They’re keeping him.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has decided not to buy out forward Sam Gagner for the purposes of clearing more cap space.
Gagner, acquired in the bizarre salary cap circumvention deal after the NHL draft on Saturday involving Chris Pronger’s dead contract money and fellow defenseman Nicklas Grossmann, told CSNPhilly.com that the Flyers called him to welcome him aboard for the coming season.
They had until Tuesday to buy him out.
“I’m very excited and motivated,” Gagner said in a phone interview. “I’m looking forward to having a great year.”
He admitted not getting much rest the last 72 hours wondering what the Flyers' decision would be.
“I didn’t sleep much,” the 25-year-old said. “You are worrying where you are going to be. Now that the fact Philly had a chance to go over everything and keep me, I’ve very excited.
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“It’s a great organization with a lot of history. They have a great young team, and it’s going to be fun to be there.”
After making the trade on Saturday, Hextall said the club had to consider whether it made sense to buy Gagner out to gain much-needed additional cap space. Gagner will earn $3.2 million this season in the final year of his contract.
The Flyers could have picked $2.14 million on their cap had they bought him out. The Flyers currently have slightly over $5.23 million in available cap space for the coming season. The cap limit is $71.4 million.
Though he played center in nearly all of his eight years in the NHL, Gagner has played left wing and seems to be a better fit there. The Flyers have a pressing need to beef up the left side of their roster to give them more options among their top nine forwards.
“I’ve played there before and played there a little bit this year,” Gagner said. “Mikkel Boedker was a natural right wing and whenever I was on his line, I was on the left side. I played everywhere [this] year — left, right and center. I’m kinda comfortable anywhere.
“When I play with skill players, I really thrive under that environment regardless of center or wing. If it comes down to me playing left wing, I can do that.”
Asked whether he felt like celebrating after the stress of the moment, he said, "No."
“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “The last few days have been a little stressful and I need to unwind a little bit. Take a few deep breaths.
“Now that I am in Philly, the work starts. I got a lot motivation coming into their camp this [fall] and help this team get back to the playoffs and be a big part of it.”