Well, then. Dan Cleary might not be a Flyer after all.
This will open up a lot of jokes about the “Flyers not knowing how to read that three-year deal they offered Dan Cleary,” but it appears as though the forward won’t be coming to town after all, at least according to Elliotte Friedman of CBC.
Not exactly sure why, but it appears as if there is some complication between Daniel Cleary and PHI. Told he will not be joining Flyers.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 11, 2013
Cleary was supposed to be here today and pushed back to tomorrow and now @FriedgeHNIC says it wont happen
— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchCSN) September 11, 2013
Absolutely no idea what that “complication” could be. Maybe he didn’t pass a physical or something. Really could be anything at this point. The Flyers, two hours after Friedman’s story broke, are still saying they expect Cleary in camp.
Homer says Cleary still expected to report Thurs.
— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) September 11, 2013
Friedman is a reputable reporter, and this could be a case of the player and the team disagreeing with one another. We’ll see what happens on Thursday, I guess. In any event, the jokes are already flying.
“Three years? I thought you said free for a year. Our mistake Mr. Cleary.”
— Neil Greenberg (@ngreenberg) September 11, 2013
Obviously Paul Holmgren read all of the mean things you said about Cleary and it made him change his mind so yeah thanks a bunch Internet
— Kurt (@Kurt_BSH) September 11, 2013
If Cleary doesn’t report to camp and doesn’t wind up signing a contract, the Flyers will again have a hole on the wing on their third-line, and maybe this again opens them up to other options once training camp opens.
The whole Cleary thing has been weird from the start, from the way-too-long-and-way-too-pricey contract to the fact that the team would only publicly say that he was offered a tryout deal, not an actual deal. We all safely assumed that the Flyers weren’t confirming the deal simply because the salary cap wouldn’t allow them to do so, and that it’d all become official at the end of training camp.
It’s not over yet. Stay tuned.
This story was updated at 4:05 p.m. ET, because it’s the Flyers and it’s always complicated.
