Johnny Hockey is our Artemi Panarin

The New York Rangers have proven that a quick rebuild is possible. Yes, they had A LOT of help in the process signing Panarin, getting 2 top rookie picks, Fox essentially forcing his way to them and obviously lucking into another franchise goalie in Igor Shesterkin.

However, I truly believe when it comes down to it, Artemi Panarin is the biggest reason for this quick turnaround. The most important piece of building a true Stanley Cup contender is your elite workhorse players. There are only so many of these players in the league and I believe Panarin and Gaudreau are two of them.

Before I dive into how the Flyers can make this signing possible, let’s take a look at both players to prove how good they both are and how much each costs on the market.

Johnny Hockey

Johnny Gaudreau will be 29 at the beginning of next season. He’s coming of a 115 point season and is arguably a top 10 offensive talent in the NHL. He has averaged 81 points over the past 5 seasons (1.09PPG) and will cost roughly $9 million dollars per season. Keep in mind that due to covid, that 81 points per season average is a bit lower than it should be. To see his full stat page click here.

Artemi Panarin

Panarin was signed back in July of 2019 and was 28 years old to start his first season. He was signed to a 6 year contract worth $81.5 million dollars ($11.6 per year). He has averaged 83 points over the past 5 seasons (1.2PPG), 1.3PPG over the 3 seasons with the Rangers.  To see Panarin’s full stat page click here.

I don’t think there is any doubt, Johnny Hockey and Panarin are both very good hockey players. They even have very similar playing styles. To be honest, I think you could argue that either player is better than the other – they are both so talented it is hard to decide who is better than who. Overall, if the Flyers indeed signed Johnny Hockey this offseason, they could  get him at a very good price that is around $2 million less than what Panarin is making. I believe that alone makes Gaudreau an intriguing target this free agency. I have no doubt in my  mind Chuck Fletcher and Danny B will be targeting him, I just hope we can seal the deal. Johnny needs to come home!

Signing Gaudreau

Let’s be safer here and assume Johnny is gonna demand $10 million per year. The Flyers currently have $5.12 million in cap space (via CapFriendly). Let’s also assume that of the players remaining, they need to sign Frost, Tippett and MacEwen. I think those players should eat up around $4 million in cap space maximum, but probably less (I want to be as generous as  possible here). So overall, the Flyers will have about $1.12 million in cap space and will need to create an additional $8.88 million to sign Gaudreau.

Scenario 1: Flyers trade JVR and Oskar Lindblom

JVR currently has 1 year left at $7 million, which right away clears a majority of that cap space. I’m not stupid, I know moving that contract could be tough. The Flyers might have to add a  pick/prospect to the trade or even retain some salary (see Scenario 2 for my non-JVR scenario).

The Flyers should also look into moving Oskar Lindblom. This one hurts but it’s a necessary move as he currently makes $3 million per season.

So in this scenario the Flyers could sign JG if they moved all of JVR’s contract and Oskar Lindblom ($10 million total freed). Or, they could retain some of JVR’s salary in a trade (at maximum $2) to still sign Gaudreau at about $9.12M per year.

Scenario 2: Flyers Keep JVR

Let’s be honest with ourselves. It would be pretty much impossible for the Flyers to magically become a Stanley Cup contender as early as next year. So in that case, let’s assume the Flyers decide to keep JVR instead of trading away picks and other assets to get rid of his contract. That means after trading Oskar Lindblom, the Flyers still need to create atleast $5M in cap  space.

I know what your thinking and NO! The Flyers should not trade TK for picks to create that space. He is way too talented to trade for a 1^st right now. If TK is traded it better be for some actual talent, not just picks. So who else can we trade? It’s tough. I think Scenario 1 is much more likely but if you had to single out 1-2 players here it would probably be somebody like  Risto or Provorov.

Ristolainen would still probably net you a 1^st (I think) and you could get a 1^st and then some for Provorov. I get these situations are much less likely, but to me these are the only real options if you don’t move JVR.

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Do you agree with me? Can the Flyers make it happen? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and Twitter replies!

Drunk Gritty is a writing contributor at HW Hockey and a co-host on the Tie My Skates Podcast
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