TSN is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers will use both buyouts this offseason. It seems that Danny Briere, and Ilya Bryzgalov will soon be UFA’s and will need to find a new team.

Briere is 35 years old and has two years left on his current contract. If the reports are true, the flyers will owe Briere $3.33 Million over the next four-years. My question is will this buyout be the end of Briere’s NHL playing career?

Daniel Briere’s Numbers:

2012-2013 season: GP:34 G:6 A:10 PTS:16

Career Regular Season Numbers: GP:847 G:286 A:377 PTS:659 

Philadelphia is only a few years into Bryzgalov’s 9 year $51 million contract. His buy out will take 14 years to complete, and will come at a price tag of $1.64 million over the next 14 years. Totaling $23 million

Ilya Bryzgalov‘s Numbers:

2012-2013 Regular Season: GP:40 GAA:2.79 SV%:.900%

Career Regular Season Numbers:  GAA:2.55 SV%:.913% (thirty career shutouts)

The Flyers are not unlike any other NHL team. They will continue to sign players, and release players. My hope is that as players get bought out it will create a more exciting offseason.

* The players bought out will still receive two-thirds of what’s left on their contract, but those costs will not count towards the salary cap. However, they will still count towards the players’ share of hockey-related revenues (prohockeytalk.com).

~ Looking for more information on what the Flyers have been up to this week? Check out TMMOTS staff writer Kevin Carey’s  article. http://toomanymenonthesite.com/2013/06/18/mark-streit-agrees-to-terms-with-philadelphia-flyers/

Philadelphia Flyers right wing Jakub Voracek (93) . Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Flyers organization is taking a collective breath today. News  reports from the Cezch Republic state that Forward Jakub Voracek has been in a car accident. Drafted in 2007 in the first round; Voracek  has played in 367 NHL games and has 229 points. This was his second year with the Flyers.  Voracek finished this year with 46 points, only two points behind team leader Claude Giroux.  The 2012-2013 season was the first year of a new four-year deal with the Flyers.

Voracek is not injured and it sounds like alcohol was not involved in the wreck. Local police state that Voracek was at fault in the accident as he was traveling at a high rate of speed and swerved to avoid a truck that he eventually hit. He also hit a tree and telephone pole. The Czech native took full responsibility for the accident and paid all fines issued (whizwitsports.com)

The Flyers confirmed today that Voracek was not hurt. In a  Twitter conversation Voracek tells Tim Panaccio : “All good bud. No injuries, no alcohol.”

The Flyers are no stranger to players being involved in car accidents. In November of 1985 the Philadelphia community suffered a great loss. Goaltender Pelle Lindbergh was declared brain-dead after hitting a brick wall in his Porsche. Lindbergh was an Olympic net minder, and won the Vezina  in 19984-85. The Flyers again had to hold their breath when star forward Danny Briere was in a car accident in 2010, luckily he was fine. I’m sure that Voracek’s accident has hit home yet again. Thankfully for the Flyers, and the Philadelphia community history has not repeated itself.

• According to Tim Panaccio from CSNPhilly.com, Danny Briere is likely to be bought out by the Flyers this summer as one of their two amnesty buyout options.  Briere has two-years remaining on his deal that carries an annual salary of $6.5 million dollar cap hit, which is the highest on the Flyers roster.  Briere signed as a  free-agent in 2007 for a deal worth $52 million over 8-years and with the salary cap set to come down next season to $64.3 million from $70.2 million, the buyout will only cost the Flyers $3.3 million and will go a long way in ensuring they are under the cap ceiling.   Currently sidelined with a concussion, Briere could return to the Flyers lineup this weekend according to Panaccio who states Briere has been “symptom free” for the past four days.   The former first round pick has struggled this season with just 5 goals and 8 assists in 26 games.  He’s been out with the concussion since March 23rd.The 35-year old wants to remain in Phildaelphia but admits to Panaccio that it is out of his control.

“It’s reality. There’s no doubt about it. But at the same time, those are things I can’t control at this moment. All I can control is for me to come back into the lineup and play as good as I can, to show them. Other than that, I can’t worry about injuries or what they are going to decide to do. That’s out of my control at this point.”

•  Ilya Bryzgalov is back to  making headlines with the media again.  Mere days after telling local reporters that he didn’t care about whether he could be a buyout candidate this summer, the outspoken netminder lashed into the media when asked if he had fallen asleep during a team meeting, courtesy of TSN.ca.

“That’s embarrassing,” the 32-year-old responded. “You have to prove your sources. You became (unprofessional) journalists. You have to be better. Step up guys. Prove your information. Find reliable sources.”

Nothing like creating more controversy for a team that has already fallen under the scrutiny of the Philadelphia media.  But considering the source in Bryzgalov, it’s not surprising.

• Finally, with the train wreck of a season for the Flyers, one has to wonder about the future of head coach Peter Laviolette and whether or not he’ll be brought back next season. Back on March 15 Holmgren went on the record to state that he was not interested in making a coaching change.  That was when the Flyers were five points out of a playoff spot and playing decent hockey.  They’ve lost three straight after last night’s game at home to the Ottawa Senators and with drastic changes looming with Briere and potentially Bryzgalov’s buyouts, a fresh voice from the bench might be in order in Philly.  This is pure speculation on my part and have not heard anything of the sorts to this point. The Flyers did sign Laviolette to a two-year extension last August so it would be a bold move to make if Holmgren were to go ahead with it.