Flyers Sign Local Guy TJ Brennan, Brayden Schenn Heading To Arbitration, And The Prospects
TJ Brennan was selected 31st overall by the Buffalo Sabres (a pick they got from the Flyers) in 2007. That made him the 2nd best product of New Jersey to get selected in that draft class after the Flyers picked up JvR at #2. And now here we are, 9 years later, with the Philadelphia Flyers signing the Moorestown native to a two-year, two-way contract. Since being drafted, Brennan has only played in 53 NHL games between the Sabres, Panthers and Maple Leafs. For comparison, PK Subban was drafted 43rd overall and Wayne Simmonds was picked 61st overall that year. But in the AHL, he’s been one of the most gifted offensive defensemen in the league. He won the Eddie Shore Award this past season which is the AHL’s version of the Norris Trophy. It was his 2nd Eddie Shore Award in the last three seasons. He had 68 points on 25 goals and 43 assists which was good enough for 3rd overall in points for the regular season. Nearly a point per game? Not too bad for a defenseman but the problem is just that. TJ Brennan is a defenseman and that seems to be where is game has lacked the most. The game is moving toward puck-moving defensemen with a strong offensive upside. But the Flyers blueline is already pretty filled in that category. They have Shayne Gostisbehere and Michael Del Zotto leading the way, Ivan Provorov is simply too good to spend another year in juniors, Travis Sanheim is going to get his call sooner than later, and then unfortunately the Flyers will still be stuck with Mark Streit and Andrew MacDonald unless Sexy Hexy can pull another move or two out of his ass this offseason.
With all that being said, Brennan is a local guy and that’s got to count for something. Maybe he can change up his game a little bit if he wants to stick. And we can only pray that arbitration doesn’t go too well for Brandon Manning so that Brennan can easily fill in that spot. Speaking of arbitration…
How Much Money Is Brayden Schenn About To Make?
In a perfect world, the Flyers would be able to sign Brayden Schenn to the same contract they gave Sean Couturier. 6 years at $4.3 million AAV. Unfortunately for the Flyers, Brayden Schenn had a bit of a breakout year last season. He’s just entering his peak now at 24 and put away 59 points last season on 26 goals and 33 assists. That was 3rd on the team only behind Giroux with 67 and Simmonds with 60. Is Schenn’s offensive output worth that much more than what Couturier brings defensively and on the penalty kill? No, not THAT much. Which is why you have to expect Schenn’s new contract will come in around the same ballpark but there’s still the chance that he could bring in a little closer to $5 million.
The Flyers currently have around $8 million left in cap space. There are rumors floating around that they’re still somewhat in the mix to land Jimmy Vesey but I don’t see that happening. There are rumors floating around that there could be a trade involving Nail Yakupov in the mix somewhere down the line. I don’t see that happening. If I had to put my money down on the table right now, I’d say that signing Brayden Schenn is going to be the biggest move the Flyers have left to make this offseason and then they’ll be done from there. So with $8 million left, they can afford to throw 5 at Schenn. Especially with Streit and Schultz coming off the books after next season and hopefully a buyout on Matt Read or Andrew MacDonald in the future. Will paying Brayden Schenn $5 million as opposed to $4.5 make a ton of people angry? Yes. Of course. But that’s pretty much how it goes no matter what the final number is. People will always find a way to be pissed off and angry at any contract. It’s just the fucking way she goes.
Flyers Prospect Camp
The Flyers Development Camp starts tomorrow in Vorhees. For a couple seasons now, the mantra for Flyers fans has been similar to Sixers fans. We’re stuck just trusting Ron Hextall and hoping his patience with all of these high end prospects pays off eventually. There are 2 prospects that won’t be attending camp this year and that’s this year’s 1st round draft pick German Rubtsov who is still under contract with his team in Russia, and Philippe Myers who has shot up the prospect rankings over this past season while playing for Rouyn-Noranda in the QMJHL. Myers had hip surgery so he’ll be nursing that during camp. The rest of the gang, however? Well they’ll all be there doing their thing. Like I said, it’s pretty much common knowledge at this point that Ivan Provorov is too good to spend another year in juniors. The kid is a stud and needs to be with the Flyers to start this season this year. With how crowded the blueline is, I think that means we’ll see Travis Sanheim start the year with the Phantoms but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m sure we’ll see him up with the Flyers here and there but he could still use a little bit of development before getting thrown to the wolves. I’d say that he and Morin are probably on the same track to make the Flyers permanently. They should be groomed and ready to go once Streit and Schultz are out of here for good.
As far as forwards go, everybody will be looking to see how well Travis Konecny has improved since last season. Konecny had a huge year in the OHL with Ottawa and Sarnia. With the Flyers buying out RJ Umberger and not re-signing Sam Gagner, the spot for Konecny is wide open right now. Maybe throw him on a 2nd line with Couturier and Simmonds and see how gritty one line can possibly get. Other forwards who you’ll see make a few good impressions will be 2016 2nd round pick Pascal Laberge, 2014 2nd round pick Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and 2014 6th round pick Radel Fezleev.
The Flyers are bringing 6 goalies to developmental camp. They’ll have the best goalie that college hockey had to offer last year in Alex Lyon. They’ll have 2016 2nd round pick Carter Hart. 2015 draft pick Felix Sandstrom and then 3 others that you’re lying if you’ve said you’ve ever actually heard of before. Either way, that’s 6 goalies for the future. If we’re just playing the numbers game here, at least 1 of them has to end up being elite. I’m not a math guy but those odds seem very favorable. Between those 6 and Anthony Stolarz, the Flyers should be set in between the pipes for this upcoming decade of dominance.
The future is now.
P.S. – sorry for stealing Rear Admiral’s shtick and writing about hockey.