For free agency commencement, Fletcher ready to greet an ironman
Multiple reports would indicate that shortly after the unrestricted free agency market essentially opens for business Wednesday at High (cost) Noon, Keith Yandle will be announced as signing a oneyear, $900,000 deal with the Flyers.
In addition to re-signing pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Sam Morin Monday, it would thus seem that the Flyers are set defensively for the start of the season, and rookie Cam York can rightfully look ahead to a season that should at least start with him in the Lehigh Valley rather than as a top-6 with the Flyers.
Yandle will turn 35 dur- ing training camp, but that belies the physical toll that his body has been subjected to. The guy has played 1,032 regular season hockey games, and there seems to be no limit to his durability. Of all those games, Yandle has played his last 915 ... in a row. His iron man streak is the second-longest in NHL history now, with Doug Jarvis’ run of 964 games being one of the most honored records in the sport.
With the same kind of injury luck that he’s been blessed with through his many years in Phoenix, New York and Florida, Yandle should be on track to break that longstanding record in the coming season.
Meanwhile, the hunt for a free agent backup goalie continues, with plenty of speculation that longtime Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, a friend of (still) Flyers starter Carter Hart who
has seen the same sports psychologist as the youthful Philly goalie in the past, is perfect to fit the bill. Indeed, Holtby is only 31. He was bought out of his contract with the Vancouver Canucks after just spinning out mediocre numbers of 7-11-3 with a 3.67 goalsagainst average and .889 saves percentage. Both individual stats are well off his career numbers.
But Holtby’s relationship with Hart bodes well, and he’s certainly young enough to recover from a lousy year in Vancouver and return to form with the Flyers as a veteran supporting rather than pushing his young friend who had more than a few problems of his own last season.
Another strong move for
general manager Chuck Fletcher would be pondering goalie Frederik Andersen. Also 31, Andersen (6-4, 220 pounds) always played big in the nets and had some very solid seasons playing for Anaheim and Toronto, though last year an injury limited him to 24 games.
Still, he went 13-8-3 with a 2.96 GAA, which was a career-worst.
Another possibility is former San Jose and L.A. Kings goalie Martin Jones, also 31 and a UFA who also uses his 6-4 size to great effect. Jones will be coming off a contract with a cap hit of $5.75 million with the Sharks, while Holtby had been scheduled for a cap hit of $4.3 million in 2021-22 before the Canucks
bought him out. They managed to save some $3.8 million off that cap hit with the buyout.
Although it would be a backup role, it stands to reason that any of those goalies could easily expect a contract paying upwards of an AAV of $4 million or more.
After Yandle’s anticipated signing, Fletcher will be dealing with just under $11 million in projected cap space with which to woo a goalie, sign a bubble player or two that could play with the Phantoms but may require a one-way contract, and finally sign at least one more forward for his club.
It’ll be a tight and tough play that probably will take more than one wild free agency day.