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R.J. Umberger

R.J. Umberger Released From PTO

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Though it was a good story while it lasted, the Dallas Stars have officially cut R.J. Umberger, releasing him from his professional tryout. After a year away from the game, the former Flyers and Blue Jackets forward was given a chance by Ken Hitchcock, a former coach, but couldn’t show enough to earn an NHL deal.

It was unlikely Umberger was really ever in contention for a spot, though as the season inched closer some believed he could earn at least an AHL contract. Instead, he’ll have to look elsewhere if he wants to return to the professional hockey ranks.

In 779 career games, Umberger scored 392 points including registering at least 20 goals in five different seasons. Once one of the most consistent power forwards in the game, his play fell off a cliff upon a return to Philadelphia in 2014 and he was bought out in the summer of 2016. He’ll earn $1.5MM from the Flyers this season to complete the buyout payments.

Snapshots: Tatar, McNeil, Umberger, Tuulola

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Tomas Tatar’s arbitration hearing took place this morning, at the conclusion of which the arbitrator was given 48 hours to reach a decision on his salary for next season. Tatar cannot be awarded a two-year contract through arbitration since he will reach unrestricted free agency next year, but as Craig Custance of The Athletic points out could still work out a long-term deal with the Red Wings before the decision come in. We saw a similar situation play out in 2014 with P.K. Subban, who had his hearing with the Montreal Canadiens before signing an eight-year contract a day later.

Last week it was reported the two sides were still quite a bit away in terms of an agreement, with Tatar turning down a five-year $25MM contract. While they may have worked closer to a deal, a one-year decision through arbitration would likely spell the forward’s end in Detroit. Tatar would immediately hit the trade block if he hadn’t already, with many teams likely after him as a rental piece as the season went on. If Ken Holland and the Red Wings didn’t think they could get a deal done, they would have to look long and hard at any proposals for Tatar that would improve the club long-term.

  • The Syracuse Crunch have signed Reid McNeill to an AHL contract, taking him away from the St. Louis organization where he spent 2016-17 and adding him to the Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate. McNeill was a sixth-round pick of the Penguins in 2010, but has never been able to turn his size and defensive ability into a tryout at the NHL level. In 61 games last year split between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Chicago Wolves, he registered ten points.
  • Dallas Stars beat writer Mike Heika of SportsDay held a Q&A with readers and answered all sorts of questions regarding the Stars and their big offseason moves. One of them revolved around R.J. Umberger, who has signed a professional tryout with the team after a full year away from the game. Heika believes the invitation to camp is more of a friendly opportunity handed out by Umberger’s former coach in Ken Hitchcock than a real tryout for the Stars this season. If Umberger can show he’s healthy and rejuvenated, a successful camp under a familiar system could look good around the league. Now 35, Umberger could potentially sign a one-year contract with performance bonuses, though those kinds of deals come with risks as well.
  • The Montreal Canadiens have re-signed Yannick Veilleux on a two-way minor league deal. The contract will pay different amounts depending on whether Veilleux plays in the AHL or ECHL this season. Veilleux spent last year in the Montreal system bouncing between the two leagues, finding some success with St. John’s. Selected in the fourth round by the St. Louis Blues once upon a time, he’s still waiting for his first chance at the NHL level.
  • The Calgary Flames will watch Eetu Tuulola return to Finland for the upcoming season, leaving the Everett Silvertips where he had played in 2016-17. Tuulola was a sixth-round pick of the Flames in 2016 and tried his hand in the Canadian junior ranks with 31 points in 62 games. He’ll play for HPK in Finland’s Liiga next year, a professional team that can offer a bit more development opportunity than Everett.

Flyers’ Buyout Candidates For Second Window

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After signing Brandon Manning earlier Tuesday morning to a two-year deal, the Philadelphia Flyers have come to agreements with all of their restricted free agents and will now have a 48-hour buyout period (which starts Friday, three days after the final deal was struck) to clear cap room for the upcoming season.  The team currently sits less than $500K away from the cap ceiling, offering little room in which to operate.

The team used the first window earlier this summer to rid themselves of R.J. Umberger and his $4.6MM cap hit. He’ll cost them just $1.6MM on the cap this season and $1.5MM next, after contributing just 26 points over the past two years for the Flyers.

While there has been no word from the Flyers on whether they’d take advantage of this new window, there are a couple of under-achievers that could be jettisoned over the weekend to open up some more room for GM Ron Hextall to work.

Matt Read – Two years, $3.625MM AAV: Read signed a four-year, $14.5MM deal in 2013, but has never been able to replicate the 24-goal, 47-point season he put up in his rookie year. After putting up the worst season of his career in 2015-16, and climbing to the wrong side of 30, Read has seen his role with the club diminished greatly and might be the next victim of a buyout.

If he was to be bought out, the Flyers would save $2.75MM in cap space this season, and $2.25MM next. He’d then cost them $1.25MM in space from 2018-20.  Each year’s cap-hit broken down:

2016-17: $875K
2017-18: $1.375MM
2018-19: $1.25MM
2019-20: $1.25MM

Andrew MacDonald – Four years, $5MM AAV: The Flyers signed MacDonald to a six-year, $30MM deal in 2014 after he was traded from the New York Islanders mid-season. While MacDonald was coming off a 28-point season in which he logged almost 25 minutes a night, both those marks would prove to be career highs to this point, as a couple of injury-marred seasons has left MacDonald contributing just 20 points in 86 games since.

With the emergence of Shayne Gostisbehere last season, the Flyers have little use of MacDonald and his huge cap-hit going forward, especially if he can’t regain any of his form from years past.  Now 29, it’s not unbelievable that he could get some of his skills back, but it looks like he’ll never be worth the $5MM that the Flyers gave him.

If the Flyers did buy him out, they’d save a good amount of cap space for the next four years, ranging between $2.98MM (next year) and $3.98MM (2019-20), though would be paying him until 2023-24.  The cap-hit breakdown is as follows:

2016-17: $2.02MM
2017-18: $1.52MM
2018-19: $1.27MM
2019-20: $1.02MM
2020-21: $1.77MM
2021-22: $1.77MM
2022-23: $1.77MM
2023-24: $1.77MM

While both of these options seem like drastic measures, the team has a real chance of competing going forward with their young stars locked up long-term.  Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier and Gostisbehere are all under contract or team control until at least 2019-20, with many stretching far beyond that.  If the team is looking to push deep into the playoffs, it may need to rid itself of some of the weighty contracts it’s given out in the past.

We’ll continue to watch Hextall’s moves carefully, and follow the Flyers depth charts both here and on Roster Resource.

Flyers Buy Out R.J. Umberger

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2:37 PM: The Flyers have officially announced that they have bought out the final year of Umberger’s contract.  Because Umberger had a no-movement clause in his contract, he was eligible to elect to bypass the waiver process and immediately be bought out which he did.

11:12 AM: TSN’s Frank Seravalli tweets that the Flyers are likely to buy out the contract of forward R.J. Umberger. The year remaining comes with a cap hit of $4.6MM. CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio tweeted later that general manager Ron Hextall confirmed that the club was in the process of the buyout.

According to CapFriendly, the buyout will keep $1.6MM on the books for the 2016-2017 season and $1.5MM for the 2017-2018 season. The deal saves them $3MM.

The 34-year-old struggled to live up to the expectations of his contract. Signed by the Blue Jackets in 2012, Umberger was shipped to the Flyers with a draft pick for Scott Hartnell in 2014. Umberger never come close to scoring 20 goals as he did earlier in his career. As his production waned, a buyout became more likely.

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