Confirmed with Link: Flyers Re-Sign Brian Elliott To One Year Deal $1.5M AAV for 20/21 season (bumped thread)

[landsbergfan]

Looks like Ghost is here to stay

 

[landsbergfan]

I think he is at this stage a below average back-up.

But tbh the only likely UFA upgrades were:

Khudobin
Greiss
Talbot
Miller

and Miller is staying on West coast. And the other three will cost like $2.5m at very least.

And the rest of the crop for back-ups are at Elliots level or worse.

I agree with the assessment, but it still feels like there wasn’t a rush to sign him before the goalie market working itself out. I suspect there will eventually be a guy left taking on a cheap deal, but Hart’s presence probably limited the options anyway.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Your follow up tweet nailed it. Any "upgrade" would be too expensive and options are limited this year, anyway.

No one will celebrate more when Elliott is no longer a roster player for the Flyers, but he was the best option for this offseason.

 

[kudymen]

Looks like Ghost is here to stay

 

[Flyerfan4life]

trending down, so of course we brought him back..


lesigh...

 

[Amorgus]

At least he's not our starter. This year is gonna suck anyway thanks to the expansion draft so no point in going crazy. I was impressed by Griess but lord only knows what they'd charge for him.

 

[Bluesguru]

Wow, I really thought he was coming back to the Blues and at this price too.

 

[BiggE]

I’m fine with this. Fair price for a solid backup.

 

[BiggE]

I would like to have a little more breathing space when it comes to the cap so I’d look to move Laughton. His trade value is as high as it’s going to get and they have players that can replace him for about a third of the cap hit.

 

[flyersnorth]

Looks like Ghost is here to stay

If Fletcher wants to get a lil' freaky after lovin' the nipple tassles, he could keep Ghost and trade Niskanen.

Provy/Myers
Sanheim/Ghost
Hagg/Zamula
Friedman

I know, I know, that messes up the R/L symbiosis. But maybe it's time to take off the training wheels and trust the guys we have. I think all of our LD can play RD except for Provy.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I would have loved Hank too but you have to think signing here was a no go from his side. Fletcher should have reached out and asked if would or he wouldn’t be doing his job.

Hank still thinks he can be a number 1. So the odds of him coming here are slim to none

 

[Prongo]

Hank still thinks he can be a number 1. So the odds of him coming here are slim to none

Yea I agree. It would have been a nice troll job but realistically probably not happening.

 

[Flyotes]

Happy for Moose. Seems like a good guy on top of it.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Good move. You aren’t going to get an experienced backup for less than $1.5M. That will help the Flyers’ flexibility under the flat cap.

You could spend more on another backup, but there’s no guarantee he’d be any better.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I am not looking forward to this guy getting beaten over and over on the far post because he feels the need to trap himself shortside by wrapping his leg around the net. Or just plain old overplaying angles.

Here's hoping nobody else was watching the Islanders explicitly try to exploit that and coming a hair away from goals twice.

I'm pretty done with watching the guy but the flat cap does make things Very Weird so it is what it is.

 

[GKJ]

They should have tried to do better. If something happens to Hart, they will regret it. Yes, you can plan for stuff like that by having better depth. It's not a negative move but the team should be actively trying to improve and that was a spot where they could have. I don't think Carter Hart needs his hand held the way having Elliott around does.

 

[orangey]

My team simulation (I was too lazy to sign onto capfriendly so I'm not publishing it) with no trades, Patrick at $1.1 million (1 year; performance bonuses for games played, etc., on top), and Myers at a $2.3 million bridge (2 years) allows Fletcher to be cap compliant at a 22-man roster. I also have Frost and Sandin on the roster.

Total remaining cap is only $379,440, but to me it's important that Fletcher doesn't "have" to make a move and therefore doesn't need to accept a poor deal for cap purposes.

This is the key point for me. Their team under the cap (with the 2 RFA's) and now they can keep everyone or deal from a position of strength if they want to. No one is over a barrel here and for that reason this is a very good deal from the Flyers perspective.

Additionally, they have other options in the minors if Elliot doesn't bounce back from a meh season or is injured. They can even waive him at that salary if he is beat out in camp, not that I expect it. In any case, he was still finding a way to win last season so maybe he can gut out another year with his guile.

This deal works for me considering the price and implications for the team. I was hopping for a mostly do nothing off-season and still may get my wish.

 

[Rebels57]

Unfortunate result of the flat cap. Last season was his worst since 10-11, and next season is unlikely to be better.

But to be fair, save percentages for backups were down across the league. He even performed on par with some starters with big names, like Holtby and Quick. I'm not too concerned. They tend to score for him for some reason too which is why he has a 50-29-12 record in 3 years with the Flyers.

This has to be the last year for Moose though.

 

[Rebels57]

They should have tried to do better. If something happens to Hart, they will regret it. Yes, you can plan for stuff like that by having better depth. It's not a negative move but the team should be actively trying to improve and that was a spot where they could have. I don't think Carter Hart needs his hand held the way having Elliott around does.

Who did you have in mind? The UFA class was pretty awful. A bunch of guys pushing 40, and a bunch of scrubs.

https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents/2021/caphit/all/goalies/ufa

Bringing Talbot back would probably have been the best movie but he does not want to be a back-up.

 

[GKJ]

Who did you have in mind? The UFA class was pretty awful.

Of guys you'd expect to be in the NHL next year, Elliott is arguably the worst of the bunch. My target is Greiss. There's never enough seats at the table for the goaltenders available, it's always a buyer's market unless you bid against yourself.

 

[deadhead]

The top backups are looking for starter jobs or tandem situations (splitting time), not playing behind a young star like Hart where there is no chance of getting hot and winning the playoff goalie job.

And they want a lot more money than $1.5M.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

 

[BernieParent]

Looks like Ghost is here to stay

Uncertain. I'd like to think so but each signing seems to wobble the team in different directions capwise. The early signing of Hagg gave some hint that Gostisbehere might not have room, then a $500,000 saving on Elliott reopens that possibility. We are still waiting for other shoes to drop, with Braun and Friedman's futures uncertain and what Fletcher can swing with Myers and Patrick's agents.

I am taking some small consolation that if Fletcher is determined to deal Gostisbehere, he has the opportunity to at least maximize the return rather than as a cap dump.

 

[Beef Invictus]

But to be fair, save percentages for backups were down across the league. He even performed on par with some starters with big names, like Holtby and Quick. I'm not too concerned. They tend to score for him for some reason too which is why he has a 50-29-12 record in 3 years with the Flyers.

This has to be the last year for Moose though.

I'd have to find the post, but I did a bit of a dive into this. Average for starters is down to .910 these days (was .920 earlier in the decade), with a corresponding drop to .900 for backups.

The concern with Elliott is that while he graded out to pretty much on average, that was because he had quite a strong start, which degraded into truly terrible and below-average play to finish the season.

So that is worrying. Guy can play when he's fresh to start the season but grinds down and he has only gotten older. Might have to go with him for the first half and rely on Lyon for the second.

 

[Striiker]

I am taking some small consolation that if Fletcher is determined to deal Gostisbehere, he has the opportunity to at least maximize the return rather than as a cap dump.

These words contradict each other.