Flyers free-agent target: RW Chris Stewart

Share

Each day from now until July 1, the day free agency begins, Tom Dougherty and Tim Riday will profile some of the NHL's top impending free agents and project their likelihood of signing with the Flyers.

Chris Stewart, right wing
Age: 27
Height: 6-2
Weight: 231
Last team: Minnesota Wild
2014-15 cap hit: $4.15 million/$2.075 million*

(NOTE: Stewart was traded from Buffalo to Minnesota. The Sabres ate half of his contract. His Minnesota cap hit was $2.075 million. His total hit on his contract was $4.15 million.)

Scouting report
Selected with the 16th pick in the 2006 NHL draft by the Colorado Avalanche, Stewart has been a difficult player to figure out. He’s a big, physical power forward who can skate, has soft hands and plays power-play minutes. If needed, he can play penalty-kill minutes, too.

The holdup with Stewart is he’s never been able to get back to the level of production he showed in his second NHL season with Colorado, when he posted 28 goals and 64 points in 77 games. He has a tremendous amount of talent, but the inconsistency with his game is maddening.

Colorado packaged Stewart with Kevin Shattenkirk and a second-round pick on Feb. 19, 2011 to St. Louis to acquire defenseman Erik Johnson, Jay McClement and a first-rounder. While Shattenkirk has developed into an excellent offensive D-man, Stewart didn’t pan out in St. Louis.

Stewart netted 15 goals and was nearly a point-per-game player in 26 games with the Blues after the trade, but failed to keep that pace up in his remaining two-plus seasons in St. Louis. He spent two full years there before being traded to Buffalo in a package for Ryan Miller in February 2014.

He played 61 games last season with the Sabres — scoring 11 goals and 14 assists — before again being traded to Minnesota at the trade deadline. He finished the season racking up 11 points in 20 games with the Wild and tallied two assists in eight playoff games in Minnesota.

During the lockout that shortened the 2012-13 season, Stewart played with Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds in Europe for Eispiraten Crimmitschau in Germany’s second-tier league and HC Liberec in the Czech Extraliga. The two are longtime friends going back to youth hockey.

Dougherty's projection
While much can be made about the Flyers' needing a top-line left winger — they do — they also need a second-line winger, too. I view Stewart as a guy who’s hitting the market with little leverage. He’s not going to score a huge contract because his play hasn’t demanded it.

He’s extremely talented but often inconsistent. Teams do overpay on July 1, but I’m not sure a team will hand Stewart a contract he wants. His previous deal was two years for $8.3 million with a $4.15 million cap hit. In the cap world, teams are more careful about the contracts they hand out.

Unless a team needing to reach the floor throws the bank at Stewart, I don’t see him getting a big contract and don’t see a team giving him upward of $4 million. It might be better for Stewart to find a situation in which he can excel, take a one-year deal and prove himself. Enter the Flyers.

The Flyers found success last season with Michael Del Zotto on a one-year deal. If that’s something Stewart would consider, it’s something the Flyers should think about, too. The Flyers desperately need wingers, but they also have to be smart. I think Stewart could fit here.

I know the Stewart-Simmonds friendship doesn’t mean Stewart will reach his potential and flip the switch in becoming a consistent player. But it could happen. They need scoring help, and Stewart can assist in that area. I think the Flyers might sniff around on Stewart. They should.

Riday's projection
With his combination of size, soft hands and physicality, you'd think Stewart would be a force to be reckoned with. He had "tailor-made power forward" written all over him coming out of the OHL, but, aside from the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, has been very pedestrian over the course of his seven-year NHL career.

Which brings us to the Flyers. Remember their biggest crutch last year? The dreaded word that seemed to find its way into almost every article: consistency. Do they really want to add a forward who has already suited up for five NHL clubs at the age of 27, is constantly mentioned in trade rumors and has struggled to produce on a nightly basis?

Unless he agrees to a short-term contract for much less than the $4.15 million he earned last season, I don't see a scenario where Flyers GM Ron Hextall would or should target Stewart. The team needs help on the left wing. Stewart is predominantly a right winger and isn't the strongest two-way player. That won't fly with new coach Dave Hakstol.

Sure, Stewart could be a "low-risk, high-reward" signing but I'm not so sure the Flyers are looking for another reclamation project. The Flyers went after Del Zotto last season because they were desperate to add a defenseman after learning Kimmo Timonen had blood clots in his lungs and leg. Are they that desperate this offseason to add a winger? Not so much. The team will likely have a similiar look to the 2014-15 version of the Flyers, though Hextall did say adding a "skilled winger" is on the top of his "wish list" this offseason. But I don't think Stewart fits that mold.

If R.J. Umberger and Vinny Lecavalier are still around, adding Stewart to the mix could be a recipe for disaster. I'd rather give Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn more room to grow offensively, place Michael Raffl on the top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek and rely on a healthy Wayne Simmonds for scoring on the second line. At least for next year. I'll pass on Stewart.

Contact Us