Elliott Lands in Philly

The Philadelphia Flyers were another team that was looking to go in a different direction with their goaltending situation and they made the move to sign veteran keeper Brian Elliott to a new 2-year deal, worth $5.5 million.

The 32-year old keeper split time in Calgary with Chad Johnson, but assumed the number one role in the second half of the season, when he finally found his stride with the team in their run towards the playoffs.  He appeared in 49 games for the Flames, posting 26 wins and 56 points in the hockey pool, good enough for 21st among all goalies.  Unfortunately for him, that run of good hockey wasn't enough for Flames management to offer him a new deal and his time in Calgary was limited to just the one season.

The Flyers do add a good veteran presence with Elliott and he will certainly battle in net, which he may need to in spades.  Philadelphia has had a reputation of leaving their goalies hung out to dry a lot, so it will be on Elliott to work through some of their defensive struggles..

It is an exciting time for the Flyers these days, also getting to add Nolan Patrick at the draft a week ago, the turnaround is coming for this team and now they have a goalie that will bring a fresh perspective to their game.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Claude Giroux	8.275	Andrew MacDonald	5.000	Brian Elliott	2.750
Jakub Voracek	8.250	Shayne Gostisbehere	4.500	Michal Neuvirth	2.500
Valtteri Filppula	5.000	Radko Gudas	3.350
Sean Couturier	4.450	Ivan Provorov	0.894
Wayne Simmonds	3.975	Brandon Manning	0.975
Matt Read	3.625	Travis Sanheim	0.863
Dale Weise	2.350	TJ Brennan	0.625
Michael Raffl	2.350
Jordan Weal	1.750
Mike Vecchione	0.900
Travis Konecny	0.894
Phil Varone	0.650
Colin McDonald	0.633

The Flyers have nearly $9.4 million in cap space left to use and they still have an open spot on this projected roster, which could be kept for Patrick, who should get to sign here in the next couple of weeks.  Flyers management has done a pretty good job assembling a mix of veterans and young players and they have kept the cap number to a reasonable level.  This seems to be a growing trend in the NHL.

I like how this team is shaping up, even after the trade that saw Brayden Schenn sent to St. Louis to open up some more cap space and a roster spot for their up and coming youth.  If Elliott can get his game together early in the 2018 season, the Flyers should make a good run towards the playoffs, even if they don't quite make it.  They are still in a very tough division and they may have to exercise just a little bit more patience in the coming season, before they have the experience to compete with Pittsburgh and Washington on a full-time basis.