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Philadelphia has salary bonus overage of $1.4 million, more moves ahead for Flyers?

Philadelphia Flyers v Boston Bruins - Game Four

BOSTON, MA - MAY 06: A puck bounces off the helmet of Sergei Bobrovsky #35 of the Philadelphia Flyers during his game against the Boston Bruins in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 6, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeated the Flyers 5-1 to sweep the series 4-0. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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It’s always fun in Philadelphia. After the Flyers’ busy summer of spending and trading, they’ve got a new obstacle in their way to winning the Stanley Cup for the offseason. Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly reports that the Flyers will have $1.4 million in salary bonus overages counted against the cap this season. The bonuses were earned by players last season and will have to be counted against the cap this year. The Flyers owe up to former players Sean O’Donnell as well as to James van Riemsdyk, Andreas Nodl, and Sergei Bobrovsky for those bonuses.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s because it happened to the Chicago Blackhawks last season and helped force them to purge their roster of better paid players like Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, and Brent Sopel. This time around, the Flyers cap situation isn’t nearly as dire as Chicago’s was last year, as CapGeek.com will show you, but the Flyers still have a move or two to make to help get them more comfortably under the cap. While they’ll get Ian Laperriere on LTIR once again to get his $1.1 million hit off the books, they’ll need just a bit more space for flexibility.

CSN Philly’s Sarah Baicker has one idea how the Flyers could do things and it surrounds moving a certain Russian goaltender.

The name that sticks out most is Bobrovsky. The 22-year-old goalie will cost $1.5 million next season, which is very expensive for a backup netminder on a team so close to the cap ceiling.

General manager Paul Holmgren has repeatedly said the Flyers aren’t shopping Bobrovsky around. But with workhorse Ilya Bryzgalov as the new No. 1, the need for a young, developing goaltender is significantly lessened. Plus, there’s undoubtedly interest in Bob from teams around the league.


Shopping Bobrovsky may not be as crazy as you’d think. When Philly locked up Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year $51 million deal, Bobrovsky’s title as future #1 goalie in Philadelphia disappeared. Bobrovsky making $1.75 million (
according to CapGeek) is a tough number to handle for a backup goalie, but other guys in the Flyers system like Michael Leighton ($1.55 million against the cap) or Niko Hovinen (zero NHL experience) don’t offer much solace in either salary relief or ability to jump in at the NHL level.

While the Flyers cap situation doesn’t demand that they make a move, losing a little bit more salary would make life a bit easier for GM Paul Holmgren to arrange things when injuries occur. While there’s no doubt about interest around the league for Bobrovsky’s services, the Flyers won’t just give him away and teams may not be eager to deal with the Flyers when the leverage in the situation really doesn’t sit with anyone. The Flyers don’t have to deal him and teams looking to land him could just wait until things get really desperate for Philly to make an offer that works better for them.

Still, the fact that the possibility is out there makes things with the Flyers a never-ending source of intrigue. The moment Philly needs to make a move to adjust for injury will have everyone watching to see how they manage to dance around the salary cap and whether or not they’ll have to cut off someone useful to their needs.