When Ron Hextall left the general manager meetings in New York during the Stanley Cup Final, he told people he was looking for salary cap relief and to make some deals.
Within two weeks, Columbus stepped forward and proposed a swap of R.J. Umberger for Scott Hartnell.
The message Hextall carries into this weekend’s NHL draft at the Wells Fargo Center remains the same: Take someone off my hands.
The Flyers, who are the No. 1 club up against the salary cap in the league, need relief with about $1.86 million available space right now under the mandated $71.1 million limit, according to Capgeek.com.
“I’m not going to make a deal for the sake of making a deal,” Hextall said. “If something makes sense for us, then we’ll do it. As far as predicting, I have no idea.”
The Flyers have had discussions with Vinny Lecavalier’s agent, Kent Hughes, about whether he fits moving forward given the club’s overload at center and Lecavalier’s inability to get comfortable at wing, especially on the left side, a position of need for the Flyers (see story).
If the Flyers could find a way to move Lecavalier’s $4.5 million salary this week and also get the veteran center to waive his no-movement clause, they will do it. He has four years left on the deal, so the Flyers might have to eat some money.
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With free agency less than two weeks away, Hextall is severely impeded from doing anything without cap relief.
In fact, Hextall admitted it doesn’t make any sense for the Flyers to interview prospective free agents during the grace period the new CBA allows -- which began Wednesday -- because they don’t have enough money to sign anyone.
Hextall comes into this NHL draft with a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.
“You could look at it that way or you could look at it the other way where teams might be looking to grab something off you because you do need relief,” Hextall said.
“That is what I kind of put out there. We do need relief and if you have any ideas, give me a shout. It’s not an option, but there are teams out there that need help. We’ll see where it goes.”
The cap floor (minimum) is $44 million and there were four clubs under that at mid-week.
So keep in mind during this draft the Flyers aren’t looking so much to “add” to their NHL roster with a veteran player, as much as “losing” a contract to gain them space.
Historically, the Flyers have made some big moves at the draft and always look to make something happen.
Of course, they completed the Hartnell trade this week before the draft began and also re-signed Brayden Schenn. They’ve already made some news.
Another thing to watch in the first round is the possibility of the Flyers moving down from their pick at No. 17 if they can acquire an additional pick in the second round.
They would only do this if they can’t move up and an opportunity presents itself going the other direction (see story).
“What do we need to make it worth our while, so at this point you get a face on it, so if we're moving back we'll get a face on what we think we need to move back and how many picks we can move back,” Hextall said.
“‘OK, we're giving up essentially this type of guy and now we're adding this type and this type.' You almost view it just like a trade. 'Would I trade this one asset for these two?'”
Hextall considers this an average draft, another reason to move down under the right circumstances (see story).
“It's a good draft, but not a great draft,” he said. “It's funny you talk to the amateur scouts every year and four out of five years are bad drafts … then that one year's good draft. The one year is the exception. Four out of five are pretty much the average draft.”