EDIT, 6/17, 9:02 p.m. ET: Paul Holmgren and the Flyers released a statement this evening about the state of the negotiations:
“We continue to have talks with Mark’s agent. Although there is nothing to report, we remain confident that we will get something done.”
As we noted below, the reported deal of $5.25 million per year would put the Flyers over the maximum allowed spending for the 2013-14 season, so chances are they just can’t announce it until they also announce their plans to buy out Briere and/or Bryzgalov. But there’s your status report in the meantime.
Original post below.
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Last week, the Flyers decided to get a jump on the defensive free agent market, sending a fourth-round pick and Shane Harper to the Islanders for 35-year old defenseman Mark Streit. We gave our thoughts on the deal at the time, and weren’t convinced that he was going to be the big-time cog that was going to turn this defense around, but at the same time it seemed pretty likely that the two sides were going to reach a deal before too long.
That deal apparently was completed this Monday afternoon, as TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the Flyers reached an agreement with Streit on a four-year deal:
Streit and Flyers agree on 4 year contract.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) June 17, 2013
TSN’s Bob McKenzie followed up with additional confirmation. Official financial terms — in particular, the average annual value against the cap — have not been disclosed yet.
(UPDATE: Official terms still aren’t out there yet, but Dreger is calling it at 4 years for $5.25 million per year:
Told Streit deal with Flyers is 4 years, $5.25 mil per.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) June 17, 2013
That’s a, uh, healthy sum of money.)
It may not be possible for the deal to officially be announced by the Flyers yet. They’re already over next season’s cap and will need to use one or more of their amnesty provisions (presumably on Daniel Briere, possibly on Ilya Bryzgalov) such that they can remain compliant with the rule that says that they can’t go more than 10 percent over the cap in the offseason.
As we said in the post linked above, Streit’s still a good player even at his age, and his style of play absolutely fills a role the Flyers need filled. But he’s going to cost a fair sum of money against the cap and will probably not be the same player he is now by the end of the deal. It’s a risky deal, and it very likely means some sort of move is coming in the near future to offload one or more of the team’s current defensemen (and their salaries).
There’s also the “35+ rule” which indicates that Streit’s money will be on the cap even if he retires or can’t play. That’s a rule that we’re all pretty familiar with thanks to Chris Pronger’s current situation, and while it’s not particularly likely to make a difference this time around (Streit won’t retire and pass up the remainder of his contract unless he absolutely has to, and contract variance rules make it impossible to put throw-in years at the end of a contract) it’s still not a great thing to have sitting on the books.
So that’s done. Mark Streit is your newest Flyer. We’ll have more thoughts on this before long.
