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Shayne Gostisbehere

Radko Gudas Suspended Six Games

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After avoiding suspension for a hit earlier this pre-season on Jimmy Vesey of the New York Rangers, Radko Gudas has been given a six-game ban for his hit on Bruins’ forward Austin Czarnik.

This is not the first time Gudas has received discipline from the league. Last season he received three ejections in the span of a month, and was given a three-game suspension for a hit on Mika Zibanejad in December. Though he’s only technically a two-time offender now, the six-game ban is a strong message that his on-the-edge style will no longer be tolerated by the league.

The Flyers now have a lot of trouble on their blueline for the start of the season and will be hoping that Brandon Manning can play as soon as possible. With Michael Del Zotto out and now Gudas unavailable, 19-year old Ivan Provorov will be staying with the team. These injuries and suspensions are heaping even more responsibility onto sophomore Shayne Gostisbehere, as he looks to become the leader on the back-end for the Flyers this season.

Flyers Notes: MacDonald, Gostisbehere, Konecny, Cousins

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After being cut and waived by the Flyers early last season, that’s not likely to be the case this time around, CSN Philly’s Tim Panaccio believes.  Not only does Philadelphia have the room to keep his $5MM cap hit on the books but MacDonald’s ability to play both sides on the blueline has made him a  much more valuable player to have around.

Last season, MacDonald formed a pairing with Michael Del Zotto with MacDonald playing on the left side.  In camp, he has found himself on the right side alongside top prospect Ivan Provorov, who appears likely to make the opening night roster.

The Flyers currently have eight defensemen in camp and are expected to trim that to seven before the season gets underway.  While it remains likely that the team could ship MacDonald back to the minors as he would be a safe bet to clear waivers, another option is Brandon Manning, who was in and out of the lineup last season and would be in a similar role if he were to break camp with the team.  However, he would have to clear waivers to be sent down.  The only players who don’t are Provorov and Calder finalist Shayne Gostisbehere, who is a lock to make the team.

[Related: Flyers Depth Chart]

More out of Philadelphia:

  • While rookies who quickly surge to become impact players midseason often drop off the next year, the Flyers are expecting Gostisbehere to buck that trend, writes Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post. After starting last season in the AHL, he was recalled and quickly became a force, scoring 17 goals while adding 29 assists in just 64 games and merely repeating those numbers over a full season would have him among the higher scoring blueliners in the league once again.  The 23 year old logged just over 20 minutes per game last season and will likely shoulder a similar workload in 2016-17.
  • Speed is a huge factor in today’s NHL which should work well for 2015 Flyer first rounder Travis Konecny, Isaac pens in a separate piece. The 19 year old is looking to forego his last junior season (with OHL Sarnia) to stick with Philadelphia and has made a strong impression at camp, leading the team in preseason scoring with four points in four games.  However, at just 5’10, he’s undersized for the bottom six role he would likely play with the team.  As a junior aged player, Konecny can play in nine NHL games before burning the first year of his entry level contract.
  • Also from the above column, center Nick Cousins is attempting to transition to the left wing. Although he spent a good portion of the season as their third line center last year, the bottom two spots at that position appear to be earmarked for returnee Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and newcomer Boyd Gordon.  Cousins appears to be open to the move, telling Isaac, “It’s going to be a little different, but I’m open to try it. I think once I get used to it, I’ll be good at it. I’ll fit in wherever they want me.”

Flyers Notes: Schultz, Gudas, Cuts

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Training camp can be dangerous. According to Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post, Nick Schultz will be out 4-7 days with a ’lower body injury’ after crashing into the boards last night. Schultz is coming off back to back seasons in which he played at least 80 games, and isn’t in danger of missing any time at the beginning of the season.

Penciled into the bottom pairing for the Flyers, Schultz provides a dependable presence on the back end, but won’t provide much in terms of offense. In his entire 14-year career, his highest point total came in at 20.

  • Another defenseman on the mend, Radko Gudas is set to return to game action very soon according to Jordan Hall of CSNPhilly. Gudas say’s he’s pretty close to 100 percent and has already begun shooting pucks with his ailing hand. Gudas, like Schultz, isn’t one of the marquee defenders on this team but does see almost 20 minutes a night in a shutdown role. He’ll continue to get a lot of defensive zone starts, while Michael Del Zotto and Shayne Gostisbehere provide all the offense from the back end.
  • Issac also tells us that another round of cuts is coming tomorrow, after the ones earlier today. Philadelphia trimmed the roster to 49 today, and is expected to take about 15 off that number tomorrow. Eventually, the team will have some tough decisions to make about their last defense spot. Will it go to the big contract of Andrew MacDonald, or does Brandon Manning deserve a real chance? The Flyers open the season October 14th in Los Angeles.

Roster Crunch: Metropolitan Division

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We’ve taken a look at three out of the four divisions now, and the decisions they’ll have to make come training camp. The Pacific’s depth on defense, the changes coming up front in the Central, and the mass of young talent set to break through in the Atlantic. Now, we’ll take a look at the what many considered the best division in hockey last year, with four 100-point teams and both the President’s Trophy winner and Stanley Cup Champions.

Washington Capitals – There is probably no team with fewer uncertainties going into the season than the Washington Capitals. After running away with the regular season points lead, the Capitals couldn’t even make it to the Stanley Cup final, but they’ll head into next season with largely the same group. They brought in Lars Eller, whose possession numbers should help the third line, and allowed Jason Chimera and Mike Richards to walk (though the latter remains unsigned). Basically the only battle in camp will be for a fourth line or 13th forward spot; can Brett Connolly do enough to make the squad over Stanislav Galiev? Exciting stuff.

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East Notes: Pryor, O’Dell, Prior

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The Philadelphia Flyers have promoted long-time scout Chris Pryor to assistant general manager, and director of player personnel. Pryor has been with the organization for the past 17 years, joining the club first as a US amateur scout in 1999.  He’s held many positions since then, director of hockey operations and director of scouting among them over the years.

He’ll join general manager Ron Hextall and president Paul Holmgren in the Flyers brain-trust trying to improve on their first-round exit last season. Since Pryor became the director of hockey ops in 2006, the Flyers have had a fairly successful draft history, hitting on top picks like Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk, and unearthing superstar rookie Shayne Gostisbehere with the 78th overall pick (2012).

  • While the exodus to Switzerland’s top hockey league is in full effect, another former NHL player will be taking his talents to Russia instead.  Eric O’Dell, who played last season with the Rochester Americans of the AHL has signed on with Sochi (Russian translation) for 2016-17. O’Dell has played in 41 NHL games, all with the Winnipeg Jets, scoring eight points.
  • The Washington-Las Vegas pipeline continues, as George McPhee has hired long-time Capitals goalie coach Dave Prior, according to Stephen Whyno. Prior spent ten years with Washington, before being let go before the 2014-15 season. He’ll join a organization who has poached former employees of Washington almost exclusively since McPhee came on board.

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.

Josh Jooris, Tommy Hughes Sign With New York Rangers

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After inking defenseman Dylan McIlrath to a one-year deal avoiding arbitration, the Rangers have also signed free agent forward Josh Jooris according to the team twitter. Jooris played for Calgary last season, recording 13 points in 59 games.  The team also announced that they have come to terms with restricted free agent Tommy Hughes on a new deal.

Jooris, 26, went undrafted out of the OJHL before heading to Union College where he would play with fellow Metropolitan Division youngster Shayne Gostisbehere for two seasons. Jooris would put up solid numbers at the college before being signed in 2013 to join the Abbostford Heat of the AHL. He really made his mark in his first NHL campaign however, when he scored 12 goals and 24 points and suited up on the powerplay more than a few times.

For Hughes, New York is the only organization he’s ever known after being signed as a undrafted free agent out of London in 2013. He’s spent the last three seasons with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL, putting up 25 points and playing a solid defensive game.  After the McIlrath signing locked up a bottom pairing defenseman for this season, Hughes will continue to serve as depth for the team in the AHL, and might make his debut this season should injuries occur.

NHL Award Predictions: Calder Trophy

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The 2016 NHL Awards will take place on Wednesday, June 22nd in Las Vegas.  Between now and then, we will be making our predictions on who will take home the hardware.

First up for a closer look is the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top rookie.  The finalists are:

D Shayne Gostisbehere , Philadelphia Flyers – It’s rare that a player who starts the season in the American Hockey League becomes a finalist for a major award but Gostisbehere’s impact upon being recalled was just too much to ignore.  Despite missing 18 games while playing for the Flyers’ AHL affiliate in Adirondack, the 23 year old led all NHL defensemen in goals (17), assists (29), points (46), and power play points (22).  He also set NHL records for most overtime goals by a rookie (4) and for the longest point streak by a rookie blueliner (15 games).

C Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers – The top pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft lived up to his draft status in 2015-16 as he quickly took over as Edmonton’s top centre.  Unfortunately for him and the Oilers, he missed 37 games due to a fractured left clavicle.  Despite that, the 19 year old still posted 16 goals and 32 assists in 45 games, good for third in team scoring.  McDavid also led all rookies with a points-per-game average of 1.07; he was the only first year player to average higher than one point per contest.

LW Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks – Signed as an undrafted free agent last offseason, Panarin made an immediate and significant impact for the Hawks.  The 24 year old led all rookies offensively with goals (30), assists (47), points (77), power play points (24), and game winning goals (7).  His point total was good enough for a tie for ninth overall amongst all NHL players and second best on Chicago, only behind the NHL’s top point getter, Patrick Kane.  Kane, coincidentally, is the last Blackhawk to win the Calder Trophy.

Prediction: This is one the best rookie classes in a long time.  All three finalists made more than a typical rookie impact and were among the NHL’s best in certain categories.  Had McDavid been healthy all year, he would have had a strong chance but it would be hard to give him the nod since he missed 45% of the season due to injury.  Gostisbehere was huge for the Flyers but he also missed considerable time early on so at the end of the day my pick to win the award is Panarin.  I think the writers who vote on this award will have too hard of a time looking past a rookie finishing in the top ten in scoring league wide on one of the NHL’s top teams in the regular season.

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