Philadelphia Flyers beat writer Sam Carchidi believes the Flyers are going to try and dump two significant contracts from their books this offseason. More specifically, he reports that the Flyers are hoping to move on from both defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and winger James van Riemsdyk.
Looking to make trades this offseason to free up cap space and make minor adjustments to a team that performed quite well during the 2019-20 season, moving these two players and the accompanying $11.5 million that comes with them will be a challenge. Of the two, Carchidi believes Gostisbehere will draw more interest.
Can Gostisbehere Still Play?
Signed through the 2022-23 season, Gostisbehere’s $4.5 million is no small price tag for a player who managed only 12 points in 42 games this past season and had a cup of coffee in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. There’s real concern the defenseman has lost whatever it was that made him a 65-point defenseman in 2017-18.
If the Flyers retain a chunk of his salary, there could be a team that takes a look as he’s still only 27 years old and could rebound. That said, it’s certainly not a slam dunk.
Gostisbehere has been in the rumor mill before, so this news isn’t anything surprising.
van Riemsdyk is a $7 Million Forward in a Tight Market
As for James van Riemsdyk, this is probably the worst time to be an expensive forward with declining production. His $7 million salary for the next three seasons might be absolutely immovable.
He didn’t have a terrible season with 40 points in 66 games, but there are going to be few teams willing to add that kind of money on a longer-term deal when his production has dropped every season in each of the last four years. (Keep in mind, he was injured for a good chunk of the 2018-19 campaign.)
There will be a lot of contracts that shake loose this NHL offseason. That said, van Riemsdyk’s deal and Gostisbehere’s deal are not two that teams are likely to jump all over.
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David
September 23, 2020 at 9:16 am
Why are the flyers so down on JVR? He was still pace to score 25 goals in a down year. He is only 30 years old and really in his prime. He didn’t fit into AV’s system well in the playoffs, but was also used as a checking player only god knows why.