Quick Hits: June 10, 2019
1) At 11:30 a.m. today, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher and assistant general manager Brent Flahr will hold a press conference at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. The primary topic of conversation will be the upcoming 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver but the presser will no doubt dovetail into questions for Fletcher about the status of negotiations with Kevin Hayes and other in-house UFAs (such as Cam Talbot and Brian Elliott) and RFAs (Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton). A transcription will follow later. I am in transit today from Dallas to Philadelphia, but will post the transcript here and write a takeways article for the Flyers' official website.
2) A couple weeks ago, Flyers PR director Joe Siville suggested that we do a series of "411" articles this month on a variety of topics that come up this time of year. Basically, it's a review of the CBA-mandated rules, common strategies that teams employ and Flyers-related examples of how the rules work. The topics covered:
offer sheets for restricted free agents,
key dates and rules for unrestricted free agents and arbitration-eligible restricted free agents,
NHL Draft: Rules, Drafting Rights, Entry-Level Contracts, Rookie Free Agents and, although its still two years away,
NHL Expansion Draft rules and exemptions.
3) Now that the NHL Draft is less than two weeks away, we'll be doing articles that look at the annual frenzy of trade discussions that surround the NHL Draft (with a Flyers-related history from 2007 to 2018), overviews of the top North American and European Draft-eligible prospects this year and, finally, Meltzer's Mock Draft. Additionally, later this week, Brian Smith and I will record a special offseason/pre-Draft edition of Flyer Buzz for Flyers Radio 24/7.
4) Speaking of trade discussions around the time of the NHL Draft, there is little doubt that the Toronto Maple Leafs will try to make some moves to free up salary cap space before Mitch Marner (and Kasperi Kapanen) hit restricted free agent status on July 1. The Leafs know that, if they have not freed up sufficient cap space before then -- such as via trades involving some combination of Patrick Marleau, Nazem Kadri, Nikita Zaitsev or possibly even William Nylander -- that they at severe risk of a team signing Marner to a poison pill type of offer sheet that Toronto would be forced to match at the cost of having an untenable percentage of their salary cap tied up in just four players (Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Marner and Nylander).
In my opinion, if NHL teams interested in trading with Toronto collectively decide to be patient and simply wait out the Leafs by not trading with them until early July, Toronto's trade leverage decreases significantly. The same desired trade targets would be available at potentially lower cost and, if a club moves quickly enough on RFA candidate Kapanen in particular, the Leafs may have to let him walk for draft pick compensation. I don't see any realistic scenario where the Leafs would not match an offer sheet on Marner but competitors could make it tough on the Leafs to keep desirable depth around their Big 3 of Tavares, Matthews and Marner.
5) Today in Flyers history: On June 10, 1995, the Flyers evened up the 1995 Eastern Conference Final series with the New Jersey Devils at two games apiece. Each of the first five games of the series were won by the visiting team. In Game 4, Mikael Renberg broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period and then third period goals by Rod Brind'Amour (shorthanded) and Eric Desjardins built a 4-1 lead en route to a 4-2 Flyers victory. Shjon Podein erased an early deficit in the first period and Ron Hextall (32 saves on 34 shots) outdueled Martin Brodeur (13 saves on 17 shots; replaced by Chris Terreri after the Desjardins goal) on this night.
6) Today in Flyers History: The 1970 NHL Expansion Draft took place on June 10. The Flyers lost four players in the Draft -- Gerry Meehan and Reg Fleming to the Buffalo Sabres and both Rosie Paiement and goalie Dunc Wilson to the Vancouver Canucks.
7) June 10 Flyers Alumni Birthday: Brian Benning (1966).
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