Sincere condolences go out to Flyers center Danny Briere and to his entire family. Briere lost his 60-year-old mother, Constance, on Sunday. She passed away in a hospital in Hull, Quebec, following a brain aneurysm.
By all accounts of those who knew her, Constance was a wonderful woman. That is not a surprise, as the apple did not fall far from the tree with her son. Danny Briere is one of the nicest and most caring human beings -- not just professional athletes -- that anyone could hope to meet.
No amount of time on earth is enough when it comes to a loved one, and 60 years is way too short. But Constance Brunet lived to see her son make good and shared in the joy of her grandchildren. The deeper the love, the more profound the mourning is. But in this difficult and painful time, I hope Danny can take solace in the realization that he can honor his mom simply by being himself.
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Per Capgeek.com, Scott Hartnell's six-year contract extension breaks down as follows:
* The cap hit is $4.75 million, up from the $4.2 million in his current contract, which expires at the end of the 2012-13 season.
* He has a full no-movement clause in the deal, meaning he can neither be traded nor waived and assigned to the AHL without his permission.
* The contract does not contain a signing bonus.
* In 2013-14, Hartnell will receive $6 million in actual salary.
* From 2014-15 to 2016-17, the real-dollar salary is $5 million.
* In 2017-18, the salary drops to $4.5 million.
* In the final year of the contract, 2018-19, the salary decreases again to $3 million.
Truth be told, a six-year deal on top of the remaining season on his current deal does seem a bit lengthy for a power forward. Hartnell has been been very durable through this point of his career, but many players of his style tend to start breaking down physically in their early to mid 30s.
Nevertheless, the deal makes sense on both sides. The Flyers got a bit of a hometown discount, especially on the cap hit, and the final two years of the contract primarily exist to make the cap hit numbers work out. The trade-off was that they had to grant a full no-movement clause in the process.
For Hartnell, there was no real downside to doing the deal now. He indicated in his conference call yesterday -- and I agree with him -- that his market value was unlikely to change much if he waited for unrestricted free agency next summer. Moreover, the player already knew that he wanted to remain in Philadelphia, and potentially spend the rest of his career as a Flyer.
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Numerous people have asked this question, so I figured it is best addressed in the blog: When will Claude Giroux get a contract extension?
Answer: By League rules, Giroux is not eligible for a contract extension until next summer. He has two seasons remaining on his current contract.
Come next summer, agreeing to a contract extension with Giroux is likely to be the Flyers' number one priority once they take care of 2013-14 roster issues. It is also probable that the club will seek extensions for Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn as they enter the final season of their respective entry-level contracts. Otherwise, Giroux, Couturier and Schenn will become restricted free agents in the summer of 2014.
In addition, the club will have to make a long-term decision about Matt Read next summer. Like Giroux, Couturier and Schenn, he has two years remaining on his current deal. But Read can be an unrestricted free agent in 2014.
Next summer, Kimmo Timonen will be an unrestricted free agent. Assuming he wants to continue his NHL career, it seems likely (as of now, at least) that it will be in Philadelphia. His family is well-settled in the area, he is a team leader and one of his closest friends (Hartnell) has also elected to stay put.
If Timonen retires or elects to finish his career elsewhere, there is a chance that there will be no top-caliber UFA defensemen on the market next summer as a potential replacement. Vancouver is trying to get Alex Edler -- who currently figures to be the most sought-after UFA defenseman next summer -- signed to an extension before the expiration of the current CBA on Sept. 15.
Beyond Timonen, the Flyers will have three other UFAs (Ruslan Fedotenko, Jody Shelley and Michael Leighton) and six notable RFAs (Erik Gustafsson, Zac Rinaldo, Eric Wellwood, Tom Sestito, Brandon Manning and Niko Hovinen) next summer.
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Earlier this year, former Flyers goaltender Antero Niittymäki contemplated retirement due to his chronic hip problems. However, after consulting with doctors and making adjustments to his offseason training program, he elected to continue his career in his native Finland.
The 32-year-old goaltender has signed a contract with his original Finnish club, TPS Turku. This week's Across the Pond at NHL.com will have more. The article will be published tomorrow.
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FLYERS TRAVEL: Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm, Sweden
Located in the south side of Stockholm, the historic Skogskyrkogården (Woodland's Cemetery) is the
final resting place of Pelle Lindbergh, his parents, Sigge and Anna-Lisa, and his sister, Ann-Christine.
The otherwise modest headstone on Pelle's side of the family plot has a Flyers logo, in recognition of his nearly lifelong dream of playing for the team of his idol, Bernie Parent.
Pelle Lindbergh is not the only famous Stockholm resident buried in Skogskyrkogården. Among others, the cemetery has the grave sites of reclusive actress Greta Garbo, Lennart “Nacka” Skoglund (one of Sweden’s first international soccer stars and a member of the Hammarby IF soccer club), Nobel Prize-winning author Eyvind Johnson, prolific actor Sune Mangs, and Ivar Lo-Johansson (one of Sweden’s most prominent 20th century authors).
Each year on May 24 (Pelle Lindbergh's birthday), there is a graveside vigil conducted by the surviving fan club of the now-defunct Hammarby IF hockey team. Pelle's sister, Ann-Louise, and brother-in-law, Göran, typically attend.
The hyperlink above has a map of the gravesite location, which is otherwise virtually inconspicuous in the huge cemetery. The cemetery records spell the family's surname under the more common modern Swedish spelling of "Lindberg", which can complicate searches, along with the fact that Pelle and his father, Sigge, are listed by their given names (Göran Per-Eric and Erik Sigurd) rather than their nicknames.
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