Flyers Dump Richards, Carter To Sign Bryzgalov

To say the Philadelphia Flyers went through a massive overhaul on Thursday would be an understatement. General manager Paul Holmgren was certainly busy just one day ahead of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, dealing away two of his franchise's key players while signing their long-awaited savior in net to a long-term, high money contract.

Former 40-goal scorer Jeff Carter was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for winger Jakub Voracek, a first round draft pick (8th overall) and a third rounder. The Flyers followed this move up by dealing captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for forwards Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds, as well as the Kings' second round selection. With the money saved by dealing those two, Holmgren was able to sign Ilya Bryzgalov - whose rights were acquired by Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago from Phoenix in exchange for a third round pick, Matt Clackson and future considerations - to a whopping nine-year, $51 million contract that will see him donning the black and orange into his 40s.



There are certainly two schools of thought to this for Philadelphia. On the one hand, they were able to develop enough cap space to sign a top-level talent at the position that has been their downfall for numerous seasons. And in dumping salary, they were also able to acquire a good deal of young talent that could surely help the Flyers down the line. On the other hand, the Flyers just dealt away a combined 59 goals and 132 points from last season - not to mention Richards' strong leadership and two-play, as well as Carter's legitimate 40-goal ability.

The big issue at hand for Philadelpia was to gain enough flexibility under the salary cap to sign Bryzgalov. He was reportedly seeking a long-term deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $6-7 million a year. And even with cap going up to around $64 million for the upcoming 2011-12 season, that would still require Holmgren to shed some salary off the team's $59,626,551 payroll. While it was assumed Richards and Carter were made available based upon their contracts - Richards entering the fourth year of a 12-season deal at a $5.75 million annual cap hit and Carter about to start his 11-year extension that would provide a $5,272,727 cap hit annually, it was never figured that Holmgren would actually deal both of his team's 2003 first round draft picks.