With six days before free agency officially begins in the NHL, Paul Holmgren and the Flyers brass are reportedly not close to a contract deal with defenseman Dan Hamhuis. Tim Panaccio passed along the news via Twitter.
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#Flyers and Dan Hamhuis camp are NOT close on a deal
Tim Panaccio
tpanotch
The Flyers, of course, acquired Hamhuis in a trade on Saturday that saw Ryan Parent head south to Nashville. If Hamhuis doesn’t sign before July 1, he’ll become a unrestricted free agent, available to any team.
For comparison, let’s look to the June 2007 trade with Nashville that saw Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen, two guys who were set to hit unrestricted free agency, come to Philadelphia. Almost immediately after that trade, the Flyers agreed to terms with those two players.
“We’re extremely close to getting it done,” Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. “We’ll get it done in the next day or two.”
Two days then, five days now. And after five days, the sides aren’t even close. This could mean something. At the same time, it could mean nothing. I think, at this point, we should understand that Holmgren wouldn’t have made the trade if he didn’t believe he could sign Hamhuis. That, or he has something more sinister up his sleeve.
Let’s not worry… yet.
