throw a wrench in any plans for the Flyers to buy out Chris Pronger.

Feel free to explain your reasoning in the comments!

Who should the Flyers exercise their compliance buyouts on?

View Results

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  • http://www.facebook.com/caseylumbra Casey Lumbra

    I know it was only one season but the Bryz experiment has failed. Not only was last season fluky but even over seas the craziness has followed. Too much baggage for him to focus on Flyers hockey whether it is entertaining or not.

    • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

      Even ignoring his play, financially it’s almost a complete necessity.

  • M.C. Philly

    The most obvious choices are Bryz & Danny B. I can’t argue with Bryz going. Too odd. Too inconsistent. Too much cash. Too many years. Unless he plays lights out & Flyers make 3rd round I say he’s out.

    Briere on the other hand, I’d keep – for. Few reasons. You know what you’re getting. His offense & postseason alone speak for themselves. I know his contract is heavy but if Bryz is bought out, the odds of cap increasing over the next few years, & the fact his last year would be the only year overlapping with the likely Giroux, Couturier, & B Schenn extensions – I think you can take the risk & keep him.

    My other choice for buy out would be Grossmann. Now I know Flyers aren’t crazy deep on De at the moment & Timmonen’s uncertainty at the end of this season makes things even tougher. But Grossmann has a number of years at above 3.5M. That’s quite a chunk of change for a De man that isn’t THAT dependable & already has had a number of injuries.

    • http://www.facebook.com/carl.swartz.351 Carl Swartz

      I thought Grossmann was way more consistant then Coburn and Coburn is making 4.5 million over the same period of time. I would rather see Coburn bought out over Grossmann. Coburn can play really well, but then at other times look like a turnstile.

  • Parker

    I don’t think we have anyone we should buyout at this point. Briere could easily be traded. And even if we have to pay a bulk of his existing contract, that’s still cheaper than the buyout option. And while Bryz woul be a viable candidate, we are no longer deep in goal since Bob was traded so the buyout leaves us cap room without an immediate replacement. Even the thought of purging Simmers or Scotty is ludacris given how well they played last year. The buyout makes sense for teams out of playoff contention – not the Flyers at the start of the season.

  • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

    I added a nobody section…sorry, should have thought to do that from the get go.

  • http://twitter.com/joshuadkuhn Joshwa Kwanzaa

    If they can do it over the next two summers and aren’t really capped-strapped, why not see what they have this season and then decide next? The Flyers, like the Eagles, tend to overreact all the time, which is why they’re in the situation with Bryz, Briere, Pronger, etc. Why not do something measured and reasonable for a change? Plus, next year’s FA/RFA class is MUCH better than what’s there now anyway.

    • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

      Well they can’t actually exercise them UNTIL the summer anyway. So we will have a chance to see who performs and who doesn’t.

  • http://www.facebook.com/iamhouli Sean Houlihan

    Bryz’s contract alone makes the obvious choice, especially considering the contract Vokoun has now as a backup in Pitt (see 2012 stat comparison – minus win %). That contract was absurd when the flyers signed it. I think the remainder of the contracts are OK for the lengths still against the flyers cap. Timonen’s is also up at the end of the year, and there really are no replacements available at that caliber. I am not sure what the new CBA has to say at this time around the over 35 retirement caps/etc that would affect Pronger/if he or the NHL can force a retirement rather than 4+ years on LTIR. If that becomes a risk – I say use the extra buyout on him.

    • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

      Unfortunately they can’t use the compliance buyout on Pronger. I wish they could.

      • http://www.facebook.com/iamhouli Sean Houlihan

        Thanks for the heads up…wasn’t sure how that piece of the CBA worked…LTIR it is!

      • http://www.facebook.com/iamhouli Sean Houlihan

        Also…I can probably look this up, but this might be easier…Any idea on if the new CBA still has the issue with the Flyers having to pay Richie’s/Carter’s contract (salary cap implications) if they retire early? If teams don’t buy out players now, they should be able to allocate a predetermined amount of future cash (remaining salary amount by years) to be able to “buy out” these players if that scenario arises….just my .02 dollars.

        • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

          Yea that part is now official. So Richards, Carter, and JVR could hit our cap if they were to retire early.

          • http://www.facebook.com/WillNeverMarry Chris Striegel

            not an issue, actually. Carter and JVR’s new frontloaded contracts didn’t kick in til after they were traded. The Flyers would be liable for Richards should he retire early, but after all the math under the new rule, only for $150,000. Depending on how many years early he were to retire, the Flyers would be penalized the $150k in one season, or over how ever many years left he had on his contract at the time of retiring. Either way, that’s basically peanuts.

          • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

            Yea, I made that comment before the details of the Luongo rule came out. Once they did, I wrote the piece which detailed the $150k. Good for the Flyers!

            Although now, it doesn’t even appear Richards will hit the Flyers for that amount, since it came out that contracts traded prior to this CBA will not apply.

  • http://www.facebook.com/carl.swartz.351 Carl Swartz

    The smartest thing to do would be to buyout Bryz and Hartnell. Bryz for the obvious and Hartnell because at 31, I think that 5 more years after this year with a 4.75 million cap hit, is way too much for a “good” player that will be in decline after about two more years. Then I would try to trade Briere. Briere’s contract would be very attractive to cheap teams that are just trying to stay over the cap floor like the Ottawa Senators. While Briere’s cap hit in the last two seasons of his contract will remain at 6.5 million, his actual salary for those years is only 3 million 2013/2014 and 2 million 2014/2015. Now Briere has a NMC in his contract, so you would have to get him to agree to it. At his age though, he may be willing to go back home to the Ottawa area and play for the Senators to close out his contract.

  • bobblehead

    briere’s cap hit is $4.5 million more than he’ll be getting paid for each of the next two seasons ($3m for 2013 and $2m for 2014). they could talk to his agent after the playoffs and agree to a new contract to sign after a buyout of $3m. the new contract could be for two years at $1m/year with an NTC, or Holmgren could even throw him an extra $250,000 for being a nice guy. Seems like everybody would be on board for this. Briere gets paid the same or more and gets to have an extra $4.5m player on his team to help him win a cup. If I were Briere’s agent, I’d be calling Holmgren as well as another player I represent that’s worth $4.5m. :)

    • bobblehead

      also, in terms of all of this bryz hype, it would be a pretty big deal for a business to spend $23m on getting rid of a player, especially when that business would likely have to replace that player with a contract of a similar cap hit. could you imagine telling your boss that you’d like to fix a mistake you made but it will necessitate increasing your department’s budget by 30%? would you expect to still have a job after that? i really don’t see a buyout for bryz without a resignation or a pink slip for holmgren. and for the record i, i doubt that will happen nor do i think it should.

    • http://www.flyersfaithful.com/ Kevin Christmann

      Unfortunately, you can’t re-sign a player that you use your compliance buyout on…otherwise, I’d think that would be a real option.