The Hockey News: Rumor Roundup: Rumor Roundup: Stars, Flyers face uncertain summer

Rumor Roundup: Stars, Flyers face uncertain summer

Mike Modano will likely return for his 18th NHL season in 2008-09. (Photo by: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Lyle Richardson
2008-05-26 13:30:51

For the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars, the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs were a success. The Flyers were only one season removed from missing the post-season, while it had been three seasons since the Stars advanced past the first round.

By advancing to the conference final both clubs now face heightened expectations from their fans to follow up on this year’s success.

The Stars have wasted little time in their preparations for next season, re-signing co-GMs Brett Hull and Les Jackson and head coach Dave Tippett to three-year contract extensions.

Long-time Stars forward Mike Modano said he’ll return next season, but the futures of several of his teammates remain uncertain.

Veterans Stu Barnes and Mattias Norstrom are slated to become unrestricted free agents this summer and may also be considering retirement. Should they both opt to return, the Stars could place more emphasis on re-signing Norstrom.

Other potential UFAs include forwards Niklas Hagman, Antti Miettinen, Toby Petersen and Brad Winchester and backup goalie Johan Holmqvist.

The most likely to be retained are Petersen and Holmqvist. Hagman and Miettinen struggled offensively in the post-season, which could factor into any potential decision by management to re-sign them.

With just over $43 million committed to payroll next season the Stars have the cap space to re-sign restricted free agents Loui Eriksson and Trevor Daley to affordable new contracts and still have enough to retain their key UFAs and perhaps add scoring depth via the unrestricted free agent market.

The Flyers, on the other hand, face more difficult decisions.

GM Paul Holmgren would like to re-sign restricted free agents Jeff Carter, R.J. Umberger and Randy Jones, but with over $47 million already committed to next year’s payroll, Holmgren probably won’t have enough cap space to retain the three even though the upper limit is expected to rise to around $56 million next season.

Holmgren also has to consider whether to retain any of his unrestricted free agents. Vaclav Prospal, Jason Smith, Jaroslav Modry and Jim Dowd fall into that category and if speculation in the Philadelphia media is anything to go by, Holmgren will cut those players loose and focus on re-signing his younger talent.

But not retaining his impending UFAs won’t solve Holmgren’s cap problem; he’s going to have to consider other options.

He could get $3.5 million freed up for next season if veteran blueliner Derian Hatcher retires, but that’s not a guarantee as Hatcher has stated he wants to return and play out the final season of his contract.

Another possibility is if forward Simon Gagne is still hampered by post-concussion symptoms that sidelined him for most of this season. If Gagne has to stay on long-term injury status throughout next season it’ll free up $5.25 million, but recent reports suggest he could be returning to the Flyers lineup next season.

Holmgren could dump some salary via trades, which would give him cap space for Carter, Umberger and Jones, but he also has to address his blueline’s lack of mobility. After re-signing his key RFAs there likely won’t be enough cap space left to get a puck-moving defenseman on the free agent market, though.

What he could do is trade one or two forwards in cost-cutting deals to free up salary so he can re-sign his key players and perhaps shop another forward for a mobile defenseman.

Potential trade bait includes Mike Knuble, Joffrey Lupul or Scottie Upshall, although at nearly $7 million in combined salaries, there still won’t be enough cap space to fully address all Holmgren’s needs, unless Hatcher’s salary can also be taken out of the equation.

Since taking over as the Flyers’ GM early last season Holmgren has earned justifiable praise for his wise moves that turned the Flyers from an also-ran into a conference finalist within a year. However, the decisions he’ll face this summer will be the biggest test of his management skills to date.

Rumor Roundup appears Mondays only on thehockeynews.com. Lyle Richardson has been an NHL commentator since 1998 on his website, spectorshockey.net, and is a contributing writer for Foxsports.com and Eishockey Magazine.

COMMENTS (10)

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Nick D Posted
(2009-04-30 06:29:28)

As much as most of the Flyer fans or fans in general on here hated downie, I love him! If he stayed on his feet and used a little more shoulder, the hit on MacCommd is clean. This guy has talent and we all know it (those who watch any Junoir hockey of coruse) The flyers will and are dominate face it next year is almost a certianty for the cup finals.

greg thompson Posted
(2009-04-30 06:22:18)

downie is racist moron. last guy on want on my team. he is accident waiting to happen. if you watch him. he has learned nothing from mccammond hit. If anything he thinks it is acceptable.he is going to kill someone sadly probably someone else. as a proud canadian I hope jack johnson evens the score for what the fool downie did in world juniors. I was ashamed to be candian watching the moron downie fake his injury I would take a try for knuble underrated guy who keeps putting up numbers. salary not a crazy number to take a chance on him. upshall just energy guy. lupul streak player who comes from rich albertan family. not willing to do hard work. modano seems to have accepted like yzerman did if you want to play accept smaller role. wonder if brett hull who always attacked others for playing boring hockey. will make his team the most boring team in league more exciting. or now that he is in management it is just about winning.

Cheesteak with... Posted
(2009-04-30 06:22:10)

Downie is a "quality" up and comer for the Flyers? I'm not so sure about that given the high profile and absolutely horrible turnovers he treated the Penguins to during the semifinal. I don't think he's a clutch guy at the NHL level for sure. That stuff was beer league quality.

judy bermudez Posted
(2009-04-30 06:22:06)

Modano has had a great career but maybe he needs to retire. After hitting his mark last season, he seemed to slow way down. The Stars need to look for some new blood and possibly a different back up goal tender. They made the right decision resigning Hully and Tippett.

Ron Posted
(2009-04-30 06:21:58)

Scott makes some good points about some defensemen to bring in, (I also think Liles would be a good fit in Philly). I also think fellow Avs D-man Jeff Finger is a good option at a lower price than Liles. There have been rumors about bringing in Ryan Suter from Nashville in a trade. Unlike Liles though, Finger and Suter play on the PK so that helps out at other areas. The Sharks Ehrhoff is a 4th option that I think could do well in Philly. Thoresen, Potulny and Ruzicka are listed as RFAs on one of the sites I found. So unless they take league minimum contracts and feel like playing with the Phantoms again (except Thoresen) those players will be gone. Kukkonen is still under contract for another season so that is one less thing for Holmgren to worry about until next off-season. All these other plans hinge on what is going to happen with the health of Hatch and Gagne.

Scott Posted
(2009-04-30 06:21:52)

Let's get serious here. The Flyers are not going to move Gagne or let go of Carter. Holmgren will allow the UFAs to walk and probably RFA Lasse Kukkonen too. He'll give Carter a deal for 3-5 years at a reasonable cost with the promise of more if he continues to elevate his game. Umberger will probably be earning around 2.5M for a few years and Jones they should go year to year with for a while because you never really know how a Dman will turn out. As for the Forwards, the guys who should be on the potential block are Lupul and Hartnell. I like the way these guys play, but they both make too much to justify their numbers, especially Hartnell. Not only that, but it's not as if they Flyers don't have more up and coming Forwards (Claude Giroux, Ryan Potulny, Steve Downie, Denis Tolpeko, Stefan Ruzicka and James vanReismdyk who will return to UNH next year). Giroux, Downie and Potulny are all quality guys (Potulny could be great 2-way center for the team in place of Jim Dowd). It would be both great for the team and a bit of a tradgedy for Hatcher to retire, they could really use the cap space, but despite his lack of footspeed, the guy has been a warrior, playing hurt and playing well in the playoffs this year. Sami Kapanen is always a quick decision from hanging them up too, although he and Timmonen are good friends, so he may stick around (but Downie and Thorosen are waiting to take over his role). All in all, while they don't have a lot of space, I don't think the Flyers are in that bad a spot. Ryan Parent will fill on Defense need and if Hatcher retires, they can use that money to go out and try and get a J-M Liles or Mark Streit type guy, but they don't need to shoot the moon with Brian Campbell or anything like that, especially with the way Braydon Coburn has developed. This team has a great core of talent and a relatively young core of talent. They'll be competetive for a long time with it too.

Scott Posted
(2009-04-30 06:21:52)

Kato B. you must be a Leafs fan. No one in Philly would think that is a good idea anymore. Kaberle is good, but past his prime, Carter hasn't even hit his yet and he put in 29 goals this year. Why would you trade a guy will be one of your top 4 goal scorers (Gagne, Briere, Giroux, maybe Lupul or RIchards too) for a washed up powerplay quarterback? Definitely not a good decision, that's why Holmgren didn't do it before, that's why he shouldn't do it now.

jake Posted
(2009-04-30 06:21:50)

If he doesn't agree to retire and if his current contract doesn't have the dreaded no movement clause, it is time to demote Hatcher to the minors to play out his last year. He has been a relative disaster since Clarke signed him coming out of the lock out. Taking out Lupul (was never the same after), with an attempt to headhunt Alex Steen in mid season, tells you everything you wanna know about Hatcher.

Kato B. Posted
(2009-04-30 06:21:49)

Carter for Kaberle ...makes a lot of sense if Kaberle agrees to waive. Perhaps even Carter and Parent for Kaberle and Stajan. The Flyers may even be able to throw in a bad contract.

Craig Posted
(2009-04-30 06:21:37)

The Canucks needs scoring, and have a glut of affordable puck moving defencemen, with some health concerns, and an excess of salary cap space. The Flyers require an effective offensive rear guard and desperately need to clear cap space. Philly could unload the 5.2 million of Gagner's contract, who, let's face it, while an offensive star, now must be considered a gamble because of his concussion history, and pick up Kevin Bieska, a reasonably young defencman with an offensive upside who is signed for three more years at an affordable 3 million per. He's a slight risk beacuse of his freak leg injury, but he showed no major signs of ill effect when he returned, mostly struggling with conditioning and timing after his prolonged abscence. It would give Holmgren 2.2 million in cap space flexibility; not a lot, but more then he has, while adressing one of his teams key needs. If he really wants to dump salary he could probably get the Canucks to eat Lupul's contract in exchange for a long shot prospect like Jason Jaffray or Ryan Shanon, meaning Holmgren would clear more space while bringing in a potential player later, and at the very least bolstering the farm. For the Canucks it would address their rather glaring scoring issues (especially if Lupul were part of the deal, he's not scoring ace, but he'll be more efective then Cowan, Isbister, Ritchie or Rypien could ever hope to be, and might make the top two lines) and make a major headline splash in a major hockey market that is ebbing toward leaf land panic. It would also force the teams once and former blue chip prospect Luc Bourdon to either step up and claim his spot in the league or be written off as the next Nolan Baumgartner. It's a deal that could pay off well for both teams.