Last week in Philadelphia, FLyers winger Matt Read talked about pending free agency and made it sound rather convincing that he was prepared to do that in July of 2014.
Friday night, in yet another Paul Holmgren "Friday Night Bomb," the Flyers general manager announced the club had re-signed him to a 4-year deal worth $14.5 million with an annual cap hit of $3.625 million.
Again, as I get older, I don't necessarily believe it is in the best interests of non-top 6 players to re-sign before free agency only because if the team is already in cap trouble, like the Flyers are, it makes them more vulnerable to be traded.
Read has a "cap friendly" hit that now makes it possible for the Flyers to move him. If you doubt this, consider that the No. 1 reason why LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi didn't deal goalie Jonathan Bernier to the Flyers this past summer (before the Flyers signed Ray Emery) was because Read was not under contract.
The Kings had interest in Read, but ONLY if he were not going to be a UFA next year. Last May and June, had Read been under contract for 2014-15 or beyond, he very likely would be a King right now.
And the Flyers would have had Bernier and not Emery in goal.
All this aside, the Flyers still remain $2 million and change over the cap and will need to lose salary for this season by the time rosters go in on Sept. 30.
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