Riley Cote ends NHL career, will assist in Adirondack

At 2PM Monday afternoon, the Flyers announced that Riley Cote’s hockey career is over. Cote’s minutes were extremely limited last season, even more so when Peter Laviolette took the reigns. He played just 7 games under Laviolette.

The Flyers salary cap situation gets a little breather with Cote’s 500k immediately coming off the books. With the team’s acquisiton of Jody Shelley and re-signing of Daniel Carcillo, Cote’s role for this upcoming season would have been in an Adirondack jersey anyway.

Now, Riley Cote, 28, will be an assistant coach in Adirondack aside Greg Gilbert and Kjell Samuelsson.

Cote has spent the last six years in the Flyers organization. Cote has played in 156 games for the orange and black, tallying just 1 goal and 6 assists for 7 points. Cote totaled 411 penalty minutes with the team.

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BREAKING: Simon Gagne reportedly traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning

According to several sources around the hockey world, the Flyers and Lightning have come to an agreement with a trade involving Simon Gagne. We’re still unsure of the return, but continue to check back for updates.

UPDATE: 2:35pm – D Matt Walker & a 4th Rd Pick headed back to Flyers

Sad day in Flyerdom.

I leave you with this.

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Flyers Re-Sign Dan Carcillo

The Flyers and Dan Carcillo have avoided arbitration as the sides have agreed on a one-year deal.  It’s believed to be worth $1.075 million.  Last season with the Flyers, Carcillo played in 76 games scoring 22 points (12+10) and totaling 207 PIM.  He played in 17 games during the playoffs scoring 6 points (2+4) and totaled 34 PIM.

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OFFICIAL: Flyers ink Zherdev to one-year, $2 million deal

As expected, Nik Zherdev is officially a Philadelphia Flyer.

The 25 year old signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the team today after spending a season in the KHL. Zherdev has played 5 seasons in the NHL; 4 with the Columbus Blue Jackets and 1 with the New York Rangers.

His last season in the NHL was the 08-09 campaign with the Rangers. He played all 82 games that season and tallied 58 points (23 goals/35 assists).

Like we mentioned a few days ago when these reports first began to surface, Zherdev is a hot-and-cold player and has a tendency to be a defensive liability at times.

With the addition of Zherdev’s salary, the Flyers are officially $1, 422, 263 over the NHL’s salary cap.

Whether or not this means the end of Simon Gagne being the longest tenured athlete in Philadelphia remains to be seen, but there certainly is no wiggle room and Paul Holmgren has created a problem for himself. More than likely, someone is on the way out, but we still have no idea who. With the way this off-season is going, Chris Pronger could be traded tomorrow (we aren’t serious).

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Russian website confirms Flyers interest in Ilya Kovalchuk

A frustrating and confusing off-season just got a little bit more odd. The trade rumors are getting difficult to keep track of.

While many sources are claiming that Ilya Kovalchuk is on Long Island today in New York, fine tuning his alleged deal with the Islanders, a Russian website has posted an article claiming that the Flyers are among three teams interested in acquiring the prized sniper. Kovalchuk’s agent, Yuri Nikolayev, is said to be the source behind this information, making it all the more credible. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Colorado are all said to be in negotiations with Nikolayey and Kovalchuk.

But this makes absolutely zero sense. Just yesterday, the Flyers had asked Simon Gagne to waive his NTC so they could potentially move his salary to re-sign players and make a run at a free agent goaltender. Today, they’re targeting a $7.5-10 million forward.

The Flyers would have to move a lot more to even consider acquiring Kovalchuk.

As of now, it looks like the deal with the Islanders is a sure thing. Doesn’t make this any less odd.

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Several sources beginning to confirm: Simon Gagne asked to waive NTC (UPDATED)

Nick Kypreos of SportsNet first reported last night that the Flyers may be on the verge of asking Simon Gagne to waive his no-trade clause.

According to several sources around the league, the Flyers did just that today.

No trade is imminent, but when a team asks a player to waive a NTC, it’s typically because something is coming sooner rather than later.

What are your thoughts on this? I think it’s awful. =/

Update: According to Anthony SanFilippo of the DelCo Times, Simon Gagne HAS AGREED to waive his no-trade clause, but no trade is imminent and it’s likely we won’t see anything until Tuesday at the earliest. This is still a tough pill to swallow.

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Old news by now, but Coburn re-signed to two-year, $6.4 million deal

Prior to the signing of O’Donnell and Shelley, Paul Holmgren and Braydon Coburn came to terms on a new two-year, $6.4 million contract.

The contract will carry a cap hit of $3.2 million/season, which some critics think may be a bit steep for Coburn at this point in his career. Coburn’s playoff performance was arguably better than his regular season performance, but in my eyes, those two months alone can’t justify that much of a pay raise.

With the addition of Andrej Meszaros, though, the Flyers  now have a pretty beefy defense. Albeit an expensive one, this defense may be what we’ve been missing: a pair to rest the likes of Kimmo Timonen and Chris Pronger.

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Flyers add Sean O’Donnell and…..

Sit down, because you might fall over. Oh, and put down anything in your hands, because it may end up going through your TV sets.

We’ll start with the good news first, I guess. The Flyers have signed veteran Sean O’Donnel to a one-year, $1 million deal. O’Donnel, who was on the Anaheim Ducks’ Stanley Cup roster in 2007 (with Chris Pronger), has missed only five games since 2005. Quite durable, as well. O’Donnel is an Ian Laperriere type of fellow. He’ll lay down in front of nearly anything and do whatever it takes to win. Certainly an upgrade for the Flyers defense. Oh, and he likes to fight Rangers, too. O’Donnel is a large overhaul to our third pairing that we so desperately needed.

In other, not so awesome news, Paul Holmgren has added Jody Shelley at an outrageous price of $1.1 million for three years. Mistake if you ask me. This likely spells the end of Daniel Carcillo and Darroll Powe, who are both seeking new contracts. This move puts the Flyers right up against the cap. Literally. Something has to be coming.

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Flyers acquire Meszaros from Lightning

In a somewhat shocking and surprising move, the Flyers have acquired Andrej Meszaros from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second round pick. The 24 year old who was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2004 had 6 goals and 11 assists in 81 games with the Lightning last season.

Meszaros brings a $4,000,000 cap hit and is signed until the end of the 2013-2014 season.

More to follow…

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July 1st, 2010 – NHL Free Agency Frenzy

Stay informed with all of today’s happenings here on WeBelieveInOrange.

Any Flyers related signings will come in their own separate posts. This post will aggregate all of the signings around the league, as well as rumors and what not.

This year’s coveted FA prize? We’ll say it again, even though we don’t agree. Ilya Kovalchuk.

11:52AM – Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie are both tweeting that Andrej Meszaros could be a Flyer any minute now. In exchange, the Flyers would give a second round pick to the Lightning. Interesting.

11:57AM – Meszaros to Philly is a done deal. Post coming.

12:06PM – Our old friend Marty Biron is headed to the Big Apple. The Rangers have signed Biron to a 2-year, $900k deal.

2:50PM – Massive update here as we try and catch up — Dan Paille re-signs with BOS 2yrs, $1.075m per.  Sergei Gonchar signs with OTT for 3yrs @ $5.5m per.  Alex Tanguay signs with CGY for 1yr @ $1.7m.  Zbynek Michalek to PIT for 5yrs @ $4m per.  Alex Auld to MTL for 1yr @ $1m.  Colby Armstrong to TOR for 3yrs @ $3m per.  Antero Niittymaki to SJ for 2yrs @ $2m per.  Joel Perrault to VAN for 1yr @ $510k.  Sean O’Donnell to PHI for 1yr @ $1m.  Manny Malhotra to VAN for 3ys @ $2.5m.  Derek Morris stays in PHX for 4yrs @ $2.75m per.  Jody Shelley to PHI for 3yrs @ $1.1m per.  Dan Ellis to TB for 2yrs @ $1.5m per.  Derek Boogaard to NYR for 4yrs @ $1.625m per.  Paul Martin to PIT for 5yrs @ $5m per.  Whew.

3:02PM – Toni Lydman to ANH for 3yrs @ $3m per.

3:15PM – Ray Whitneyto PHX for 2yrs @ $3M per.

3:37PM – Curtis Sanford to MTL 1 yr @ $550k; And $200k over the AHL. A Two-way deal.

3:56PM – Henrik Tallinder signs with NJ for 4yrs @ $3.375m per.

3:58PM – Kurtis Foster signs with EDM for 2yrs @ $1.18m per.

4:15PM – Dan Hamhuis to VAN.  Details coming  UPDATE: 4:21 $4.5m per for 6yrs.  4:33PM – Still not official.  Very likely at this point though.  4:55PM – CONFIRMED

4:30PM – Olli Jokinen to CGY for 2yrs @ $3m per.

4:32PM – Chris Mason to ATL for 2yrs @ $1.85 per.

4:34PM – Anton Volchenkov to NJ for 6yrs @ $4.25m per.  Also includes a NTC.

4:44PM – What’s this, a trade on UFA day?  ATL & CHI have agreed on a deal involving Andrew Ladd.  A pick & prospect going back.  We’ll try and work on exact details.  UPDATE: 4:47PM – Ivan Vishnevsky and a second-round pick to CHI for Ladd.  Thanks to Darren Dreger.

5:20PM – Couple of updates here. The New York Rangers were reportedly interested in Alex Frolov (LA), but Frolov was apparently asking for too much cash. Instead, they settled for Vinny Prospal. Prospal is closing in on a deal with the Rangers. Look for a one-year deal.

5:21PM – Jordan Leopold has signed a three-year deal with the Sabres, but financials have yet to be disclosed.

5:24PM – The Kings are apparently about to announce a trade, according to TheFourthPeriod.

5:26PM – A Kings spokesperson claims “no announcement imminent.”

5:29PM – The Devils claim that they’re still in on the Kovalchuk sweepstakes. I’ll see it when I believe it. The Devils have also signed goaltender Johan Hedberg to a one-year, $1.5 million deal. The deal also includes a NTC. Interesting.

5:45PM – Saku Koivu back to the Ducks. Details still unknown. UPDATE: $5 million over 2 years for Koivu. $2.5 per. Not bad at all.

6:03PM – Pierre LeBrun still thinks Kovalchuk’s destined for the Kings, but they’re not willing to shell out the kind of money he’s searching for. They’re still wiggling, though. Devils still in, too.

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