Paul Holmgren is no longer the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Philly fans everywhere should be thankful for that.
Yes, he got them to the Stanley Cup in the 2009-10 season. He also got very good deals in the blockbuster trades of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the Flyers' two best players at the time.
But the Flyers haven't even reached the Eastern Conference Finals since, and their future is hardly glowing at this point. There are several reasons for that, but the most important one is that Holmgren handed out big deals like they were nothing.
Now, new GM Ron Hextall and the Flyers are sitting on some big contracts that could hamper the team for years. While Claude Giroux's megadeal is the biggest on the squad, that was a necessary move.
Before we delve into the pile of bad contracts, let's pick out perhaps the worst of the bunch: the nine-year, $51 million deal given to Ilya Bryzgalov on June 23, 2011.
Bryzgalov was so bad that the Flyers will pay him $23 million over the next 14 years to not play for Philadelphia, per the rules of the compliance buyout system.
So now let' ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Garrett Baker
Analyzing How Paul Holmgren Left Philadelphia Flyers Buried in Bad Contracts
June 10th, 2014 by Garrett Baker Leave a reply »
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