Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Holmgren's Fast Start

Yesterday, Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren got a head start in free agency, when he signed D Kimmo Timonen to a 6 year, 37.8 million dollar contract and winger Scott Hartnell to a 6 year, 25.2 million dollar contract.

Holmgren was able to do this by taking advantage of the Predators’ ownership situation. Fearing the difficulty of bringing back the two players, the Preds opted to send exclusive negotiating rights for them to the Flyers for their own first round pick, originally traded to the Flyers in the Peter Forsberg trade. Holmgren then inked them to the contracts.

Exclusive negotiating rights are pretty interesting. I can’t remember an instance in any other sport where something like this was done. Hell, it’s not even allowed in a lot of video games. A team throws up a white flag and says “Alright, we’re not getting this guy back. Can we salvage anything out of this?” There’s no compensation system in place for lost free agents in the NHL, so this is a wise road to go down for the Predators. Instead of Timonen and Hartnell walking and the Predators being left empty handed, they at least get a first round pick they can use to add some more depth to the organization.

In Timonen, the Flyers get a skilled veteran with great leadership. He’s a 1-2 defenseman, so he’s a huge boost to a defense corps sorely needing it. He was Nashville’s captain last year, and with a vacancy in the role for Philadelphia, he might get the C here as well. In 06-07, he set a career high in points with 55 and tied a career high in goals with 13. He should help bolster a weak powerplay at the point. He’s also a presence defensively, and his skills should mesh well with Derian Hatcher’s. As an added bonus, if he doesn’t get traded, the Flyers are hoping Joni Pitkanen can improve with Timonen’s Finnish influence.

Scott Hartnell’s ability will be a welcome change from some of the Flyers’ offensive possessions last year. He’s a gritty, hard working type with scoring ability. At times last year, more often than not, the Flyers lacked puck possession ability. There was no fore-check, and this lead to a lot of turnovers and a lot of opportunities wasted without shots. Hartnell will bring a physical presence to hopefully the second line that will allow the Flyers to sustain attacks and fire more shots. This will also be a plus on the PP, and he’ll help out on both ends of the ice.

The contracts look big and expensive, and the Flyers are hoping for a couple things. One, the market needs to keep getting bigger and the cap needs to keep getting raised so other players will become paid accordingly. Secondly, they’re hoping Timonen is still a competent player late in his contract. The deal is frontloaded, so if he ever has any problems, it won’t end up hurting the team as much.

Scott Hartnell’s getting paid more than what he should for what he’s done in his career, but he’s still young. He has a lot of room for improvement and by the end of his contract, he should be a better player. If he reaches his potential of being a 30 goal scorer, he’ll earn his money. If he continues to dabble around 20 or becomes a typical checking line player, it’s not going to look as good.

No matter the salaries, you can’t argue with what Holmgren did. He took proactive steps to improve the team. They have nowhere to go but up. With his quick start to the offseason, he’s free to pursue that #1 center the team needs, hopefully Scott Gomez. With the draft on Friday and the real start of free agency not far behind, the Flyers have a great shot at getting back to where all the fans want them to be.

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