It’s a huge open secret at this point: The Flyers want to rid themselves of Vincent Lecavalier — and more importantly, the awful contract that Paul Holmgren gave him last summer.
The reasons why are very, very obvious to anybody who watched the Flyers this season.
There was speculation back in early May that former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette would be interested in acquiring his services, which made total sense given that Lavi was a big part of the reason Lecavalier came to Philadelphia in the first place last offseason. There were the rumors that broke earlier in the week that Ron Hextall is dealing with the possibility of trading Vinny.
And on Friday, Hextall basically confirmed it.
“I’ve had discussions with [Lecavalier’s agent Kent Hughes] but I’m not going to discuss where it’s going because quite frankly I don’t know,” Hextall said. “It’s something we’ll deal with internally here and when we come up with something we’ll let you guys know.”
You normally don’t hear general managers confirm that they’ve discussed with a player’s agent the possiblity of trading said player. It’s clear that Vinny is unhappy here and that the Flyers don’t want to be saddled with that contract, so while Hextall can’t give us details, it seems clear that the wheels are at least somewhat in motion.
Any trade of Lecavalier has to be approved by him, since there’s a no-movement clause involved. The Flyers would almost certainly have to take back some salary in any trade, but would you rather take back a little salary under cap that’s likely to continue rising for several years, or would you rather keep $4.5 million on the fourth line until 2018? There’s a team out there that can use him, and the I’m convinced the Flyers can make something happen, even if they don’t get much back.
I’d put good money on this getting figured out sooner or later, and that Vincent Lecavalier’s time in Philadelphia is short-lived.
