Dreger reports Vinnie to Flyers

[pilldoc]

was talking to a buddy of mine here at work...his reaction to the signing.....

he said it reminded him of the Chris Gratton debacle a few years ago.....he agreed with jsut about what everyone here is saying....Vinny will be productive for the first 3 yrs but what happens in years 4 and 5 when his production starts to decline do you bump him down to the 3rd or 4th line. Does this organization really want to pay 4.5 million a year for his last 2 yrs of contract to a 3rd or 4th line player?? (pure speculation I know, but none the less a distinct possibility).

[pilldoc]

wow... no rad or FC yet?

Good to see that rux did not stroke out last night after I logged off

FC is around...he probably hasn't made his way to this thread yet! Give him time!

[Bertmega]

I am hoping that this is part of a bigger deal. Like he goes to Nashville along with Coburn and a 1st and they send the Flyers Weber.

Oh wait, I have to turn off the XBox now and go to work, looks like VP is a Flyer for the long run. SMH....

[DaGreatGazoo]

looks like VP

They signed Vinnie Prospal, too? Holy crap.

[brelic]

Okay. It has to be me, I don't understand the negativity.

Vinnie is/was the hottest free agent out there this year.

At least 15 teams were courting him.

It was going to take five years, five million a year to get er done.

He chose your team.

So the Flyers so far this offseason have:

Dumped Bryz

Had a mediocre draft

Signed the top free agent out there.

I would think getting Vinnie would be the one to hang your hat on boys, but hey what the hell do I know? I am just a stupid Wings fan still hoping someone wakes Holland up long enough for him to sign someone just a step better than Tootoo.

The way I see it, it's not negativity about Vinny. He is a great player in his own right, even though he is on the decline. Consider this:

THE STATS GUY ‏@TH2NSTATSGUY 10h

Last 3 years, Lecavalier averaging more Pts/G than Marleau, Gaborik, Parise, Krejci, Kesler, Briere, Carter, Richards, Heatley, Doan, Alfie

So at the price, it's a great deal. The term is too long and has an NMC, but that's Homer Negotiations 101 for you... plus he was in high demand and would have gotten that elsewhere. He essentially replaces the bought out Briere at a cheaper price and higher production.

BUT....

Like many have said so far, we've all seen this movie before. That's where the negativity stems from.

So, while in isolation, it's a solid price for a highly skilled forward, it has no bearing on what this team really needs to move forward, which are a backup goalie, top 6 winger, and patience. That's it.

He *chose* Philly, but only because other teams showed restraint. Detroit doesn't make very many splashy FA signings. They don't cripple the team with absurd contracts (though Zetterberg comes to mind and Frazen is not far behind). They draft extremely well. They understand that there is a salary cap.

Oh, and they have 4 Stanley Cups in the last 17 years. Sure, there was a 40 year gap before the Philly sweep, but they seem to have figured out a sustainable model.

Homer plays with the cap off and uses NHL '13 as his trade simulator.

THAT's why there's such negativity.

[Bertmega]

@DaGreatGazoo

Crap, thanks for the correction Gazoo. I get my has been Lightning players confused these days. It must be my Snider-itious kicking in.

[brelic]

Homer is not doen here....I'M SICK OF DESTORYING the CORE!! For one damn year, I just wanted to let them play in out, see what we have....and go from there.

Totally agree. But what freakin' choice does a GM have when his boss has put him on "high alert" and his job depends on "making sure we make the playoffs"?

You can't fix stupid.

[Bertmega]

[brelic]

From RDS

"Lecavalier says he's excited to join the Flyers for 2 reasons : they play offensive hockey, and he wanted to play in a hockey market."

What he forgot to add was "It began a few seasons ago when Pronger sat in his own end with the puck, and no one on my team went after him. I was like, WTF? It's time to leave this lame system."

[brelic]

LOL, love this tweet:

Adam Proteau ‏@Proteautype 17h

In fairness to Ed Snider, if you squint really hard at the name Lecavalier, it sort of looks like Lidstrom.

[OccamsRazor]

he said it reminded him of the Chris Gratton debacle a few years ago

HELL NO the only way they compare is they are both centers....that is it... Gratton was garbage....just look at his career.

[OccamsRazor]

What he forgot to add was "It began a few seasons ago when Pronger sat in his own end with the puck, and no one on my team went after him. I was like, WTF? It's time to leave this lame system."

That system was out the door when they axed Boucher though...Philly is certainly a better hockey market for sure...

Edited July 3, 2013 by OccamsRazor

[ruxpin]

LOL, love this tweet:

Adam Proteau ‏@Proteautype 17h

In fairness to Ed Snider, if you squint really hard at the name Lecavalier, it sort of looks like Lidstrom.

Now THAT's funny!

[OccamsRazor]

Now THAT's funny!

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Edited July 3, 2013 by OccamsRazor

[jammer2]

I hate the length of the contract and the nmc also, BUT...if more moves are coming and Vinny is replacing Couts or Schenn, it's not that bad. (Provided the young center gets us a young dman)

Then why not just draft Hamilton over Coots in the first place, and avoid all this mess?....I'll tell you why they didn't, cause there is no plan, no long term vision for this team, thanks to Homer.

[xganarchy]

Then why not just draft Hamilton over Coots in the first place, and avoid all this mess?....I'll tell you why they didn't, cause there is no plan, no long term vision for this team, thanks to Homer.

Who knows, they liked Couts better? But now they saw Vinny, couldn't pass him up (for whatever reason). Couts was disappointing last season? (To some) our depth at forward makes Couts expendable?

[jammer2]

@xganarchy I'm sure they liked both players and made what they thought was the right decision. In my little corner of the world however, I break close ties by taking the best skater, Hamilton has such a powerful and graceful stride, ah well.....what could have been.....

[LegionOfDoom]

Looking over this trade and seeing the holes we had last year, is a little tuff for some to see clearly with a shortened season.

This last season was a bit harder to judge, needs, wants and assess talents and holes. ( I can compare it to someone that is very capable at a job position and has the tools to do the job, interviews for a position and is brought to the site and stumbles out the gate, makes rookie mistakes and has a bad showing that will be hard to recapture that he is a competent person for the job.)

We stumbled out the gate last season, had players getting hurt, had no veteran direction to right the ship as well as no one really sniping in the goals to carry us through.

Our 5 on 5 was weak last year. Team defense was weak, our defensemen were hurt and pairings were off causing mental mistakes with no complementary defensive puck mover beside Timo, and our goalie situation was thin and isolated.

(add to Bryz not stopping one on one breakdowns and bail outs...though he did quite often keep us in games from becoming blowouts, he did carry his weight in that regard). If we would of had the veteran leadership to right the ship, like we use to enjoy in the past, we'd be in the playoffs.

Adding VinnLa will help our 5 on 5, he knows how to roof it in hard to place goals, ala Briere..better than anyone on our team since Briere is gone and you need a player like that to advance in the playoffs. He might not be able to phantasm in and out like Briere into scoring positions, but he is able to put himself in those positions none the less and be a finisher, we need Gagne back to add that as well to the team, that will relieve G from having to always be the goal scorer and target for the opponent.

We now have a much better faceoff weapon.

We have veteran captaincy material.

The cap is going up and up and up 70+ mil easily next year, this year might seem tight but we will have more breathing room next year so on and so on.

Cost less than Leino.( Great point...funny)

He seems to end up in the right wing position in games, so I thought he stated he wouldn't mind playing wing.

Overall we Needed a player like this for our overall game. We Needed his skill set. It helps Shore up our difficiencies on offense. I'm all for farming our rookies to groom them to be all stars and not putting them in a "have to" excel position or we won't make the playoffs responsibility.(Case in point Oilers)

I don't wan't to be Oiler's East. V.L. gives us the veteran presence for our rookie forwards(even though their in there 2nd/3rd year they are still growing- pain adolecense, so their still wet behind the ears in regards to making wise experienced plays) to learn from wisdom and not be stunted in their progress.

Now obviously Team D is putting the spotlight on our Defensemen, because our TEAM D didn't help out our comarades on D to bail them out or give them a helping hand when the going got ruff they got going to a greater extent. That along with non stop injuries and once again off pairings and players being put in must excel positions, that caused us to focus on D only. If we had, had better team defensive coverage and better Team defensive breakouts, it wouldn't of gone down like it did, and that's for sure, no if's ands or butts.

But our 5 on 5 WAS a big question mark but all the smoke was pointing to our defensive debacle and a goalie that wasn't reliable on breakaways or being 82-100% effective in bailing out defensive breakdowns in our own end. When a play of the year video candidate is of Brayden Schenn saving Bryz from a sure goal by using his stick to clear the puck from crossing the goal line, you know you have Team Defensive problems.( Not knocking B. Schenn for his heroics, because that was awesome, that he did it, especially when that is a part of his game he knows he has to improve on and was not known as a game saver defensive forward).

Shore up our D this year and we would be complaining that we can't score enough and loose games because of it.

Our d had some 2nd/3rd line issues and sometimes 1st line issues due to injuries. If we play better team D it wouldn't of been as overblown as we see it today and in the offseason checklist.

Sorry bout' the length and breathe of this post, but it was more involved than just focusing on our D only and people where head scratching on why this pickup happened for length and NMC.(I know cost per year realistically wasn't an issue here)

I like this more than a Ryan pickup, and I Would LIKE a Ryan pickup, but OUR team needs this artisan a little more, due to what he brings to the table.

Still would like to see Ryan here. (Would make all the Scottie Upshall fans feel comforted and be able to find closure. Unless they start thinking of Hyka.)

I am not sure there are more moves in the making (besides getting a backup tender) and I don't really see this move as a catalyst for others. I see it as a fix for a problem we had last year, but weren't able to see it due to overwhelming circumstances.

That's not to say that Mez or Coby aren't being shopped around, because they are but I think this was an isolated "look someone dropped $100.00 on the floor" aquisition.( you reach for it)