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.
Erik Condra, right wing
Age: Turns 28 in August
Height: 6-0
Weight: 190
Last team: Ottawa Senators
2014-15 cap hit: $1.250 million
Scouting report
An active defensive-minded winger, Condra is incredibly industrious. He plays a physical game and is a stout penalty killer. Points don't come easy to him because of his lack of size and strength, however.
Condra, who studied pre-med in psychology and played four years of college hockey at Notre Dame, was selected in the seventh round of the 2006 NHL draft by the Ottawa Senators.
After a little less than a year and a half in the AHL with the Binghamton Senators, Condra received his first call-up in the 2010-11 season. He scored his first two NHL goals on Brian Boucher in a 4-1 win over the Flyers on Feb. 26, 2011, and had another two-goal game a month later against Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils.
At the conclusion of the season, he was returned to Binghamton for the AHL playoffs. He scored five goals and had 17 points in 23 games to help the team win the 2011 Calder Cup.
He's been a regular with the Senators for the past four seasons, recording 33 goals and 54 assists in 299 career NHL games overall.
NHL
Dougherty's projection
The Flyers need to add skill on the wing. They also need depth at the position, too. I get it. What they don't need is another winger who cannot score goals. Condra is a fine NHL player, and an excellent third- or-fourth liner, but he doesn't bring much skill to the table. He doesn't score enough. He doesn't have the potential to score enough, either. He might be a cheap option for the Flyers to consider, but at the end of the day, he's just another body.
Riday's projection
Let's make this clear: Flyers GM Ron Hextall would not be bringing in Condra to score goals. He'd be sent out for defensive-zone faceoffs and would likely be asked to shut down the opposition's top players.
OK, that's out of the way. At the right price, Condra would actually be a nice fit as a bottom-six forward with the Flyers. The only interest the team should have in him, however, is if it elects to allow Chris VandeVelde and/or Ryan White to test free agency.
Condra knows where to be on the ice and always has his stick in passing lanes. He'd be a welcome addition to the Flyers' penalty kill, which finished 27th in the league in effectiveness last season (77.1 percent). Pair him with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and the PK could improve drastically. Can't get much worse anyway.
It's no secret the Flyers are lacking depth on the wing, too. Condra mostly plays the right side of the ice, but that isn't an issue. He wouldn't push Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds or Matt Read for top-line minutes.
Purely for depth, Condra is a winger the Flyers should consider. He's coming off a very reasonable contract and won't command much of a raise. That is, of course, if a bottom-feeder trying to get to the cap floor doesn't come calling.