Our National Nightmare Is Over: The Flyers Buy Out RJ Umberger
Live-look at RJ Umberger receiving the news today:
Now before we get going here, let’s just get one thing out of the way–RJ Umberger, the human being, is by all counts a great dude. By buying out his contract today, it essentially means that RJ Umberger is out of a job. Well, kind of. I mean he’ll still be getting paid, but he’ll just be getting paid to not show up to work. But to get to the NHL, you obviously have to be a special breed of competitive person. Nobody who is that competitive wants to get paid just to not play. But RJ Umberger, the hockey player, was just awful the past two seasons. And that’s not completely his fault. The man has had a decently successful career in the NHL for just over 10 years. He’s potted 392 points over his career and seems to have been a great locker room guy all the way through. But he’s 34-years-old. And not everybody can be Jaromir Jagr. He’s getting older, he’s getting slower, he just couldn’t produce at this level anymore and the Flyers had to let him go and buy out this final year of his contract. So while I’m sure this news–while very unsurprising–sucks for RJ Umberger, it’s a business and some cap fat just needed to be trimmed. So on paper, here’s what the buyout does for the Flyers’ books (via General Fanager).
Now obviously anybody with eyes can see that the Flyers only benefit from the buyout this season while having to give up a little more cap space next season. But this will help them as soon as Free Agency opens up on July 1 this summer. They’ll have a little more wiggle room when it comes to contract negotiations with RFA Brayden Schenn this summer, and will give them a little more in the bank to go after any UFA’s Hextall is looking at. Plus, it just opens up another roster spot for any of the young kids who are on the bubble of making the cut (think Travis Konecny).
Now obviously when you think of RJ Umberger’s 2nd stint in Philly, you immediately go back to the Hartnell trade. Since taking over general managing duties for the Flyers, Ron Hextall has seemingly done everything right. And on paper, the Hartnell-Umberger trade may be his only blemish so far. But look at it this way.
Is Scott Hartnell a good hockey player? Yeah, I’d say so. He’s had 109 points over the past two seasons compared to Umberger’s 26. But is he worth that $4.75 million cap hit for this season, next season and then the season after that? I don’t really think so. I don’t think that Scott Hartnell makes the Flyers a legitimate Cup contender as much as the extra cap space from buying out Umberger does. So sure, over the past two seasons you can say that they Flyers got hosed on that trade. But looking forward? It’s just all another piece to Ron Hextall’s bigger plan.
So yeah. The RJ Umberger Era in Philadelphia is officially over (again) and that should make your viewing experience much easier moving forward. Like I said, I’m sure Umberger is a great guy. But he’s just, for the lack of a better term, a bag of dog feces on the ice these days. There’s nothing he can do about that. Father Time is undefeated. All the best to him in the future and here’s to not wanting to die every night that he’s in the lineup anymore.
P.S. – Draft is just a week away. I’ll have more soon on some names that you can expect the Flyers to take a look at with the 18th overall pick next Friday.