The Flyers made an offer to more than one soon-to-be free agent goaltender this weekend. According to ESPN’s E.J. Hradek and Pierre LeBrun, Paul Holmgren contacted Marty Turco with the permission of the Dallas Stars.
From Hradek, in a portion of his blog that’s thankfully in front of ESPN’s ridiculous “Insider” pay wall:
In fact, Holmgren offered Turco a three-year deal worth roughly $6 million (or a bit more than $2 million per season). The 34-year-old Turco, who confirmed the offer via text message, politely declined, opting to test the market on Thursday.
He declined. But, this does tell us two things:
– We know that the Flyers have interest in Turco. We heard the rumors back in February that the Flyers were interested in Turco. We weren’t sure. Now, we know that the Flyers have interest, and that could matter come July 1. Just with Evgeni Nabokov, the Flyers can still land this guy on July 1.
– An idea of what the Flyers want to spend on goaltending? This isn’t that cut and dry, obviously, as different players are going to yield different contracts. But could this be an indication that the Flyers want to spend around $2 million a year on goaltending? That’s not to say they’re out on Nabokov or any other goalie who wants more than $2 million/year, but perhaps we can read between the lines a bit.
– Holmgren is targeting goaltending, even before he’s conventionally allowed to do so. He’s just as uncomfortable with Michael Leighton in goal as most of us are, and he’s only going to sign him as a starter if necessary after exploring all of his other options.
