WOW. Remember when Jeff Carter to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for Ilya Kovalchuk was all the rage in the rumor mill last year? I love the fact that this transaction never occurred. It is a classic example of "sometimes the best deals are the ones you do not make."
Next time "high and wide" enters your thoughts in any discussion involving Jeff Carter, take a look at the graphic above and note that Carter will be whiffing on game winning goals at a steep discount over the next eleven years, when compared with Kovalchuk.
Of course, it's entirely possible Kovalchuk may have fared better in Philadelphia with a different team, different coach, and a different sitch. We'll never know. But when you're dealing with the prospect of paying a player in excess of $11 million per season (as the Devils will be doing once his contract escalates in 2012-13), it's best to err on the side of caution and politely decline, don't you think?
Kovalchuk's deal with the Devils was literally a deal with the Devil. You need proof? Get ready to send this revelation to the Vatican.
In the screen shot below, have a look at the salary cap number, then kiss your Rosary beads and say 10 Sweet Baby Jeebus's (correct usage of apostrophe? Grammar Nazi's please chime in):
Salary cap numbers provided by CapGeek.com
For the next fifteen years, the cap hit for Ilya Kovalchuk is $6,666,666 million. What's not shown in this graphic is whether the the two digits to the right of the decimal point come to $0.66 cents, in which case, we're looking at a triple "666" - a Mark of the Beast McTwist. Incredible.
Decimal point or not, 15 years of a $6,666,666 million cap hit is more 6's than you can shake a Slayer album at. Spooky.
LOVE IT
I'm happy Michael Leighton went unclaimed on the waiver wire as his rights took their seat under the bus and made the long trip to Adirondack yesterday.
He's not an NHL starting goaltender? Fine.
At a minimum, he's a very good (if overpaid) NHL back-up who answered the bell just about every opportunity he got last season, which is an asset in my opinion.
I'd love to see Leighton in Philadelphia next season as the back-up goaltender, even if he is overpaid. Hey, I like Mike. Sue me.
Paul Holmgren indicated that he didn't want to see Leighton plucked from the waiver wire either, but Holmer is so slippery that it made me wonder:
Was the public proclamation that he wanted to keep Leighton in the Flyers system a ploy in reverse psychology by Holmgren - in the hope that another NHL General Manager would gobble up Leighton's $1.55 million cap hit? (SERIOUSLY Garth Snow, if you take this overpaid back-up goaltender off my hands I am going to be sooooo pissed. Don't do it. I'm warning you!)
Or do we simply take Holmgren at his word and make the leap that he really wanted to keep Leighton in the Flyers system? I thought it was strange the Flyers tipped their hand with the information about Leighton's lingering back injury manifesting in the form of numbness in the foot. Since when do the Flyers ever tip their hand when it comes to injuries? Was he daring other teams to buy his "damaged" goods?
HATE IT
Am I the only person that squirmed when viewing footage of Leighton packing his bags yesterday? I'm finding it difficult to not put myself in Leighton's shoes.
If my employer told me to pack up my office and move down to the lobby to answer the phones until next year, a roving camera crew recording me as I packed up my hemorrhoid pillow and red stapler wouldn't make the humiliation any easier. Especially when my managers and teammates are being interviewed about such a public moment near by.
Was this one moment the muggles really needed to see, Daily News?
LOVE IT
If this is the beginning of the end for Michael Leighton's professional hockey career, it's comforting to know he may have a future in broadcasting. He will join a long list of Flyers goaltenders that can reprise the role of failed goaltender in one of my favorite commercials ever. Nike needs to start making these again. Seriously, why else would you buy Bauer?:
HATE IT
The explosion of salary cap chatter this move produced yesterday.
What is the amount salary cap relief, down to the penny, in a world without Michael Leighton?! Let me get out the sliderule and make some calculations! Pick the lint out of my crack. Carry the two. Furiously erase. Take off my shoes and count on my toes.
Really, are the salary cap implications that important this year?
We're happy with our goaltending for once. Read that again, and ask yourself when the last time in your life as a Flyers fan that has ever been the case.
If one of the goaltenders goes down, there's a clutch playoff performer sitting in the snowy wasteland of Adirondack waiting for the call (if he makes it through re-entry waivers). Sure, I can see his 5-hole from my desk in King of Prussia, but you can do a lot worse than calling on Michael Leighton as a back-up goaltender.
The Flyers have a deep defensive corps that, when healthy, features Andrej Meszaros and Sean O'Donnell as the THIRD pairing. The offense is similarly deep.
Lose a center? Move Giroux over from the wing.
Lose a winger? Pull Zherdev out of the press box or off the fourth line and plug him in there.
Really. How many playoff contenders can boast that level of depth?
So what are you really going to do with that extra salary cap space while 2010-11 in in full swing? Who else could you possibly add to make this Flyers squad any deeper in a way that wouldn't impact the playing time of the top three scoring lines or a defensive corps that has been playing well all season?
For the first time in the salary cap era, the Flyers have room to breath. And guess what? It really doesn't matter. Didn't see that one coming.
I honestly have no idea if you are a true NHL starting goaltender or merely the product of a solid defensive corps that played in front of you every night.
What I do know is this: everytime you found yourself back in the mix of things last season, the fortunes of the Philadelphia Flyers turned on a dime. Talk about intangibles.
Without your consistent play in 2009-10, Brian Boucher's shootout heroics in game no. 82 would hold no meaning today, nor would the image of his exuberant celebration be permanently seared into my grey matter.
So, it's farewell for now.
With a fan in Peter Laviolette, a $1.55 million contract in 2011-12, and the impending free agency of Brian Boucher, I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of you in an orange, black and white sweater.
