Another Flyers season ends but the future remains bright

It really wasn't supposed to happen this way for the Flyers, at least not this season.  No, I'm not talking about how the Flyers weren't supposed to lose to the Devils; the Flyers weren't supposed to even get to the second round this season.

After making drastic changes last offseason, the Flyers instantly entered a rebuilding mode, one that will feature a number of young players who are years away from their primes.  Sure, the Flyers were still supposed to be competitive but they really weren't expected to be serious Cup contenders until the kids had a chance to develop.  Really, anything that happened this season was gravy.

So why is it still so disappointing to see them lose to the Devils on Tuesday and get ousted from the playoffs?  Mostly because of how much fun it was to see these upstart Flyers stick it to the Penguins in one of the most entertaining series of games in many years.  To follow up all of that entertainment with four straight losses to the Devils in a series of games that were very uneventful was what was so disappointing.

The future is very bright with these Flyers. Claude Giroux could still get better.  The 8 rookies that hogged all the ice time this season should only improve with even more experience.  Chris Pronger hopefully will return.  Ilya Bryzgalov will hopefully keep his head on straight.  There is a lot to like about the future of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Despite all of this, it still hurts to see them lose to a Devils team that doesn't really feel like a great team. Hey, we'll always have that Penguins series.
(Getty Images)

Chris Pronger is done for the season

If the Flyers want to win a Cup this season, they are going to have to do it without Chris Pronger.  The Flyers have announced that their captain, who has been out since November 19th, will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs due to severe concussion symptoms.

This is a huge blow to the Flyers, who lose one of their biggest advantages they have over opponents: their depth on defense.  Since Pronger is on LTIR, the Flyers will have some cap space to acquire someone of significance but he surely won't have the same impact as Pronger has in the back end.

The bigger question could be if Pronger will ever play hockey again.  It's likely too early to tell but if he has already been ruled out for the next 5-6 months, he must be dealing with some very serious issues.  Here's hoping the Flyers get their captain back next season if for no other reason than they are paying him big money for 5 more years.

Chris Pronger takes stick to face, will miss at least two weeks

Tonight we got yet another example of why NHL players should all wear visors.  In the Flyers win over the Maple Leafs on Monday, Chris Pronger had a scary incident where Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski's stick nailed him right in the eye as he was following through on a shot.  Pronger hurried off the ice and wasn't heard from again for the rest of the night as Flyers fans feared the worst.

Luckily for Pronger, the initial reports are promising, and while he does have a cut on the outside of his right eye, there likely won't be any serious long-term effects.  The Flyers are saying that Pronger will need to rest for the next few days before he can begin exercising with the hopes that he will be ready to return to the team within two weeks.

Things could certainly have been much worse for Pronger.  Flyers GM Paul Holmgren has already stated that Pronger will wear a visor when he returns to the ice and hopefully he saves his face and continues to wear it for the remainder of his career.
(Getty Images)

Chris Pronger named Flyers captain

In a move that has been expected ever since the Mike Richards trade, the Flyers have officially named Chris Pronger team captain.  The team also named Danny Briere and Kimmo Timonen the alternate captains.

For Pronger, this is the third team he has captained as he previously held the role with the Blues and Ducks.  Hopefully he will be healthy enough to play at the start of the season.

Flyers lose Pronger for the rest of the regular season

Just a few days removed from Paul Holmgren telling us not to worry about Chris Pronger's injury, the Flyers dropped this news on us today: Pronger will have surgery on his right hand and will miss 3-4 weeks, which covers the rest of the regular season. Fortunately, Pronger should be fine to return in the playoffs and, if anything, he will be plenty refreshed for a long playoff run.

While many Flyers fans thought to panic initially, it's important to remember that Pronger has already missed time this season and the team did pretty well without him. Of course the Flyers would prefer to have their defensive anchor on the ice as they try to hold on to the number one seed in the East but they have plenty of defensive depth, with the newly acquired Nick Boynton stepping in to play on a regular basis. Jumping into the 7th defenseman spot will be Erik Gustafsson, who was called up from the Phantoms. You may remember Gustafsson from his one game stint back in February.

The loss of Pronger does somewhat diminish the Flyers chances at getting the top seed in the East but it should have no affect on how far they get in the playoffs this season. As we have seen time and time again, seeding in hockey means very little, with tops seeds getting knocked off on a regular basis. The Flyers are going to be too busy worrying about turning around their play on the ice to worry about not having Pronger. Perhaps not having him out there will even help the team play good hockey again as they step their game up to replace their best defensive player.

Chris Pronger to have surgery, miss 4-6 weeks

It was all going so well for the Flyers, who sit atop the NHL with 47 points. They got some bad news today, though, as the team learned the fate of defenseman Chris Pronger, who injured his right foot against the Canadiens on Wednesday: he has a broken foot that will require surgery and cause him to miss 4 to 6 weeks.

Luckily for the Flyers, they have one of the deepest group of defensemen in the league. With Pronger out for at least a month, 7th d-man Oskars Bartulis will step into the lineup. While the Flyers will miss their best defenseman, they can give more minutes to guys like Andrej Mezsaros and Matt Carle and there shouldn't be that much of a drop-off.

While injuries to star players are never a good thing, it's better that Pronger suffers an injury like this now rather than later in the season. With the timetable given, Pronger will return sometime in late January and will still have plenty of time to get up to full strength for the playoffs, which start in April. The Flyers also have a long layoff in late December, so Pronger won't even miss more than 15 games or so. The defense should be able to hold down the fort until the big man returns.

Pronger nets goal in final seconds as Flyers knock off Chicago

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

It's only March and it was just one game but the Flyers made quite a statement on Saturday when they took on the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Simply hanging with the Blackhawks for the entire game was impressive enough but the Flyers managed to hang around just long enough to pull off an impressive come-from-behind win.

Trailing 2-1 late in the third period, the Blackhawks had all the momentum until, of all people, Scott Hartnell (who hadn't scored since January 20th) managed to tie the game up. Then, just when the game looked to be headed to overtime, Claude Giroux fed a streaking Chris Pronger who tapped in the game-winner with two seconds left to give the Flyers a 3-2 win.

It all started in net for the Flyers as Michael Leighton played one of his best games of the season, stopping 39 shots, a handful of them of the highlight variety. While Leighton is still struggling with his consistency, games like today show why the Flyers have faith in him. The Blackhawks have a slew of offensive weapons and Leighton managed to stonewall them for most of the afternoon to give the Flyers a chance to pull it out in the end. If Leighton can put together a string of games like today, he will really raise the confidence level of the players and the fans.

With the win, the Flyers inched closer to the 5th seed in the East. With a game in hand, the Flyers now trail the Senators by only 3 points. A few more games like today and the Flyers will not only leapfrog the Senators, they might be looking at overtaking the Devils for the 4th seed.

Flyers at the Olympics: the Wrap-up

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Well, if that wasn't enough to convince the NHL to let its players go back to the Olympics in 2014, then I don't know what would. With the best players playing in huge games in front of millions of fans, it's impossible to call it anything but a success. Time will tell if it leads to higher ratings in the NHL but at the very least the Olympics have to be looked at as something for players and fans to salivate for every 4 years.

As Philadelphia fans, we should be very proud of how the Flyers fared in the Olympics. The Flyers sent 4 representatives to Vancouver and 3 went home with medals, including 2 with gold. Every one of the Flyers at the Olympics was a key contributor for their club, whether it was matching up against the opponents top lines (Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Oskars Bartulis), putting in work on the penalty kill (Mike Richards, Timonen) or just logging a ton of ice time (Timonen, Bartulis). While it kills me that Sidney Crosby of the Penguins will be looked at as the hero of the Olympics, we can be proud that our Flyers had a huge impact in some of the biggest hockey games of the decade.

Here is the statistical breakdown of the four Flyers who played in the 2010 Olympics:
Now let's get back to the regular season games. The Flyers take on the Lightning on Tuesday, and as much fun as the Olympics were, I can't wait to see the orange and black back on the ice once again.

Flyers at the Olympics: the Medal Round

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

So close! After a great run, Team USA came up just short in their quest for a gold medal. The US's loss was the gain of two Flyers, however. Here is a recap of how your Flyers did during the Medal Round:

Medal Round theme: Why did it have to be Crosby?

Gold Medal Game:
Canada 3, USA 2, OT After starting slow, the US clawed their way back into this one, getting a goal from Zach Parise in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. Ryan Miller was stellar in net all game long and only made one bad play; unfortunately, that bad play was in overtime on a shot by Sidney Crosby that won gold for Canada. While the US deserves a ton of credit for overcoming the odds and getting the silver medal, it was nice to see them not be happy with coming in second place after they lost the game. It's important to remember that this US team is really young and they just got a ton of experience on the world stage. If NHL players are going to Russia in 2014, the US has to be considered one of the favorites.

As for the Flyers in the game, both Mike Richards and Chris Pronger did their part to earn the gold. Richards had an assist on the first goal of the game by Jonathan Toews and he really settled into his checking role nicely for Canada. Richards played just under 15 minutes in the game and also had two shots on goal. Despite being largely criticized for his play in the tournament, Pronger put together a nice effort, leading the Canadian team with 23 minutes of ice time. He wasn't always out there when the Canadians needed to shut down the US but he was never on the ice when a goal was scored against him on Sunday. Let's hope Richards and Pronger can take this experience with Canada back to the Flyers and lead them to a championship of their own.

Bronze Medal Game:
Finland 5, Slovakia 3 Kimmo Timonen and the Fins knocked off Slovakia to earn the bronze medal. Timonen continued to be one of the best players on the ice for Finland, notching a team high 26 minutes of ice time and a pair of assists. He was a great player throughout the tournament, whatever the Fins needed him to do, Timonen did it. Hopefully he didn't get too worn down by the big minutes in pressure situations and now he can come back to the Flyers and continue to be his usual consistent self.

That's it for my daily game recaps of how the Flyers did on each day of the Olympics. Look for a complete statistical recap of each Flyer in the Olympics coming tomorrow. After that, this blog will return to its regular Flyers programming with the focus on what the orange and black can do to bring home the Cup.

Flyers at the Olympics: the Semifinals

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

USA! USA! We're on to the medal round! Here is a recap of how your Flyers did during the Semifinals:

Semifinals theme: Bring on the rematch

U.S. 6, Finland 1 Talk about an explosion. The usually defensively sound Fins got hammered right out of the gate by the U.S., who scored 6 goals in the first, including 5 in a 5 minute span. The one Flyer in the game, Kimmo Timonen, didn't play terrible, notching a team-leading 23+ minutes of ice time and finishing with a plus/minus of 0, a remarkable feat considering the score. The Fins will still have a chance to take home a medal on Saturday when the take on Slovakia. As for the U.S., they played about as well as they possibly could as they tuned up for their rematch with the Canadians. They are going to need the offensive roll to continue if they are going to knock off their North American rivals for the second time and take home the gold.

Canada 3, Slovakia 2 This one sure got interesting at the end. Canada seemed to be coasting to a win, leading 3-0 halfway through the 3rd period, when Slovakia started their comeback, scoring a pair goals to make things interesting. Canada managed to just enough to withstand the Slovakia attack and advance to a rematch with the U.S. with gold on the line. As for the two Flyers in the game, both Chris Pronger and Mike Richards had solid games. Pronger had his highest scoring game of the Olympics, picking up 2 assists in 18 minutes on the ice. While Richards didn't score a point, he did have three shots on goal in his 12 minutes of ice time. Canada was fortunate to get past Slovakia, who played a great last 10 minutes of desperation hockey.

Saturday's Bronze Medal Game: Finland (Timonen) vs. Slovakia, 10:00 pm
Sunday's Gold Medal Game: USA vs. Canada (Pronger, Richards), 3:15 pm

Flyers at the Olympics: Quarterfinals

On to the Semifinals! Here is a recap of how your Flyers did during the Quarterfinals:

Quaterfinals theme: Um, Canada is really good

U.S. 2, Switzerland 0 They made us sweat a little more than they should have but the end result is what we expected. After many near-misses and disallowed goals, the U.S. outlasted the Swiss and their stellar goaltender, Jonas Hiller. While the U.S. only had a one goal lead for most of the game, you can't really say they looked past Switzerland considering how tough the Swiss have been to play against this Olympics. Let's hope the U.S. got all the near-misses out of their system as they are set to take on a tough Finland team in the Semifinals.

Canada 7, Russia 3 Was this a hockey game or a football game between two teams with great defenses? Canada definitely came into this one on a mission to just wipe out the Russians early and not look back. While they were certainly helped by some shaky goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov, the Canadian attack looked extremely dangerous as they poured in goal after goal in the first two periods. As for the Flyers playing in the game, both Mike Richards and Chris Pronger registered one assist. Richards played nearly 16 minutes in the game and didn't have a shot on goal and somehow managed to have a 0 plus/minus. Pronger played 14 and a half minutes and didn't do much of note except for a late holding penalty. The Canadians face Slovakia in the Semifinals. I'll be shocked if they slow down the Canadian attack at all.

Finland 2, Czech Republic 0 Kimmo Timonen and the Fins won a tough, low-scoring contest against the Czechs to move into the semifinals. No goals were scored in this game until deep into the third period when Niklas Hagman scored for Finland. Timonen continued his strong play for the Fins, leading the team with nearly 26 minutes of ice time. He has been out on the ice for nearly every big moment for Finland, including when they added the empty netter at the end of the game. Expect to see plenty more of Timonen against the top U.S. lines on Friday.

Slovakia 4, Sweden 3 Slovakia jumped out to a 2 goal lead twice in this game and they hung on in the third period to pull off the minor upset. The only former Flyer to have an impact in this game was Peter Forsberg, who picked up an assist. Some thought that if Forsberg turned in a good performance at the Olympics, he might make a comeback to the NHL. Foppa is clearly a shell of his former self, though, so I'm not sure teams are going to be knocking down his door with offers.

Friday's Semifinal games: Finland vs. U.S., 3:00 pm; Canada vs. Slovakia, 9:30 pm.

Flyers at the Olympics: Day Seven

REUTERS/Shaun Best

The Olympic Tournament is under way! Here is a recap of how the Flyers did on Day 7 of the Olympic Games:

Day 7 theme: Canadians beat up the little guys

Switzerland 3, Belarus 2, SO No Flyers in the first elimination game but it was still a pretty entertaining contest between two evenly matched teams. You knew the Swiss would win once the game went into a shootout because Jonas Hiller is that much better than anything Belarus can throw out there. Up next for the Swiss? Another loss to the US in the quarterfinals.

Canada 8, Germany 2 After scoring only 1 goal in the first period and probably making their entire country nervous, the Canadians exploded in the final two periods against the Germans and cruised into their quaterfinal match with the Russians. Despite being moved off the Sidney Crosby line (as if he's upset by that), Mike Richards had a goal and an assist in just over 10 minutes of ice time. Chris Pronger also had an assist on a Rick Nash goal. The Canadians looked strong but I didn't expect anything less from them against poor Germany.

Czech Republic 3, Latvia 2, OT The first Flyer has been eliminated: Oskars Bartulis of Latvia. Despite making a valiant effort to come back from a 2-0 deficit and forcing overtime, Latvia fell to the Czech Republic after David Krejci scored the game winner. Bartulis played 22 minutes and once again failed to score a point. While he didn't register even a single assist for Latvia throughout the Olympics, Bartulis played a ton of minutes as part on the top defensive pairing and did as well as you could expect. Next up for the Czechs will be Finland.

Slovakia 4, Norway 3 Norway gave them a bit of a scare in the late game but Slovakia hangs on and moves on to face Sweden tomorrow. Former Flyer Michal Handzus had a goal for Slovakia.

Wednesday's Quarterfinal games: USA vs. Switzerland, 3:00 pm; Russia vs. Canada (Chris Pronger, Mike Richards), 7:30 pm; Czech Republic vs. Finland (Timonen), 10:00 pm; Sweden vs. Slovakia, 12:00 am.

Flyers at the Olympics: Day Six

AP PHOTO

What a Day 6 of Olympic hockey! Yeah, no major efforts by the Flyers, but some great action nonetheless:

Day 6 theme: USA! USA!

Late Saturday:
Belarus 5, Germany 3 The Germans ended their preliminary action without picking up a win. Former Flyer Dennis Seidenberg scored a goal for Germany but it wasn't enough to knock off Belarus. The Germans now get the privilege of playing against a pissed off Canadian team in the first round of elimination games. Good luck with that.

Sunday:
Russia 4, Czech Republic 2 No Flyers in this game, either, but it was an intense, hard-fought game between two countries that definitely hate each other. And that hit by Alexander Ovechkin on Jaromir Jagr? OUCH. Hated Penguin Evgeni Malkin netted a pair of goals for the Russians.

U.S. 5, Canada 3 What a game! For more of my thoughts on it, see the previous post. Ryan Miller had to stand on his head but the US made noise when it mattered. As for Mike Richards and Chris Pronger, they were thankfully quiet for Team Canada. Richards had a few good shifts with Rick Nash and Sidney Crosby but he was a poor -2 in his 12 minutes of ice time. Chris Pronger made a bad play that led directly to a US goal and was a -1 in the contest. Neither Richards or Pronger had a point.

Sweden 3, Finland 0 With Sweden's win, the U.S. is now the #1 seed for the Olympic playoff. Obviously, given the shutout, Kimmo Timonen didn't have any points for Finland in 21 minutes of ice time. Former Flyer Peter Forsberg still hasn't registered a point for Sweden. It's safe to say a comeback to the NHL probably isn't in the cards for Forsberg.

Next games are on Tuesday, 2/23: Belarus vs. Switzerland, 3 pm; Germany vs. Canada (Richards, Pronger), 7:30 pm; Latvia (Bartulis) vs. Czech Republic, 10 pm; Norway vs. Slovakia, 12 am.

Flyers at the Olympics: Day Three

(CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images)

Three days in, here is your daily recap of how Flyers players are doing at the 2010 Olympics:

Day 3 theme: The Swiss are good for something besides cocoa and knives!

Late Wednesday:
Czech Republic 3, Slovakia 1 No Flyers in this one but it was interesting to see that Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist. We'll see how he does against some tougher opponents.

Thursday:
U.S. 6, Norway 1 On the scoreboard, it looked like the U.S. rolled yet again, meeting very little resistance from former Flyer Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and the Norwegians. On the ice, though, the Americans didn't put away this weak Norway team like they should have. This game was within reach for Norway until late in the third period when the U.S. tallied three goals to turn the game into a blowout. If the U.S. wants to hang with the big boys in the coming days, they are going to have to put together 60 minutes of solid hockey

Canada 3, Switzerland 2, SO This was by far the best game of the day and of the tournament to this point. The Swiss goaltender, Jonas Hiller, stood on his head for 65 minutes and forced the game to go into a shootout. The Canadian team squeaked out the win after Sidney Crosby finally got one past Hiller but the Swiss really made the rest of the tournament stand up and take notice with their effort. We all know that a hot goaltender can carry you in a tournament situation so the Swiss might be a team to watch for in the coming days. As for the two Flyers on the Canadian roster, Mike Richards and Chris Pronger, neither had a single point. Richards didn't get a ton of minutes in the game but did provide good energy when he was out there. Pronger didn't seem to get quite as much ice time in this one for whatever reason.

Games tomorrow (2/19): Slovakia vs. Russia, 12 am; Belarus vs. Sweden, 3 pm; Czech Republic vs. Latvia (Bartulis), 7:30 pm; Finland (Timonen) vs. Germany, 12 am.

Flyers at the Olympics: Day One

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

This is your first in a series of daily recaps of how Flyers players are doing at the 2010 Olympics:

The theme for day one: Go North America!

United States 3, Switzerland 1 The U.S. doesn't feature any Flyers players but they cruised past the Swiss behind solid goaltending by Ryan Miller and timely goals. Former Flyer Luca Sbisa is on the Swiss team and didn't do much.

Canada 8, Norway 0 There was speculation early in the day that Mike Richards wasn't going to play for Canada in this one which would have been quite a surprise. Richards had practiced with Canada's top power play line so it didn't make much sense for him not to play. Fortunately, Richards did suit up and he even netted a goal (although he should have had two--he missed a gimme earlier in the game). Chris Pronger also saw a ton of ice time on Canada's top defensive unit and picked up an assist when Dany Heatley deflected his shot from the point for a goal. Overall, this game was simply a breeze for Canada as Norway put up a fight for a period but then folded against the mighty Canadian attack.

Games tomorrow (2/17): Russia vs. Latvia (Bartulis), 12 am; Finland (Timonen) vs. Belarus, 3pm; Sweden vs. Germany, 7:30 pm; Czech Republic vs. Slovakia, 12 am. Check back tomorrow to see how Oskars Bartulis does against the potent Russian offense in the late game tonight.

Your guide to the Flyers at the Olympics

We've officially hit a lull in Philly sports action. The Eagles have long been eliminated, the Phillies are just getting under way, the Sixers are more interested in trading for next year and the Flyers are off for two weeks for the Winter Olympic break. Fortunately, just because the Flyers aren't playing any games as a team, there are still a few individuals headed to Vancouver to represent their countries.

While Jeff Carter just missed being added to Canada's roster today and Matt Carle arguably should be on the U.S. roster, there will be four current Flyers playing in the Olympics this year. Here's what to expect from them:

Oskars Bartulis, D, Latvia: Will be top defender on a weak team
Chris Pronger, D, Canada: Could be on top D pairing for Gold favorite
Mike Richards, C, Canada: Expect more of a checking/PK role
Kimmo Timonen, D, Finland: Should get plenty of ice time

If you are feeling a little more nostalgic, there are also ten former Flyers at the Olympics:

Peter Forsberg, C (Sweden)
Michal Handzus, C (Slovakia)
Lasse Kukkonen, D (Finland)
Antero Niitymaki, G (Finland)
Joni Pitkanen, D (Finland)
Branko Radivojevic, W (Slovakia)
Luca Sbisa, D (Switzerland)
Dennis Seidenberg, D (Germany)
Patrick Thoreson, W (Norway)
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, D (Norway)

While all indications are that it's Canada's Gold to lose, there should be some entertaining games along the way, especially the Canada/U.S. and Canada/Russia tilts. As for who you should root for in the Olympics, that's your call. Despite not having any Flyers on the roster, I'll certainly be rooting for the U.S. but I'll have my eye on how the Philly guys are doing. As long as the U.S. has a decent showing (Top 4) and none of the Flyers get hurt, I will consider the Olympics a success.

It all kicks off tomorrow at 3 pm when the U.S. takes on Switzerland and it ends on Sunday, February 28th in the Gold Medal game. Click here for the complete Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Schedule.

Five Flyers to take part in 2010 Olympics, none for Team USA

Following the Winter Classic, USA Hockey announced the players that will represent the United States in the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver. Unfortunately, no Flyers were selected to play for Team USA. After their hot starts this season, both James van Riemsdyk and Matt Carle were believed to be in the running for a spot but both came up short. Goaltender Brian Boucher is the only other American on the Flyers roster and his injuries this season likely eliminated whatever slim chance he had of making the team.

There have been five Flyers selected by their respective countries to play in the Olympics in February, four of them defensemen:

Oskars Bartulis, D (Latvia)
Chris Pronger, D (Canada)
Mike Richards, C (Canada)
Kimmo Timonen, D (Finland)
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, D (Norway)

Jeff Carter was also chosen as an alternate for Canada.

The NHL is investigating Chris Pronger's contract

Remember that deal that Chris Pronger signed with the Flyers last month? The NHL may have a problem with it. As you may recall, the Flyers signed Pronger to a 7 year extension, one that will keep him under contract through 2017, when he will be 42. The deal is worth a total of 34.45 million dollars and will give the Flyers a cap hit of just under 5 million dollars.

Here is how the deal breaks down for each season:
2010/2011: 7.6 million
2011/2012: 7.6 million
2012/2013: 7.2 million
2013/2014: 7 million
2014/2015: 4 million
2015/2016: 525,000
2016/2017: 525,000

The NHL's problem with the deal seems to be how it completely falls off at the end, Pronger will be making next to nothing in the last two seasons of the deal. Since this contract extension goes into affect after Pronger turns 35, the Flyers will still have a cap of just under 5 million dollars for the life of the deal, so the issue the NHL seems to have with it is how the Flyers used the minuscule dollar amount in the last two seasons to severely drop the average amount Pronger will make per season. For the first five years of the contract, the average per season is 6.68 million, so the 525K that he makes the last two years looks basically thrown in to give the Flyers a smaller cap hit.

Of course, since Pronger will be pushing 40 at the end of the deal, he will likely retire and won't care that he won't be making big money anymore, and that's the biggest problem the NHL has with the contract. The NHL is investigating Pronger's deal to see if the Flyers and Pronger had an agreement ahead of time that Pronger will retire after the '14/'15 season and the Flyers convinced him to add a couple of meaningless years for meaningless money at the end just to lower the overall cap hit. While many would see this as a smart move by the Flyers, the NHL feels it would a violation to the "spirit of the CBA". If the NHL feels that the Flyers did something wrong, they could decide to void the contract and even could take draft picks away from the Flyers.

The NHL is also investigating the Blackhawks 12 year deal with Marian Hossa. That contract looks way more fishy because if Hossa retires anytime before the end of the deal, the Blackhawks wouldn't have any cap hit at all because he signed the contract when he was younger than 35. Hossa's deal lasts until 2021 and has 4 years tacked onto the end with little money to help lower the cap hit.

As far as the Flyers are concerned, there is likely nothing to worry about. The Flyers will have the cap hit through the remainder of Pronger's contract no matter what and it's nearly impossible for the NHL to prove that there was an agreement in place ahead of time as to when Pronger would retire. The Flyers did nothing that violates the rules of the CBA, so it seems to me that if the NHL doesn't want contracts like this in the future, they need to change the rules. The NHL can't punish the Flyers for being smart enough to figure out how to pay a player what he is worth yet minimize the cap hit for the team.

Flyers sign Pronger to 7 year contract extension

Get used to that image of seeing Chris Pronger in a Flyers uniform, because he is here to stay. According to several sources, the Flyers have extended Pronger's contract, which would have ended after next season, seven more years in a deal believed to be worth 5 million per season. Pronger is 34, so this contract will have him playing out the rest of his career as a Flyer.

The details of the contract have yet to be released, but if the Flyers actually got him signed at 5 million per season, that's excellent value. Pronger is still an elite defenseman, and he will be for the next two or three years, so they are getting a great deal now on a star player. A few years down the road this deal might not look as good, especially if Pronger is turning 40 and starting to break down, but the Flyers likely had to get him to agree to a few extra years to get him a 5 million a year. This makes the trade for Pronger, where the Flyers severely mortgaged their future, look that much better. Having Pronger patrolling the back end in Philly for the next several years is going to be fun to watch.

Update: It looks like the contract is 7 years, just under 35 million. We now have the details of the contract, via ESPN.com. The contract starts out huge and then tapers down to practically nothing at the end. The NHL salary cap system works out such that the cap hit each year is just the average of the total deal, so Pronger will be about a 5 million dollar cap hit for the life of the contract.

Previous contract:
2009/2010: 6.25 million
Extension:
2010/2011: 7.6 million
2011/2012: 7.6 million
2012/2013: 7.2 million
2013/2014: 7 million
2014/2015: 4 million
2015/2016: 525,000
2016/2017: 525,000

Your 2009/2010 Flyers, as of now

It's time to move on, whether you thought they gave up too much or not, Chris Pronger is a Flyer. So, what's the next move for the Orange and Black? NHL free agency starts on July 1st, but don't expect the Flyers to be too active. According to GM Paul Holmgren, the Flyers have about 5 million dollars under the cap, and they will have to stretch that money to fill the remaining holes on their roster. The Flyers currently have 11 forwards, 6 defensemen and 1 goaltender under contract for next year, so they essentially need at least one player from each position.

So, what players might fill those remaining spots? The Flyers are talking with free agent Mike Knuble about the possibility of bringing him back for next year, but it would likely need to be for a hometown discount because the Flyers still have to bring in a backup goaltender and possibly a 7th defenseman. There have also been rumors that the Flyers will seek a new 4th line center, someone to remove Darroll Powe from that role. James van Riemsdyk also figures to be in the mix to make the roster, although the Flyers have yet to make it clear if they think he will need more seasoning in the AHL.

Here is the Flyers roster as of now. Listed for each position are the possible players that would fill out the roster if the season started today. You can see that there is still some tinkering to be done.

Forwards (11): Danny Briere, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell, Daniel Carcillo, Andreas Nodl, Claude Giroux, Arron Asham, Riley Cote, Darroll Powe Possible 12th forward: James van Riemsdyk, Jonathon Kalinski

Defensemen (6): Chris Pronger, Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen, Randy Jones, Ryan Parent, Matt Carle Possible 7th defenseman: Danny Syvret

Goalies (1): Ray Emery Possible back-up: Johan Backlund

By the way, Robert Esche, who the Flyers reportedly were interested in bringing back to Philly, has decided to remain in Russia for another season. Scratch him off the list of possible backup goaltenders.