The four-year, $17 million contract signed yesterday by right winger Jakub Voracek is right in line with the market value that has been established this offseason. Once players such as Teddy Purcell signed their new deals for north of $4 million per season, there was no way the Flyers were going to be able to lock up Voracek for the long term at a lesser figure than that.
Thus, the only question was whether the Flyers and agent Petr Svoboda would hammer out a multi-year deal at market value or agree to a lesser figure on a one-year deal with the knowledge that it might well cost the Flyers considerably more to extend Voracek a year from now -- even if the cap ceiling is lowered in the next CBA.
Svoboda did very well by his client here. Voracek came within $250,000 of doubling the $2.25 million he earned last season. In addition, the new contract carries Voracek through the remainder of his RFA years. He can become an unrestricted free agent upon its expiration in 2016.
The $4.25 million per season that Voracek will receive is based as much on his projected continued development into a top-line, two-way winger as it is on his actual production to date in the NHL. But there are three major factors pointing toward the likelihood that the soon-to-be 23-year-old will shatter his career highs in goals (18), assists (34) and points (50) next season:
1) Despite playing mostly on the third line at even strength (he came to play a point on the top power play unit in the second half), Voracek closed the year with an offensive rush. Over the final 15 game of the 2011-12 regular season, Voracek averaged an even point per game ( 7 goals, 8 assists). He carried that solid production over into the playoffs with 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 11 games.
2) Voracek is currently slated to play with Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell for a full season, replacing his idol and mentor, Jaromir Jagr. Voracek spent much of the New Jersey series on the top line, with Jagr hobbled with a quadriceps injury.
3) Although Voracek primarily prefers to pass the puck rather than shoot it, playing on a line with Giroux will create a lot of give-and-go opportunities in which one or the other will wind up with a wide-open scoring chance. Just as there is a very good chance that Voracek goes from to 18 to about 25 goals, there's an equal chance that Giroux will log his first career 30-goal season next year.
Voracek learned a lot from Jagr last season. There were times where Voracek would use his backside to fend off defenders and would maintain control of the puck for so long that you had to do a double-take to make sure the puck carrier was number 93 and not number 68. It would still be nice to see Voracek shoot the puck a little more, but 9 goals in his final 27 games was a solid pace at the most important juncture of the season.
Voracek also came a long way in his two-way game. By the end of the year, he wasn't just putting points on the board, he was also arguably the best defensive winger on the team. For all the praise that Sean Couturier justifiably received for the checking job he did against Evgeni Malkin in the Pittsburgh series, Voracek also played a major hand along with defensemen Braydon Coburn and Nicklas Grossmann in containing that line at even strength.
After Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias said that he considers Voracek the Flyers best forward after Giroux. The comment wasn't uttered merely because Elias and Voracek (along with Jagr) share ties to Kladno. It came because Voracek had shown evolution into a complete player.
Now Voracek has to carry that strong play over for a full season. There is every reason to believe he can and will do so. He did sustain a shoulder injury at some point in the playoffs and did not play in the World Championships as a result. However, Voracek did not need surgery, and he should be OK for next season.
If the Flyers were to acquire free agent Shane Doan, Voracek might end up back on Couturier's line to start the season. But things in hockey have a way of changing in a hurry.
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With the Voracek signing, the Flyers now have about $2.9 million of cap space beneath the $70.2 million cap ceiling, NOT including in-season LTIR allowance for Chris Pronger (maximum $4.9 million). Capgeek has Philly's cap space figure at $3.56 million but still lists Tom Sestito (who re-signed on July 9 for $660,000) as a restricted free agent.
The only remaining internal free agent to take care of is Marc-Andre Bourdon. He will get a small raise on the $875,000 he earned last year.
As noted before, if the Flyers waive Jody Shelley in the pre-season in order to carry Zac Rinaldo and Sestito on the roster, their open cap space will increase by $1.1 million. Finding a trade taker for Andreas Lilja would free up an additional $735,700 of space, and a trade is the only way to do it because he's on an over-35 contract.
It remains to be seen how much the salary cap ceiling/floor will move down when a new CBA is eventually ratified. The new CBA may also carry a bonus cushion, which could reduce the immediate cap hit for Brayden Schenn.
There is a discrepancy between Capgeek and a
TSN report by Darren Dreger on the bonus structure for Schenn's contract in the second season of his entry-level contract. According to Dreger, the impossible-to-reach bonuses from Schenn's rookie year also apply in his second season. Capgeek says the requirement to play in all 82 games and average 25-plus minutes of ice time does NOT apply this season. I'm not sure whom to believe.
So, for now, Schenn's $3.11 million cap hit including a maximum $2,255,000 in performance bonuses has to be calculated in full. But if his cap hit drops early in the season as it did last year, the Flyers will be in real good shape in terms of open cap space beneath the ceiling.
This would be a first for Philly in the cap era. Open space can be banked in full until it is needed. Conversely, LTIR allowance is use-it-or-lose-it if the team is already capped out. Banked cap space can go a long way in adding an impact player via trade during the season. Don't forget that players' cap hits are prorated over the full season; calculated on a daily basis.
Say the Flyers have $3 million of open cap space at the exact midpoint of the season. If they make a trade at that point, they could take on the salary of a player with up to a full-season $6 million cap hit without needing Pronger's LTIR. That's why it behooves the team to free up as much space as possible entering the season.
Of course, if the opportunity presents itself this summer to sign Doan, the Flyers will do it even if it means doing some salary juggling and using Pronger's LTIR. But if Doan returns to Phoenix or signs elsewhere, the silver lining for Philly will be a level of in-season cap flexibility that they have never had before, along with all their trading assets intact.
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According to multiple reports, the Flyers are on the brink of extending Peter Laviolette's contract for several more seasons.
The deal could be done as soon as today or announced over the weekend.
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