Defenseman Randy Jones Claimed By Kings

Thursday, October, 29, 2009

By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com

Randy Jones won’t be going back on the Flyers’ roster.

The defenseman was claimed Thursday morning by the Los Angeles Kings on re-entry waivers. That means Jones’ $2.75 million cap hit will be split between the Flyers and Kings, who must pay the $15,000 waiver claim price as well

In other words, the Flyers just took a $1.375 million cap hit for a player they lost on re-entry. When Gagne returns and his $5.25 million salary goes back on the cap, the Flyers will once again be facing a situation with little cap room.

Financially, it was a huge gamble and the Flyers lost.

“He would have helped our team but that’s the risk you take,” general manager Paul Holmgren said. “What are you going to do? … Those are the rules. We knew the risks going in.”

Holmgren said a couple clubs asked about him recently, but no one asked the Flyers to put him on re-entry so he could be claimed.

Flyers coach John Stevens had talked earlier in the morning about using Jones this weekend in the lineup against Carolina. That won’t happen, now. He’s a King.

Jones won’t be a stranger in Los Angeles. He will join head coach Terry Murray, who was his defensive coach here in Philadelphia as an assistant under both Stevens and Ken Hitchcock.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Jones was entering his sixth season as a Flyer. He appeared in 217 games (no including 22 in the playoffs), notching 13 goals, 56 assists for 69 points. He was on the final year of a two-year, $5.5 million contract.

With the 28-year-old Jones leaving and Simon Gagne going on long-term injury, the Flyers’ salary cap now stands at $50.9 million.

Even without Jones, a defensive change is coming. Stevens will re-unite Ryan Parent with Kimmo Timonen, breaking up the Timonen-Braydon Coburn pair that has had a terrible start of the season. Timonen is -10 and Coburn is -9.

“They may get some playing time together,” Stevens said. “That pair is having a little bit of trouble there and sometimes if you switch it up a bit, give Ryan some time there, it was a good pairing last year. We could see a mixture of pairs as we move through the hockey game.”

Timonen expressed enormous frustration after Tuesday’s 4-2 loss in Washington with how his season has begun. At times. the pair has been victimized by some bad luck with deflections, but Coburn has played very poorly, which in turn affects both players’ plus/minus.

“Kimmo is a proud guy … [but] you have to look past the numbers,” Stevens said. “Sometimes the puck goes in the net and the guy is in the right position. There’s nothing any more you can do about it.

“But at the end of the day, that minus number, especially for a defenseman, is a number you never want to see.”

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net