It’s hard not to be impressed with Flyers GM Paul Holmgren. Sure he has the advantage of spending to the cap but so do some other GM’s who haven’t been nearly as successful.

Outside of Nikolai Zherdev, it’s hard to really pinpoint the mistakes Holmgren has made with his hockey club. Here’s an old school guy who’s shown the ability to get it done in the cap era. It’s one thing to freely spend like we see with Glen Sather and the New York Rangers, building a team with chemistry who competes for a Stanley Cup is a different story.

Is there anything better than a GM who treats his players and others around him with respect?  Most players would tell you no. It can set the foundation for an entire organization when the people up top are humble and respectful.

It will be hard to go against Philadelphia come playoff time when you consider their depth offensively. On any given night leading scorers such as Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux might be playing on the third line. If not them then it’s Mike Richards and newly acquired Kris Versteeg. It could even be the highest scoring line in the league consisting of Danny Briere, Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell. Not all of these guys are free agent or trade pickups either. Throw in James Van Riemsdyk along with Giroux, Carter and Richards and you have some pretty impressive draft picks with JVR the only one selected in the top ten.

The Flyers also have, in my opinion, the second best fourth line in the league with Darroll Powe, Blair Betts, and Daniel Carcillo. I say second best as I wouldn’t put them ahead of the fourth line in San Jose consisting of Ben Eager, Scott Nichol, and Jamal Mayers.

Speaking of Leino by the way, there’s been a lot of talk regarding a contract extension. Both sides have been talking and were gaining some traction. Recently Holmgren approached Leino and gave him an option. Sources say he told Leino we can get the deal done now or add Versteeg and wait until after the season.  Leino responded quickly “I want to win a Cup”.

The trade for Versteeg takes away the necessary tag room available to sign Leino to a contract now. In other words, there isn’t enough space under next years salary cap to sign Leino today. Holmgren assured Leino that the deal will get taken care of after the season once the necessary moves are made to create cap room. For now the deal has been halted which is of no concern to Leino whose main priority is winning. There is certainly some risk considering there is no offer on the table but the trust factor is certainly in play.

It’s one thing to be impressed by Holmgren but it an era of rich spoiled athletes it gives you an idea of the type of person Leino is as well. How many players would turn down millions of dollars and financial security for the better of the team? You could probably find some in the NHL but outside of pro hockey I’m not so sure.

The Flyers players are on a mission to win a Stanley Cup and having unselfish players like a Ville Leino and strong leadership with Paul Holmgren gives them hope. Having a quality defense anchored by Chris Pronger won’t hurt their chances either.

More to come,

Andy Strickland  

 strickland.andy@gmail.com