by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor
Of all the personalities who are paid for it or who are lucky enough to have an uncompensated outlet to broadcast an opinion on the state of the Philadelphia Flyers goaltending, the only one whose thoughts really matter is general manager Paul Holmgren.
Although it's still up for debate whether or not he was the one who truly wanted Ilya Bryzgalov to fill the never-ending, always-swirling dark vortex of long-term difference-maker for the franchise, Holmgren was the one who dealt for his rights and then signed him to that $51 million, eight-year deal almost a year ago.
In the wake of an 11-game playoff sojourn that did little to reveal Bryzgalov's true talent, worth to the club's playoff hopes or a genuine quantifiable bead on just how he fared overall, Holmgren of course took the positive mindset during a wide-ranging Thursday press conference during the Flyers' break-up day:
"He had a lot of things to adjust to and react to from playing in Philadelphia, the scrutiny of the media and the scrutiny of the fans compared to what he came from (in Phoenix) with a different style of play. I don't think there's any question that Ilya will be better next year."
That vote of confidence came hours before a tweet from Sovetsky's Natalia Bragilevskaya was released, quoting the 31-year-old as saying he misses Mother Russia.
And then this, longer passage from the interview, courtesy of Metro's Dave Isaac: "What I lived through this season I wouldn't wish to an enemy… I
understand the fans. They paid their money and want the show. But many
forget that we are not robots, but living people. We have feelings,
worries. It's easy to turn away when the club is going through tough
times. Don't denounce your team. There won't be a different
one."
Whatever people make of the polarity between the two, Bryzgalov will have, and certainly does deserve, some time to relax, reflect and recharge.
Holmgren's words may be those of reassurance and challenge, all at the same time. A call to be more consistent, to block out the nonsense that surrounded the fabricated drama of his interactions with the media -- what Homer called "Comedy Central" as a deterrent from doing his job, which is to stop pucks.
There were times he didn't do enough of that, allowing four goals or more on 18 occasions (two of those in partial appearances). There were times he looked unbeatable, as in his March streak of four shutouts in five starts which included that record whitewash string of 249:43.
And it had been a trying season, to say the least, for a soft-spoken man
more prone to pondering matters light years beyond the locker room and
offering up praise to his teammates than providing true insight into his
performance.
Still, there was little in-between to act as a control amongst the extremes. The same went for the postseason, where Bryzgalov claimed the crease version of the Toilet Bowl over Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury, yet was the best player on the ice for wide swaths of at least three games of a five-game loss to New Jersey.
"Did he play as good as I expected this year, I'd say no," Holmgren added. "But I think he's got one year under his belt...I said this before about other players who sign big contracts and come here...there's an adjustment period. Kimmo went through it, Danny Briere went through it. In that position, goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers, I think he handled it pretty good."
So why, exactly, shouldn't he get a mulligan?
And Briere, whose NHL career began in the Valley of the Sun, backs up that sentiment: "There's no doubt in my mind it's going to be easier for him now that
he's settled in, now that he knows the system and knows his teammates. He knows how it works...I went through
it myself my first year. It was a tough, trying year. You learn from
that."
Now, with his teammates and general manager guarding his back, it's time for Bryzgalov come back ready to prove himself in Year Two, to reward that patience with stops from the front.
Showing posts with label Ilya Bryzgalov. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ilya Bryzgalov. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The four faces of Ilya Bryzgalov
by Bob HerpenPhanatic Hockey Editor
Some crazy things related to hockey have come to me in dreams over the last few years, most of which will be tabled until that golden moment the Flyers win it all.
I'd have to say, poisoned Hot Pocket from the day after Christmas 2007 notwithstanding, this one was the weirdest because it was so...technical.
It's a result of reading a ton of Broad Street Hockey last week, and in between fits and starts of my usual light sleep while the city rages on in the cloak of darkness beneath me, there was one four-hour stretch of uninterrupted slumber where thoughts apparently turned to the humangous beeg Universe.
And it was there, in the windmills of my mind, that the answer revealed itself: there is not one Ilya Bryzgalov to present to the Pittsburgh Penguins and pin the hopes of an entire potential playoff run.
There's four.
Blame it on the charts and graphs, Corsi and Fenwick, qualifiers that suddenly became quantified, but I started dreaming of a chart myself. And it was a square divided into four equal outcomes:
A) Bryzgalov plays well, Flyers lose. B) He plays poorly, Flyers win. C) He plays poorly, Flyers lose. D) He plays well, Flyers win.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which one is the optimal result, but let's not try to stress ourselves figuring out which one is more likely to take down a 7-foot charging grizzly bear in the wilds of Siberia.
The 31-year-old Russian is thrust into a unique situation, and the microscope used to bore into his brain and spot the specks of dust upon his soul will be more like the electron kind rather than a regular one thanks to the opponent.
Nonetheless, he has shown three of the four faces previously in his playoff career.
"A" happened two years ago in a seven-game first-round loss to Detroit where the Coyotes played for the franchise's life each time out. "C" followed last season when the 'Yotes were swept by the Wings. "D" came to light in 2006 when Bryz played for Anaheim and subbed for an injured Jean-Sebastien Giguere, turning in three straight whitewashes spread between Calgary (road Game 7) in the first round and Colorado in the second (Games 1-2 at home).
That leaves "B" with the only comparison about a dozen regular-season games that turned out favorably for the Orange and Black.
For comparison's sake, the last outcome matches up with Michael Leighton in the 2010 Eastern Finals against Montreal, where he stopped 133 of 140 shots for three shutouts and a blistering .950 save percentage.
The first choice parallels John Vanbiesbrouck's 1999 Eastern Quarterfinals against the Maple Leafs, lost in six games despite his allowing just nine goals (a league-low 1.46 GAA). The Flyers dropped three 2-1 games and a 1-0 finale.
Choice B is a damned if you do, damned if you don't proposition. It may indicate the Flyers have a stronger presence up front and on defense, while carrying the weight of certain intangibles like resiliency and special-teams play in their favor which overcome sloppy performances in the crease.
It doesn't allow for winning despite allowing three goals on 14 shots, or a rallying behind Sergei Bobrovsky should it come to a mid-game replacement scenario. Think Ron Hextall in the 1989 Patrick Division Finals against the Penguins, his GAA rocketed upwards by Mario Lemieux's show at the Igloo in Game 5, then injured and unable to start Game 7.
Choice C is the Doomsday scenario, the ones those who have maligned Bryzgalov all year can't wait to unleash with bitter fingers tapping out a thousand sour keystrokes.
That's Robbie Moore and Wayne Stephenson hung out to dry against the Rangers in '79. Hextall and Garth Snow at the mercy of 50-footers in the '97 Stanley Cup Finals. Roman Cechmanek's 2003 meltdown in the loss to Ottawa. Robert Esche in 2006 against Buffalo, and last year's infamous carousel.
But it's just as likely with a Penguins lineup that features Evgeni Malkin (50G, 109 Pts.), James Neal (40G), Sidney Crosby (1.68 points per game), Pascal Dupuis (25G, 17-game point streak), along with Chris Kunitz, Steve Sullivan and Jordan Staal up front.
At least if and when The Big "L" should transpire, it's not a product of wilting under the lukewarm attack of the pre-Jeff Carter LA Kings or the Florida Panthers.
Still, Bryzgalov's continuing path over the frozen minefield between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers might yet include hopscotch within all four squares at once. Such is the temperament of the man, the quality of the opposition and the vagaries of the reseeding process as the postseason progresses.
The harshest light for Bryz to have to endure would be to take a small sample size: a game, a period, a certain situation, and expand on it as if it were an indicator of the future. Even worse if any one of those dredge up the past as evidence. That goes for the good, the bad and the ugly.
And it's so unfair for a player who spends time contemplating the vastness of existence to forcibly narrow him down.
So whatever face Bryzgalov shows for however long the Flyers last this Spring, remember it's the right one. Because for $51 million over eight years, the least we can do is keep an open mind. And if there's any doubt creeping in, leave it to him to dream it all up, since he's the one facing the music.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Holmgren presser on Bryzgalov and more
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers
Q: Where on the foot is the chip fracture?
“You know what, I’m not sure.”
Q: Do you think it would matter where the injury is as far as when you look at the prognosis?
“Right now, Ilya wasn’t going to play on Thursday anyway. So we’re going to just leave him back and continue to get his treatment. We don’t think this is a serious injury. We’re hoping that he’ll be back on the ice practicing with the idea that he can play on the weekend. It’s just going to be a little bit of pain management for Ilya. He feels OK today. In fact, he’s going to come in and work out tomorrow and get treatment, and try to be ready to practice on Friday. Obviously when you’re dealing with something like this, it might be too painful to skate on Friday, but we’ll see. He doesn’t feel that bad today. We’ll see how it is. It’s not a thing that surgery is required, it’s nothing like van Riemsdyk’s broken foot or anything like that. It’s a chip off a weight-bearing bone, and the doctor has said it’ll be absorbed back into his system, the little chip that’s in there, and there’s no real risk here at all. It’s just he’s in a little bit of pain right now. Some of you guys I think saw him last night limping around, but this happened in warmup. He wanted to play, we had it x-rayed after warmup with his skate on, and nothing showed… we x-rayed it again after the game, it didn’t show… and the MRI revealed this small little chip in there. So we’re dealing with it. We’ll see how the next couple days go, but nobody’s really concerned about this.
Q: Did the doctors say that it had more to do with pain management than anything?“Yes.”
Q: Was there any thought last night to not letting him play?
“We had the x-ray, Ilya wanted to play. To be honest with you, I knew what was going on, I watched the game, and I didn’t see any issues. The goals they scored were good goals. The last one he wasn’t paying attention when Matt had the bobble at the side of the net. The other goals were good goals that you can’t really fault him on. I didn’t have any issues with how he played the game and I don’t think his foot was an issue during the game.”
Q: Was the MRI done yesterday or today?
“It was done today.”
Q: Are you looking for him to play this weekend?
“Yeah, it’s going to be how it goes over the next couple days. Ilya wants to play, he feels like he’ll be OK, but we’ll just see how it goes. I think we’ll have a better grasp on how he is tomorrow. He’s going to get some treatment here tonight and again come in tomorrow and work out and get treatment done. So we’ll have a better idea where we’re at tomorrow and then probably more on Thursday and Friday. As I said, nobody’s really concerned. The doctors are not concerned, Jimmy McCrossin’s not too concerned. He’s a little sore right now. So we’ve gotta get some of the swelling out of there, and you do that with ice and ibuprofen or whatever, and go from there.”
Q: He cannot make the trip to Toronto?
“We’re not going to bring him on the trip. It just makes no sense.”
Q: Will Michael Leighton be recalled?
“No, actually we’re going to recall Jason Bacashihua tonight.”
Q: Is Kimmo’s injury one where you’re going to need a call-up as well, or do you expect him to play?
“Kimmo’s not going to play on Thursday. This is kind of a maintenance thing we had planned. Tonight we’ll recall Marc-Andre Bourdon, and then we’ll see where Lilja is. He could possibly play on Thursday but we’re not sure. So we’ll have seven defensemen there, and if Lilja can play, we’ll probably make a decision on loaning Erik back or Marc-Andre.”
Q: Is Kimmo’s injury something you’re going to have to maintenance through the playoffs?
“When Kimmo missed the time earlier, it was kind of a planned thing where we wanted to give him some rest and do some rehab. This is also part of the plan. It’s just take this day off, he doesn’t have to fly up, he doesn’t have to play the game. He can rest and rehab and get ready to play on the weekend.”
Q: Ilya said this happened in the warmup right before the game – did he say how it happened?
“He was hit. He was looking the other way when I think it was Jakub Voracek shot a puck from the side, and it hit him in an exposed part of his foot. So that’s what happened.”
Q: Are you concerned that the injury will throw him out of his rhythm?
“No, I don’t think so. He’s played a lot over the last little while here. He’s missed days in practice and he hasn’t lost his rhythm. Obviously the team didn’t skate today, he probably won’t skate tomorrow… maybe he can skate on Thursday and practice on Friday. I’m not worried about that. Obviously there’s a little bit of concern with the pain and the swelling, but Ilya’s a tough kid, he wants to play, and we look forward to seeing him on the ice with the team at practice on Friday.”
Monday, March 19, 2012
Bryzgalov 'First Star' once again
For the second consecutive week, Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov earned top honors, leading the list of the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending March 18.
Bryzgalov finished the week with a 3-0-1 record and one shutout, and in a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday managed to set the Flyers' all-time record for scoreless hockey at 249 minutes, 43 seconds. John Vanbiesbrouck held the previous mark of 227:40, set in October of 1999.
The 31-year-old Russian improved to 8-0-1 with a 1.20 goals-against average, .960 save percentage and four shutouts since March 1.
If not for Bryzgalov, this past weekend might have been a lot murkier than the 1-0-1 record the Orange and Black posted against two potential playoff opponents. He stopped 69 of 73 shots in 130 minutes of play, but was 0-for-3 in the shootout at Boston on Saturday.
Bryzgalov finished the week with a 3-0-1 record and one shutout, and in a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday managed to set the Flyers' all-time record for scoreless hockey at 249 minutes, 43 seconds. John Vanbiesbrouck held the previous mark of 227:40, set in October of 1999.
The 31-year-old Russian improved to 8-0-1 with a 1.20 goals-against average, .960 save percentage and four shutouts since March 1.
If not for Bryzgalov, this past weekend might have been a lot murkier than the 1-0-1 record the Orange and Black posted against two potential playoff opponents. He stopped 69 of 73 shots in 130 minutes of play, but was 0-for-3 in the shootout at Boston on Saturday.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Bryzgalov sets scoreless string, Flyers hold on against Isles
by Bob Herpen
Phanatic Hockey Editor
Perhaps it was fitting that the moment passed away from home ice, far from the distractions of the invading hordes of local media, looking to steal a piece of his soul for the boost in mouse clicks and circulation.
So when it passed, there was no stoppage, no serious acknowledgement from the crowd, no ovations that needed to be cut short. Just the feeling of a job well done and more hockey to be played.
And so it was for Ilya Bryzgalov, who set a new franchise record for longest scoreless string and ended up making 29 stops, but the Philadelphia Flyers had to hold on late to record a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
Bryzgalov's run reached an incredible 249 minutes, 43 seconds -- eclipsing John Vanbiesbrouck's previous best of 227:40 from October 17-26, 1999 -- until Michael Grabner's goal with 6 1/2 minutes left in regulation.
In typical fashion, the 31-year-old let it be known the praise should be spread around: "(The) record is not for me. It's a team accomplishment. Congratulations to all the players who played."
John Tavares tallied 35 seconds after Grabner, but the Islanders couldn't get any closer, dropping their fifth straight and eighth in 10. Evgeni Nabokov allowed three goals on 22 shots in defeat.
Zac Rinaldo, Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell lit the lamp early on for the Flyers, who have won seven of their last eight and kept up the chase for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Orange and Black remained two points back of Pittsburgh, which celebrated the return of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang by winning its 10th straight, 5-2, at Madison Square Garden.
Grabner's left-wing blast early in the third caused Bryzgalov to calmly flash his glove to make the stop, but the Austrian winger redirected a Dylan Reese drive home from the left side to get the hosts on the scoreboard.
Tavares then trimmed the margin to 3-2 with a shot from the slot off a Mark Streit dish and suddenly the visitors had to scramble to keep composure. It was still not enough to rattle the first-year Philly netminder, who had another quick rejoinder to another obvious question.
"Do you think they were never going to score a goal against me again? You're mistaken."
Nabokov was pulled for an extra skater with 1:21 remaining, but didn't have a quality scoring chance thereafter.
"We gave them two gifts," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. "I thought we could have gotten some momentum back late in the second period with back-to-back power plays, but we failed to execute."
Another rare quirk regarding special teams also occurred in Uniondale, as the Flyers did not enjoy a single power-play chance for the second time in a week. The last time even a single such game appeared on the ledger was four years ago. Still, the club which has drawn the most advantages in the NHL didn't need it tonight.
Rinaldo managed to sneak one by Nabokov from the left wing near the boards and goal line at 8:41 of the first period.
It was 2-0 for the visitors at 13:26 when Jaromir Jagr fought off a checker behind the net and fed into the right circle for Giroux's successful wrister.
Bryzgalov stared down Grabner from in front less than a minute into the second for his toughest save of the contest to that point.
Hartnell made it a three-goal bulge at 7:02 of the second period, breaking free down the right wing and ripping a wrister over Nabokov's glove on the short side.
Bryzgalov officially made Flyers history at the 11:28 mark of the second, and the only acknowledgement came from the local broadcast crew during the next stoppage in play.
"He comes to work every day, always very focused," Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's really the one who kept us in games early in the season. Now you're seeing what Bryz can do when we play well in front of him. Quietly, he has shut the door."
Notes: Bryzgalov also bested his personal streak of 249:15, first set with Anaheim during the 2006 playoffs...Nikolai Khabibulin is the only other Russian-born goalie to toss three straight shutouts, with Phoenix in 1997...Rinaldo's only other NHL score came back on November 3 at home against New Jersey...Giroux set a new career high for goals in one season with his 26th...Kimmo Timonen recorded his 200th point as a Flyer with the primary assist on Hartnell's goal...Philadelphia won four of six in the season series, including all three on Long Island...With his late goal, Tavares became the first Islander to score at least 70 points in one season since Alexei Yashin (75) in 2001-02.
Phanatic Hockey Editor
Perhaps it was fitting that the moment passed away from home ice, far from the distractions of the invading hordes of local media, looking to steal a piece of his soul for the boost in mouse clicks and circulation.
So when it passed, there was no stoppage, no serious acknowledgement from the crowd, no ovations that needed to be cut short. Just the feeling of a job well done and more hockey to be played.
And so it was for Ilya Bryzgalov, who set a new franchise record for longest scoreless string and ended up making 29 stops, but the Philadelphia Flyers had to hold on late to record a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
Bryzgalov's run reached an incredible 249 minutes, 43 seconds -- eclipsing John Vanbiesbrouck's previous best of 227:40 from October 17-26, 1999 -- until Michael Grabner's goal with 6 1/2 minutes left in regulation.
In typical fashion, the 31-year-old let it be known the praise should be spread around: "(The) record is not for me. It's a team accomplishment. Congratulations to all the players who played."
John Tavares tallied 35 seconds after Grabner, but the Islanders couldn't get any closer, dropping their fifth straight and eighth in 10. Evgeni Nabokov allowed three goals on 22 shots in defeat.
Zac Rinaldo, Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell lit the lamp early on for the Flyers, who have won seven of their last eight and kept up the chase for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Orange and Black remained two points back of Pittsburgh, which celebrated the return of Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang by winning its 10th straight, 5-2, at Madison Square Garden.
Grabner's left-wing blast early in the third caused Bryzgalov to calmly flash his glove to make the stop, but the Austrian winger redirected a Dylan Reese drive home from the left side to get the hosts on the scoreboard.
Tavares then trimmed the margin to 3-2 with a shot from the slot off a Mark Streit dish and suddenly the visitors had to scramble to keep composure. It was still not enough to rattle the first-year Philly netminder, who had another quick rejoinder to another obvious question.
"Do you think they were never going to score a goal against me again? You're mistaken."
Nabokov was pulled for an extra skater with 1:21 remaining, but didn't have a quality scoring chance thereafter.
"We gave them two gifts," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. "I thought we could have gotten some momentum back late in the second period with back-to-back power plays, but we failed to execute."
Another rare quirk regarding special teams also occurred in Uniondale, as the Flyers did not enjoy a single power-play chance for the second time in a week. The last time even a single such game appeared on the ledger was four years ago. Still, the club which has drawn the most advantages in the NHL didn't need it tonight.
Rinaldo managed to sneak one by Nabokov from the left wing near the boards and goal line at 8:41 of the first period.
It was 2-0 for the visitors at 13:26 when Jaromir Jagr fought off a checker behind the net and fed into the right circle for Giroux's successful wrister.
Bryzgalov stared down Grabner from in front less than a minute into the second for his toughest save of the contest to that point.
Hartnell made it a three-goal bulge at 7:02 of the second period, breaking free down the right wing and ripping a wrister over Nabokov's glove on the short side.
Bryzgalov officially made Flyers history at the 11:28 mark of the second, and the only acknowledgement came from the local broadcast crew during the next stoppage in play.
"He comes to work every day, always very focused," Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's really the one who kept us in games early in the season. Now you're seeing what Bryz can do when we play well in front of him. Quietly, he has shut the door."
Notes: Bryzgalov also bested his personal streak of 249:15, first set with Anaheim during the 2006 playoffs...Nikolai Khabibulin is the only other Russian-born goalie to toss three straight shutouts, with Phoenix in 1997...Rinaldo's only other NHL score came back on November 3 at home against New Jersey...Giroux set a new career high for goals in one season with his 26th...Kimmo Timonen recorded his 200th point as a Flyer with the primary assist on Hartnell's goal...Philadelphia won four of six in the season series, including all three on Long Island...With his late goal, Tavares became the first Islander to score at least 70 points in one season since Alexei Yashin (75) in 2001-02.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Bryzgalov earns NHL's First Star of the Week
After pulling himself back from the brink of irrelevancy, Ilya Bryzgalov turned in his best period as a Philadelphia Flyer last week, and the effort earned him the NHL's First Star on Monday.
"For Bryz to have our back like that, he is playing his best hockey this year and we are trying to help him. He is making all the big saves for us and he has got his confidence back," said teammate Claude Giroux, who provided the shootout winner against Toronto. "It's a lot of fun to see him dominate games like that."
The 31-year-old went 4-0-0 with a 0.49 goals-against average and three shutouts to take top honors.
He blanked Washington and the Maple Leafs by 1-0 scores and Florida by a 5-0 count, and has stopped 138 of the last 140 shots he's faced.
Bryzgalov made 11 consecutive starts through Saturday's shootout victory in Toronto, going 7-2-1 in that span.
"For Bryz to have our back like that, he is playing his best hockey this year and we are trying to help him. He is making all the big saves for us and he has got his confidence back," said teammate Claude Giroux, who provided the shootout winner against Toronto. "It's a lot of fun to see him dominate games like that."
The 31-year-old went 4-0-0 with a 0.49 goals-against average and three shutouts to take top honors.
He blanked Washington and the Maple Leafs by 1-0 scores and Florida by a 5-0 count, and has stopped 138 of the last 140 shots he's faced.
Bryzgalov made 11 consecutive starts through Saturday's shootout victory in Toronto, going 7-2-1 in that span.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Flyers agree to terms with Bryzgalov
Special to the Phanatic Magazine
The Philadelphia Flyers continued to make headlines on Thursday.
Not long after trading captain Mike Richards and leading goal-scorer Jeff Carter in two separate deals, the Flyers signed recently-acquired goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
Philadelphia obtained the rights to the 31-year-old from Phoenix two weeks ago and, by dealing both former 2003 first-round picks, the club created enough cap space to ink the pending unrestricted free agent to a reported nine-year contract worth $51 million.
Bryzgalov made $4.5 million in 2010-11 for the Coyotes. He finished with a 36-20-10 mark, 2.48 goals-against average and seven shutouts in 68 games (67 starts).
Acquired off waivers from Anaheim in November 2007, just months after he was a part of the Ducks' Stanley Cup win, Bryzgalov was the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy in 2010 after going 42-20-6 with eight shutouts and a 2.29 GAA.
Since breaking in with Anaheim during the 2001-02 season, the Russian has racked up a 156-116-35 record, 2.53 GAA and 23 whitewashes in 326 games (312 starts) with Anaheim and Phoenix.
In 27 playoff tilts, he has gone 12-13 with a 2.55 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Bryzgalov also represented Russia in three Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010), winning a bronze medal in '02. He also took home a gold medal at the 2009 World Championships and a silver in 2000.
The Philadelphia Flyers continued to make headlines on Thursday.
Not long after trading captain Mike Richards and leading goal-scorer Jeff Carter in two separate deals, the Flyers signed recently-acquired goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
Philadelphia obtained the rights to the 31-year-old from Phoenix two weeks ago and, by dealing both former 2003 first-round picks, the club created enough cap space to ink the pending unrestricted free agent to a reported nine-year contract worth $51 million.
Bryzgalov made $4.5 million in 2010-11 for the Coyotes. He finished with a 36-20-10 mark, 2.48 goals-against average and seven shutouts in 68 games (67 starts).
Acquired off waivers from Anaheim in November 2007, just months after he was a part of the Ducks' Stanley Cup win, Bryzgalov was the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy in 2010 after going 42-20-6 with eight shutouts and a 2.29 GAA.
Since breaking in with Anaheim during the 2001-02 season, the Russian has racked up a 156-116-35 record, 2.53 GAA and 23 whitewashes in 326 games (312 starts) with Anaheim and Phoenix.
In 27 playoff tilts, he has gone 12-13 with a 2.55 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Bryzgalov also represented Russia in three Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010), winning a bronze medal in '02. He also took home a gold medal at the 2009 World Championships and a silver in 2000.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Holmgren's draft conference transcript
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers
Q: Can you walk us through the depth of this draft and the overall look at this draft and how it compares to others in the past?
“I think this is a fairly decent draft. We had our end of the year scouting meetings, it ended ten days ago, and our list looks pretty good. If you look at guys that we think are going to be first round picks I think it’s comparable to last year. There are drafts that have been better, think back to the draft of 2003. It’s not looking like that but there are a lot of good players and I think there are some players that if they are drafted on the right team, they will have the chance to play right away. I think that’s a good thing.
Q: Are you looking at this draft as an opportunity to move up? If I’m not mistaken you don’t pick until the third round. Correct?
“Right. Just like any other draft we go in with an open mind, listening and seeing what’s available. Obviously, there are teams trying to jockey for positions right now. I think there are a few teams from what I can gather that have later picks that are trying to move up. There are teams that are willing to improve their team. It’s funny how that’s changed, I think, with the last number of years, I believe anyway, that most teams are trying to build their teams prior to July 1st and when you get to July 1st over the free agency period maybe just try to add that one piece. It just seems likes there’s a lot of talk right now anyway around the league, so there could be a lot of things happening as we get closer to Friday.
Q: Could you imagine a scenario in which you guys could jump into one of the first two rounds?
“I don’t think it is out of the question, but you never know what’s going to happen. It’s something we are certainly trying to stay involved with just to see what people are talking about, more than anything.”
Q: Do you feel that, from an organizational standpoint, there is that need to move up in the draft?
“Again, we will continue to look at things and see what’s available and do what we think is right for the organization. We will sort through that one. We have a lot of picks. Look at where we are at this year, we have five picks right now. Next year we are missing a couple already. Obviously we can’t continue to do that. We need to, especially the higher picks – we can’t keep giving them up. I think we have made some deals for higher picks that have given us good players that are still of a good age that will be good players for a number of years, but looking at this draft, we’re certainly open to talking about certain things. Whether anything happens or not, I don’t know, but right now our first pick is at 84 of the 3rd round and there is a chance that we can get a good player there.”
Q: Would you consider any particular players in this draft to be NHL type ready players? There has been a lot of talk with Gabriel Landeskog being that type of player.
“Gabriel’s [Landeskog] name comes up early because he looks like he is physically ready right now. I think that is why people say that about him being NHL ready. It’s funny – you go back to last year’s draft and you look at guys that you think are going to go in the first round and you look at what came out of that round and played right away… I don’t think anyone would have said Jeff Skinner was ready to play in the NHL, and he gets drafted by Carolina, they put him in and he makes their team and has a tremendous year. You just never know. A lot of it is depending on what the team needs and a lot of it depends on how their training camps go and how their pre-season goes. I don’t know if you can just say there’s this guy and this guy. I think it just depends on who drafts them and what their needs are as they move into their regular season.
Q: From a position standpoint, is there a need to beef up on any position in particular?
“I think if you look at our team right now, we are very strong down the middle and I think our NHL team we have a couple older guys on the back end, Kimmo [Timonen] and Kris [Versteeg] but we do have some good guys that are fairly young, Braydon [Corburn], Matt Carle and [Andrej] Meszaros, are still all still fairly young if you consider their age, but I don’t know if there is any none, obviously we are going to try to draft the best player available regardless of the position. We probably need to strengthen all areas, and that’s kind of where the open mind comes in. When we get to that point we’re not just going to try for one position. If you look on our reserve list we could probably add something in every category.”
Q: How much drop off is there if you don’t have a high number one pick?
“When you get going to [pick number] 17 or 18, you’re probably looking at… who knows, you might get the same player at 45 or 50. It’s just that much of a crap shoot. We’re talking about 17 and 18 year old kids that aren’t fully developed and something in their game needs to be improved, whether its their skating or take out their physical structure, you know they are going to get older and you believe they are going to get stronger, something needs to improve. If we had a pick in the top 17 where we thought we would get a real solid prospect… probably after that it becomes a little more of a gamble.
Q: How much does volume of picks matter to you as much as having a high pick? How much do you improve your chances if you have an extra second rounder or a second third rounder?
“I think they improve drastically; it’s another stab at a prospect. The fact that we don’t have any second round picks is not an ideal position. We haven’t had one for a while so we are looking around at things right now.”
Q: I kind of get a feeling that this a draft that you would want to have something in the first two rounds.
“That’s fair to say. I think if you talk to any of the other 29 teams, they’d probably say the same thing. It’s a fairly good draft, there are some good top-end guys and as I mentioned from 17 down, you might get the same player. They are all good prospects, so it’s a considerable draft. [We are] drafting at 84 right now and we’d like to move up, absolutely. Are we going to be able to? I don’t know, we will see how it goes.”
Q: If you have to clear cap room, what are the chances of getting a draft pick, trading a veteran player, what are the chances of getting a fairly high pick back?
“I don’t know right now. I don’t feel like we are in a position to have to clear cap space. We still don’t know what the cap is going to go up to, [but] kind of have an idea that it’s going to go up a fair amount. There are some players that we have, Ville Leino, that [are] unrestricted and we want to keep in our mix. So, we are going to have to do some tinkering here. It’s not a like we are in a position where we absolutely have to move cap space or move people to make cap space.”
Q: The impression from the other people around the league is that you do have to move cap space to be able to re-sign [Ilya] Bryzgalov and [Ville] Leino. So you’re saying that you don’t have to?
“We’ll see how it goes. There are things that we want to accomplish as we get closer to training camp, but that’s a long time from now. There is no fire sale going on here. We are going to continue to try and sign Ilya [Bryzgalov], obviously, and continue to try and sign Ville [Leino], then we will see. It’s not like we are caught between a rock and a hard place right now.
Q: Could you have a deal for Bryzgalov by the end of the week?
“I guess we could. Right now we are going to talk again tomorrow. Like I said, on Friday, we know where they’re at and what they want to accomplish. I think they know where we’re at. Obviously to make a deal, there is going to have to be some sort of a compromise. It might take some time and we are going to keep looking at it.”
Q: Is the compromise in years rather than dollars or is it both?
“I would say it’s both right now.”
Q: Would you like to have the [Ilya] Bryzgalov situation settled by the draft?
“Well, we would like that to get resolved at some point. I am not sure it matters prior to the draft; there is still enough time after the draft to get a deal done. The important thing is that there was progress made when Ilya [Bryzgalov] and his agent, Ritch Winter, were in town. I don’t see any reason why that’s not going to continue. I don’t have a crystal ball, so I can’t really give you a definitive answer. There is enough progress, which kind of gives me hope, anyway, that we can make a deal at some point.”
Q: Have you or the other general managers been told a definitive date when you’ll have the salary cap number for next year?
“No. It usually comes before the draft. I have not heard anything…a definitive date this year.”
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Was it a good move to deal for Bryzgalov's rights?
Special to the Phanatic Magazine
Marcello DeFeo
Flyers Faithful
To answer this question, we must first ask another one: What benefits are there to trading for the rights of a pending unrestricted free agent?
Ideally, negotiating rights will allow you work out a reasonable deal before a player hits free agency. If this is the intent of a general manager, then he had better be sure that the player is willing to take a discount to sign now in lieu of testing the market. Also, he should be sure that the player wants to play in that city.
In the case of Ilya Bryzgalov, his actions suggest that he wants to hit free agency. He switched agents, said he wanted to be paid like one of the top players in the league, and threw out the idle threat of leaving the NHL for the KHL if he needed to do so.
After being traded to the Flyers, Bryzgalov said that Philadelphia was a great city but his interest in playing here amounted to little more than a few empty gestures.
“I am pleased the Flyers thought enough of me to make the trade with the Coyotes,” he said.
Aww, isn’t that flattering? Wait, no! He let us down easily and we were too busy trying to figure out how to dump Jeff Carter to realize it.
If salary is not the primary concern of a GM, he might trade for exclusive negotiating rights to beat out the competition for a highly sought-after player. It’s an understandable move, especially when a GM is desperate to rebuild a team and has assets to burn.
When Paul Holmgren acquired Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell, he may not have signed them to cap-friendly deals but he needed to make some big moves and this one made sense. At the time, the Flyers had plenty of draft picks and prospects and giving Nashville their own draft pick back did not seem like a big deal.
However, this is not the case with Bryzgalov and Philadelphia. The Flyers do not have a surplus of draft picks and each loss will only sting that much more in the near future.
Making this trade also put the ball in Ilya’s court. The pressure is now on Holmgren to sign the goalie before the ticking clock expires and it turns out that he failed to seal the deal again and gave up something for nothing.
Prior to acquiring the rights of Dan Hamhuis, it was rumored that he wanted to play in British Columbia, where he was born. Ultimately, that’s what he ended up doing. Accustomed to being well-paid, neither he nor Marty Turco nor Nabokov were interested in doing the Flyers any favors, just because Philadelphia traded for their rights or courted them when no other clubs showed much interest.
Bryzgalov may be near the top of his free-agent class but it is a buyer’s market for goalies. There are not many teams poised to shop for free-agent goaltenders, especially not expensive — dare I say elite? — starters. With little effort, the Flyers could have conceivably landed Tomas Vokoun or Bryzgalov by simply being patient and waiting.
When the Flyers traded for Nabokov’s rights last June, they were unable to sign him and he left for the KHL. It was stated that Nabokov overvalued himself. It could also be argued that Holmgren was too impatient. If he simply waited and let the situation play itself out, he could have swooped in at the last moment and played the role of savior, offering Nabby a last minute deal to save him from exile back to his homeland.
Will the Bryzgalov situation echo that of Nabokov?
Admittedly, reading the news that the Flyers acquired the rights to the former Phoenix cage guardian was a bit like watching the Berlin Wall come down.
It was a monumental event, whose details spread like wildfire because it is something Flyer fans have wanted for years but never thought they would actually see. At this point, though, there’s no way to tell if there really is a cause for celebrating. The only certainty is that Holmgren needs to do a better job of evaluating these types of situations before acting out of impulse in the future.
He may do a better job without the twin albatrosses of Ed Snider’s public forum for displeasure and whatever internal pressure Comcast bears in order to square away its bottom line — but short of that, some soul searching and willingness to alter his business plan can only do him some good going forward.
The next 17 days will certainly be an indicator of whether the business of trying to win now every off-season can morph into that elusive sure thing.
Marcello DeFeo
Flyers Faithful
To answer this question, we must first ask another one: What benefits are there to trading for the rights of a pending unrestricted free agent?
Ideally, negotiating rights will allow you work out a reasonable deal before a player hits free agency. If this is the intent of a general manager, then he had better be sure that the player is willing to take a discount to sign now in lieu of testing the market. Also, he should be sure that the player wants to play in that city.
In the case of Ilya Bryzgalov, his actions suggest that he wants to hit free agency. He switched agents, said he wanted to be paid like one of the top players in the league, and threw out the idle threat of leaving the NHL for the KHL if he needed to do so.
After being traded to the Flyers, Bryzgalov said that Philadelphia was a great city but his interest in playing here amounted to little more than a few empty gestures.
“I am pleased the Flyers thought enough of me to make the trade with the Coyotes,” he said.
Aww, isn’t that flattering? Wait, no! He let us down easily and we were too busy trying to figure out how to dump Jeff Carter to realize it.
If salary is not the primary concern of a GM, he might trade for exclusive negotiating rights to beat out the competition for a highly sought-after player. It’s an understandable move, especially when a GM is desperate to rebuild a team and has assets to burn.
When Paul Holmgren acquired Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell, he may not have signed them to cap-friendly deals but he needed to make some big moves and this one made sense. At the time, the Flyers had plenty of draft picks and prospects and giving Nashville their own draft pick back did not seem like a big deal.
However, this is not the case with Bryzgalov and Philadelphia. The Flyers do not have a surplus of draft picks and each loss will only sting that much more in the near future.
Making this trade also put the ball in Ilya’s court. The pressure is now on Holmgren to sign the goalie before the ticking clock expires and it turns out that he failed to seal the deal again and gave up something for nothing.
Prior to acquiring the rights of Dan Hamhuis, it was rumored that he wanted to play in British Columbia, where he was born. Ultimately, that’s what he ended up doing. Accustomed to being well-paid, neither he nor Marty Turco nor Nabokov were interested in doing the Flyers any favors, just because Philadelphia traded for their rights or courted them when no other clubs showed much interest.
Bryzgalov may be near the top of his free-agent class but it is a buyer’s market for goalies. There are not many teams poised to shop for free-agent goaltenders, especially not expensive — dare I say elite? — starters. With little effort, the Flyers could have conceivably landed Tomas Vokoun or Bryzgalov by simply being patient and waiting.
When the Flyers traded for Nabokov’s rights last June, they were unable to sign him and he left for the KHL. It was stated that Nabokov overvalued himself. It could also be argued that Holmgren was too impatient. If he simply waited and let the situation play itself out, he could have swooped in at the last moment and played the role of savior, offering Nabby a last minute deal to save him from exile back to his homeland.
Will the Bryzgalov situation echo that of Nabokov?
Admittedly, reading the news that the Flyers acquired the rights to the former Phoenix cage guardian was a bit like watching the Berlin Wall come down.
It was a monumental event, whose details spread like wildfire because it is something Flyer fans have wanted for years but never thought they would actually see. At this point, though, there’s no way to tell if there really is a cause for celebrating. The only certainty is that Holmgren needs to do a better job of evaluating these types of situations before acting out of impulse in the future.
He may do a better job without the twin albatrosses of Ed Snider’s public forum for displeasure and whatever internal pressure Comcast bears in order to square away its bottom line — but short of that, some soul searching and willingness to alter his business plan can only do him some good going forward.
The next 17 days will certainly be an indicator of whether the business of trying to win now every off-season can morph into that elusive sure thing.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Bryzgalov conference call transcript
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers
PAUL HOLMGREN
The Flyers have acquired the rights to Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov for a 2012 3rd round pick along with the rights to Matt Clackson. There’s also a conditional pick if we sign him.
Q: Are you confident that you can sign Bryzgalov?
“We’re going to give it our best shot. Obviously we gave up an asset to get a chance to get in early so we have every intention of trying our best to get a deal done.”
Q: I spoke to Rich Winter yesterday for quite a while and he wants four or five years. Are you willing to go that far with Bryzgalov?
“Well, we’ll see what we can do. He’s certainly not an old goaltender. He’s 30 or 31 years old. I feel like he’s got a lot of good years left in him. We’ll see how it goes. When you get into a negotiation like this, you’re dealing with a salary cap, you try to get a number you can live with. We’ll see.”
Q: Would you have to part with one of your pieces up front in order to make this work and are you comfortable doing that?
“Well, once we know what the salary cap is going to be next year, we’ll have a better idea what we need to do down the road. We have options. We’ll just see how it goes.”
Q: Do you think it’s possible to sign Bryzgalov and Ville Leino, or if you sign Bryzgalov would it be almost impossible to re-sign Ville?
“I don’t know Sam. Obviously we still have the intention of trying to sign Ville. With the salary cap, you can only do so much. We’re trying to get the best team we can get to get ready for the 2011 season. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot of things that need to happen between now and July 1. We’re going to see what we can do.”
Q: Can he mentor Sergei Bobrovsky?
“I don’t know him that well – in fact I hardly know him at all. Just from talking to some of our guys… when Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell played with him, he was a young kid behind [J.S.] Giguere. Some of the information we have on him from his days in Phoenix, it’s all good. He’s a team guy, and he must have gotten along pretty well with the guy who was playing behind him in Phoenix. I don’t see an issue with that. I think the fact that they’re both Russians probably would help.”
Q: Do you ever know when you go into this what you’re looking at in terms of money and length of contract?
“I probably don’t know now. We have some ideas we’ll bounce around… I’m sure Ilya’s agent has some ideas of his own that he wants to bounce around. We’ll see if we can get a deal done. We got our foot in the door now, we have some time to look at certain things and try to work through the issues and get a deal.”
Q: Are you comfortable negotiating before the actual salary cap number for next season is known?
“I’m not sure it matters, Frank. We kind of have an idea what it is, we don’t know the exact number but we do have an idea what it’s going to be. Obviously because of our tagging space right now, I don’t know that we could sign a guy right now, at this time – for the same reason we couldn’t sign Ville at this time. We’ll do what we can do, and as I continue to say, try to get a deal done. We didn’t make this trade to acquire his rights just to try to hang around. We’re going to try our best to get him signed.”
Q: What’s the conditional pick?
“I’m not going to talk about it just because it’s a moot point right now, and when it happens, it happens. It’s not a first round pick or a second round pick, so you can go from there.”
Q: Is that the reason you did this now instead of waiting closer to the draft, so you do have the time to hammer out something?
“You never know what’s going to happen. You gamble and wait till July 1, you don’t know who else is involved. This gives us negotiating rights, which nobody else has. Is it an advantage? I don’t know. At least we get first crack at it, and we’ll see what we can do.
Q: What does this deal mean for Bobrovsky? Do you still see him as the goalie of the future?
“I don’t know. We’ll see if we can get a deal done with Ilya. I still think the world of Sergei and I think he’s one of the top young goalies in our game. Having said that, and again as I said at the end of the year, we continue to try to make our team better. Right now the position we’ve put ourselves in, negotiating with Ilya, if we can get him signed, it’ll make our team better.”
Q: There’s been a perception outside the organization for years that the flyers haven’t invested a lot in goaltending. Inside the organization, does that end the discussion if you sign him, that you have made an investment in goaltending?
We’re trying to get better, as we try to do every year. Our idea is to put ourselves in the position to win the Stanley Cup. We haven’t really had an opportunity to talk to Ilya’s agent yet. Once we get the ball rolling there, we’ll see if we can get him signed. If we do, I think we’ll have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league. I feel confident in saying that, anyway.
Q: What interests you about Bryzgalov?
“Well, you look at how he played not only when he was in Anaheim, but the last few years in Phoenix, I think he’s probably one of the reason, probably the biggest reason why they became a playoff team the last two years, with his play in the regular season. I know last season he and his team took Detroit to seven games in a hard-fought series, and this year was obviously not as good for Phoenix in the playoffs, but he’s one of the better goalies in the league. You can make the argument that he’s among the top 10 goalies in the league, if not higher. We’re happy to get this opportunity to talk to him early and we’re going to try our best to get him signed.”
Q: Ed Snider was pretty adamant that he didn’t want to go through another season like this again with the goalies. How much did that weigh in on this?
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to field a good team. We want to win a Stanley Cup. We’re trying to make ourselves better in all areas. We’re going to give it our best shot.”
Q: Are you comfortable exceeding the salary cap once it’s announced, like you did last year?
“We’ll see, Frank. It’s not a comfortable spot to be in. The more you get into the summer, the more difficult it becomes to move money. We’ll see how it goes.”
Q: You said you could not sign Bryzgalov until the new cap is announced – is that correct?
“Unless we made some kind of a deal.”
Q: In the past you’ve had success doing this obviously with Kimmo and Scott Hartnell, and it didn’t quite work out last year with Dan Hamhuis. What point in your mind do you say we have to get this done or move on to something else, or do you not worry about that at this point?
“I’m not really too worried about it right now. I think we have some time. Ideally before you get to the Draft, you’d like to know if you have a deal in place, and then we’ll see what we can do at the draft in order to – if we need to make some adjustments or whatever. As long as we sense over a period of time that we’re making some progress, I don’t feel uncomfortable going late into June 30.”
Q: Is it the goal to do this and keep the team, at least the core players, intact?
“[We have some] good pieces that you need to win a Stanley Cup. In acquiring Ilya, we have an opportunity here to negotiate a contract and get him signed sort of ahead of other teams that might have had those same ideas in mind. So we’ll see what we can do. If we can agree to a deal, and then necessary adjustments in order to get him in the salary cap, I think we’ll still have a good team – if not better.
Q: If you’re able to sign him, do you think he’ll have a good impact on Bobrovsky?
“I would assume he had a good relationship with his [other] goaltender in Phoenix. From what I can gather talking to Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell about his time in Anaheim, he was sort of behind Giguere when they won the Stanley Cup. He was in a little bit of a different role, but he was a good kid, certainly no issues that we hear of with the guy. He’s a good goalie, and I think the fact that they’re both Russian can’t hurt.
Q: When Ilya was in Phoenix he had a pretty significant workload. Do you see him doing that here or do you think you can pare that down just a little bit?
"That’s one of those things that you play by ear. I’ve said numerous times, that I really like Sergei and that he’s got a really bright future as a Flyer, so we don’t want to lose track of that. Having said that, if we can sign Ilya, he’s a guy that is used to the workload. So there’s a little bit of give and take there. He played 70 in Phoenix… maybe he can play 65 here with I assume easier travel than they have in Phoenix, maybe he can play more than 70. We’ll just play that as it goes if we can accomplish what we need to accomplish and get him signed. First things first right now – we’ll deal with that later.
PAUL HOLMGREN
The Flyers have acquired the rights to Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov for a 2012 3rd round pick along with the rights to Matt Clackson. There’s also a conditional pick if we sign him.
Q: Are you confident that you can sign Bryzgalov?
“We’re going to give it our best shot. Obviously we gave up an asset to get a chance to get in early so we have every intention of trying our best to get a deal done.”
Q: I spoke to Rich Winter yesterday for quite a while and he wants four or five years. Are you willing to go that far with Bryzgalov?
“Well, we’ll see what we can do. He’s certainly not an old goaltender. He’s 30 or 31 years old. I feel like he’s got a lot of good years left in him. We’ll see how it goes. When you get into a negotiation like this, you’re dealing with a salary cap, you try to get a number you can live with. We’ll see.”
Q: Would you have to part with one of your pieces up front in order to make this work and are you comfortable doing that?
“Well, once we know what the salary cap is going to be next year, we’ll have a better idea what we need to do down the road. We have options. We’ll just see how it goes.”
Q: Do you think it’s possible to sign Bryzgalov and Ville Leino, or if you sign Bryzgalov would it be almost impossible to re-sign Ville?
“I don’t know Sam. Obviously we still have the intention of trying to sign Ville. With the salary cap, you can only do so much. We’re trying to get the best team we can get to get ready for the 2011 season. We’ll see how it goes. There’s a lot of things that need to happen between now and July 1. We’re going to see what we can do.”
Q: Can he mentor Sergei Bobrovsky?
“I don’t know him that well – in fact I hardly know him at all. Just from talking to some of our guys… when Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell played with him, he was a young kid behind [J.S.] Giguere. Some of the information we have on him from his days in Phoenix, it’s all good. He’s a team guy, and he must have gotten along pretty well with the guy who was playing behind him in Phoenix. I don’t see an issue with that. I think the fact that they’re both Russians probably would help.”
Q: Do you ever know when you go into this what you’re looking at in terms of money and length of contract?
“I probably don’t know now. We have some ideas we’ll bounce around… I’m sure Ilya’s agent has some ideas of his own that he wants to bounce around. We’ll see if we can get a deal done. We got our foot in the door now, we have some time to look at certain things and try to work through the issues and get a deal.”
Q: Are you comfortable negotiating before the actual salary cap number for next season is known?
“I’m not sure it matters, Frank. We kind of have an idea what it is, we don’t know the exact number but we do have an idea what it’s going to be. Obviously because of our tagging space right now, I don’t know that we could sign a guy right now, at this time – for the same reason we couldn’t sign Ville at this time. We’ll do what we can do, and as I continue to say, try to get a deal done. We didn’t make this trade to acquire his rights just to try to hang around. We’re going to try our best to get him signed.”
Q: What’s the conditional pick?
“I’m not going to talk about it just because it’s a moot point right now, and when it happens, it happens. It’s not a first round pick or a second round pick, so you can go from there.”
Q: Is that the reason you did this now instead of waiting closer to the draft, so you do have the time to hammer out something?
“You never know what’s going to happen. You gamble and wait till July 1, you don’t know who else is involved. This gives us negotiating rights, which nobody else has. Is it an advantage? I don’t know. At least we get first crack at it, and we’ll see what we can do.
Q: What does this deal mean for Bobrovsky? Do you still see him as the goalie of the future?
“I don’t know. We’ll see if we can get a deal done with Ilya. I still think the world of Sergei and I think he’s one of the top young goalies in our game. Having said that, and again as I said at the end of the year, we continue to try to make our team better. Right now the position we’ve put ourselves in, negotiating with Ilya, if we can get him signed, it’ll make our team better.”
Q: There’s been a perception outside the organization for years that the flyers haven’t invested a lot in goaltending. Inside the organization, does that end the discussion if you sign him, that you have made an investment in goaltending?
We’re trying to get better, as we try to do every year. Our idea is to put ourselves in the position to win the Stanley Cup. We haven’t really had an opportunity to talk to Ilya’s agent yet. Once we get the ball rolling there, we’ll see if we can get him signed. If we do, I think we’ll have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league. I feel confident in saying that, anyway.
Q: What interests you about Bryzgalov?
“Well, you look at how he played not only when he was in Anaheim, but the last few years in Phoenix, I think he’s probably one of the reason, probably the biggest reason why they became a playoff team the last two years, with his play in the regular season. I know last season he and his team took Detroit to seven games in a hard-fought series, and this year was obviously not as good for Phoenix in the playoffs, but he’s one of the better goalies in the league. You can make the argument that he’s among the top 10 goalies in the league, if not higher. We’re happy to get this opportunity to talk to him early and we’re going to try our best to get him signed.”
Q: Ed Snider was pretty adamant that he didn’t want to go through another season like this again with the goalies. How much did that weigh in on this?
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to field a good team. We want to win a Stanley Cup. We’re trying to make ourselves better in all areas. We’re going to give it our best shot.”
Q: Are you comfortable exceeding the salary cap once it’s announced, like you did last year?
“We’ll see, Frank. It’s not a comfortable spot to be in. The more you get into the summer, the more difficult it becomes to move money. We’ll see how it goes.”
Q: You said you could not sign Bryzgalov until the new cap is announced – is that correct?
“Unless we made some kind of a deal.”
Q: In the past you’ve had success doing this obviously with Kimmo and Scott Hartnell, and it didn’t quite work out last year with Dan Hamhuis. What point in your mind do you say we have to get this done or move on to something else, or do you not worry about that at this point?
“I’m not really too worried about it right now. I think we have some time. Ideally before you get to the Draft, you’d like to know if you have a deal in place, and then we’ll see what we can do at the draft in order to – if we need to make some adjustments or whatever. As long as we sense over a period of time that we’re making some progress, I don’t feel uncomfortable going late into June 30.”
Q: Is it the goal to do this and keep the team, at least the core players, intact?
“[We have some] good pieces that you need to win a Stanley Cup. In acquiring Ilya, we have an opportunity here to negotiate a contract and get him signed sort of ahead of other teams that might have had those same ideas in mind. So we’ll see what we can do. If we can agree to a deal, and then necessary adjustments in order to get him in the salary cap, I think we’ll still have a good team – if not better.
Q: If you’re able to sign him, do you think he’ll have a good impact on Bobrovsky?
“I would assume he had a good relationship with his [other] goaltender in Phoenix. From what I can gather talking to Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell about his time in Anaheim, he was sort of behind Giguere when they won the Stanley Cup. He was in a little bit of a different role, but he was a good kid, certainly no issues that we hear of with the guy. He’s a good goalie, and I think the fact that they’re both Russian can’t hurt.
Q: When Ilya was in Phoenix he had a pretty significant workload. Do you see him doing that here or do you think you can pare that down just a little bit?
"That’s one of those things that you play by ear. I’ve said numerous times, that I really like Sergei and that he’s got a really bright future as a Flyer, so we don’t want to lose track of that. Having said that, if we can sign Ilya, he’s a guy that is used to the workload. So there’s a little bit of give and take there. He played 70 in Phoenix… maybe he can play 65 here with I assume easier travel than they have in Phoenix, maybe he can play more than 70. We’ll just play that as it goes if we can accomplish what we need to accomplish and get him signed. First things first right now – we’ll deal with that later.
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