The other shoe, at least one of them, has just dropped. Minutes after the news that both Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were traded away, it is now being reported on NHL Live that the team has agreed to a nine year, $51 million deal with goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.
The Flyers traded for the rights to negotiate with Bryzgalov two weeks ago and until today, the question was how they would find the cap space to sign him. Obviously that question was answered with the trades of Richards and Carter.
The deal for Bryzgalov is a monster. Funny enough, the reports from the negotiations seemed to suggest that the Flyers wanted a 5 year deal and Bryz wanted 7 years. He gets nine… The deal spreads his cap hit to about $5.67 per, but at this point the breakdown is unknown. At 31, the deal wouldn’t expire until he’s 40. So it remains to be seen whether there’s any real intention of him playing the full deal out.
It’s going to be a new Flyers team anyway you slice it. The new “core” is clearly Bryzgalov, Claude Giroux, James van Reimsdyk and probably Braydon Schenn as well. And certainly, the Flyers feel like they’ve answered their long standing goalie question.