- Dave Isaac of the Courier Post: The Flyers avoided arbitration with Michael Del Zotto, signing him to a two-year, $7.75 million deal. The Flyers now have eight defenseman under contract for next year. Trade talk around the league for defenseman is quiet.
“Things are pretty quiet right now,” the GM admitted. “We know we’ve got some good defensemen and I’m sure we’ll get calls, but sometimes you can’t predict your timing. There’s still some free agents out there and what not. I think some guys are probably taking some time off right now.”
The Flyers have about $300,000 in cap space. Moving a defenseman could help clear some cap space, and if they are able to move two, there might be an opening for 2015 first round pick Ivan Provorov.
- Randy Miller of NJ.com: Flyers Jakub Voracek is entering the final year of his four-year, $17 million contract. He’s eligible to sign a contract extension.
“We’ve been chatting,” Hextall said. “That’s pretty much all I can say. There’s no deadline on something like that and they tend to drag on.”
Hextall “prefers” that they get a deal done before the start of training camp, but it doesn’t appear that the sides are close.
“We’re willing to get something done if Jake wants to get something done,” Hextall said.
The Flyers still have Vincent Lecavalier under contract for another three-years at a $4.5 million cap hit. They’ve been unable to move him so far.
“Well, we’re status quo,” Hextall said. “Right now we’re planning on going into the season with Vinny. We’ll see what happens. Will we get a call with interest? I don’t know.”
They will continue to try and move a defenseman, with Luke Schenn the leading candidate as Andrew MacDonald and his five-years, $5 million cap hit are untradeable.