May I get-in on this discussion of GM Holmgren? To balance the negative with some positive?
My guess is that Homer has pressure from his boss to win now ! Homer is trying to plug holes caused by the bad start and the injuries - hence, adding Knuble and Gagne - to eek into the playoffs where anything can happen, such as a hot goaltender or a surge by the young core players. Of course, with limited opportunity to get big-time players via trade, these moves are inconsequential.
My guess is that Homer knows that in the coming off-season he will rid the team of UFAs Gagne, Fedotenko, Knuble, Shelley, Foster, Walker, Leighton, Boucher.
With the 2 Amnesty Buy-Outs (Briere and Talbot) and with Pronger placed on LTIR, he knows he has big Cap Space to get maybe 3 quality UFAs and fill-in the other 4th line and #2 goaltender holes. Maybe even Bryz is gone with one of the Buy-Outs - we will see.
I don't believe Homer has suddenly gone from a top GM to a bad GM. He has shown to be smart and resourceful. If his boss, the Chairman, leaves him do his job, Homer will have a great off-season in this coming unique off-season.
There is an excellent core here. I believe Homer will complete the re-tooling of this team in this off-season. And, we will enjoy the ride in July.
Hartnell - Giroux - Voracek
McGinn* - B.Schenn - Simmonds
Xxxxxxx - Couturier - Read
Xxxxxxx - Laughton - Xxxxxxxx
Rinaldo
* With obtaining a second top-9 LW, McGinn could drop down to the 4th line.
Timonen - L.Schenn (RH)
Grossmann - Coburn
Meszaros - Xxxxxxxx (RH) (Seth Jones?)
Gustafsson
Bryzgalov (or Xxxxxxx)
Xxxxxxx
Just as B.Schenn finally arrived, so the 20-year-old Couturier will arrive. Patience.
However, if Homer has the opportunity to trade for a quality young defenceman (with a team heavy on defencemen), for Couturier, he will make that trade, IMO.
With adding these 3 or 4 key quality pieces, the Xxxxxxxx's above), the potential for a great team is there.
I believe in Holmgren. His overall track record gives me confidence in him.
The re-tooling has already begun. Homer got these 6 players for Richards and Carter:
Simmonds
B.Schenn
Grossman (traded LA’s draft pick)
Voracek
Couturier
Cousins (Columbus draft pick)
They are five core players and a highly touted prospect.
Homer ‘won out’ over other team’s GMs and signed free agent Read.
Along with Giroux and Hartnell already in place, Homer has one of the best ‘top-2’ lines in the NHL and a good 3rd line when everyone is healthy. The Flyers were 2nd in the NHL in goals scored last season: 260 (van Riemsdyk only contributed 11 of those).
As we all know, the hardest position player to get is a quality defenceman. Trading a draft pick to get Meszaros from a Cap trouble team was excellent. Trading for L.Schenn (RH) was a good step. He is young and has good up-side. Young Gustafsson is promising, is getting better each month, and has good up-side. The biggest challenge currently is another quality defenceman.
Homer is smart, resourceful, aggressive, and risk taking. That is the type of GM we want. He has shown to be a think-outside-the-box GM. He was the resourceful pioneer in:
1) being the first GM to craft multi-year graduated contracts, front loaded then steep drop, to water-down the Cap Hit. He beat the Cap system by finding a loop-hole. Other GMs complained. Then the other GMs began to do the same in subsequent seasons.
2) he was the first GM to aggressively trade for quality pending UFA players in June, directly after the season, and successfully signing them before they hit UFA on July 1 (Timonen and Hartnell). He beat all the other GMs to them. In following seasons, the other GMs began doing this.
Homer won-out over other GMs to get key players Pronger and Jagr.
Homer was aggressive to try to get prized UFAs Suter and Parise with 100 M contracts. He was aggressive to try to get the best defenceman in the NHL, Weber, with an Offer Sheet. How often do GMs use Offer Sheets? He came close, and we laud him for it.
Sure, all trades, signings, and maneuvers, don’t work out. Not for any GM. But, looking at the big picture over the years (not the short-term knee-jerk reaction), Homer has been excellent.
We will see what he does in this unique summer. It will be a fun ride.
