Its my life, its my rock and roll fantasy. The 64.3 million dollar cap (48.3 million dollar floor) opened the door for a crazy day in Philadelphia today that saw Jeff Carter get traded to Columbus for Jakub Voracek, CBJ’s 8th pick, and a 2012 3rd round pick. Then Mike Richards was shipped off to Los Angeles for Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds plus a second round pick. Last but not least, Ilya Bryzgalov signed a deal right after that will pay him $51 million over the next 9 years that looks like this (thanks to CapGeek).
Ilya Bryzgalov Contract (Philadelphia Flyers):
| LENGTH: 9 YEAR(S) VALUE: $51,000,000 TYPE: STANDARD EXPIRY STATUS: UFA | ||||
| ** CONTRACT DETAILS AND BONUSES (IF APPLICABLE) NOT OFFICIAL — CHECK BACK SOON ** | ||||
| SEASON | NHL SALARY | S. BONUS | CAP HIT | |
| 2011-12 | $10,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2012-13 | $6,500,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2013-14 | $8,000,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2014-15 | $6,000,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2015-16 | $6,000,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2016-17 | $5,500,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2017-18 | $5,500,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2018-19 | $2,250,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
| 2019-20 | $1,250,000 | $0 | $5,666,667 | |
Bryzgalov will have huge shoes to fill in Philadelphia as it took trading their team captain and one of their best scorers just to be able to sign him. Here is what we have to say about any Bryzgalov fantasy impact. It is a bit early to tell but we can ascertain that in the regular season he will have a very low (potentially top 5 GAA) and a save percentage around .920. For Flyer and fantasy hockey fans, Bryzgalov will get 4-6 shutouts next season so there will be shutouts in Philly and not by the opposing team for a change. As the Flyers roster rounds out, we will pin down some more exact amounts. Stay tuned there.
Today we are concentrating on only the major players but on Twitter and on Whats Brewin tonight, we will delve a bit into some of the other players involved as well. Keep in mind, projecting who is going to play with who (particularly in Mike Richards’ case) is a bit uncertain.
Jeff Carter, on the other hand, will benfit greatly from playing with Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius. The numbers seem to indicate its all about ice time for Carter to a point. A few years ago when he got nearly 21 minutes of ice time a night, he had 84 points in 82 games, including 46 goals. He also sniped 12 game winning goals. In the last two years, Carter has combined for only 13 of those. Though his 69 goals are very good in the last two years, his 58 assists have been a bit disappointing. The execution was fading fast and honestly Carter’s 2 points in 6 playoff games was a sign he was near gone. With a fresh start, Carter could get close to 80 points again if he plays the full slate. Again we will have more precise numbers as the season approaches. However, Carter will see a bump on that Columbus first line.
Jakub Voracek is a major player for Philly now only because he will likely have a little better talent to play with as far as depth. Columbus likely became stale for him so it would not shock me to see a 30 goal season out of him and maybe as many as 55-60 points. Philadelphia is younger and will be more hungry. Wayne Simmonds may even play with him and produce about the same numbers except in reverse. People are interested to see what Brayden Schenn will do. I would advise people to stash Schenn away but come next year or maybe sooner, he is going to start making an impact.
The last one is Mike Richards. No one is really sure who he will play with. This is quite the wakeup call for the former Philadelphia Captain. It is firmly believed this will be good for Richards and his development in the long term. Richards dipped after having two 75+ point seasons with a 62 and 66 point effort respectively the last two years. Even shots dipped by 53 this year which is a lot considering how Richards played 81 games (82 last year). Some of it may have been injury but clearly there was a decline. Whether that was an off ice and/or on ice problem does not matter. From a fantasy standpoint, Richards owners took a bit of a bath especially last year. Except a slight rebound for Richards as he should top the 70 point total in Los Angeles.
There are likely to be more trades tomorrow and we will try to impact the major ones. Stay tuned as the rumors are flying all over the place.
