VOORHEES, N.J. – With one of the youngest rosters in the NHL, the Flyers wouldn’t mind adding a veteran or two to their roster.
When free agency opened on Wednesday, the Flyers wasted no time bringing 34-year-old center/winger Noel Acciari, late of the Pittsburgh Penguins, into the fold on a two-year contract with an average annual value of $2.8 million.
He’s a potential lower-line performer with a lot of defensive upside.
News also broke that the Flyers have been in “talks” with one of their former all-time greats, 38-year-old Claude Giroux, who just happens to be looking for a place to finish his illustrious 20-year NHL career.
During a late afternoon media session at the Flyers Training Center, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere confirmed he has had discussions with Giroux’s camp but the two sides are really not close to a deal. . .at least not yet.
As for Acciari, he should add some experience to a lineup which is making progress but can always use another steady hand in clutch situations. And he’s flexible, being able to play center or wing, a la Sean Couturier or Denver Barkey.
“It’s options that are good to have,” Briere said. “He can play center. The most important piece for us when we targeted him was what he can bring for faceoffs on the right side. All our centers at the moment are lefties. We were looking for a right-shot center. Also a guy who brings us a litte hardness, can be versatile and a little offense (13 goals last season).”
The Giroux situation provides a bit of drama to the whole picture.
One of the most popular figures in team history, Giroux stands second in franchise games played (1,000) and points (900). He’s still been productive with the Ottawa Senators the past couple seasons and no doubt could help with things like faceoffs. He led the NHL last season at 63.1 percent.
“We’ve had some discussions, I can’t say much more than that,” Briere said. “We’re looking at everything. But at the moment there’s nothing imminent.”
Briere said he wasn’t sure who made the initial inquiry into Giroux’s possible future with the Flyers. Maybe there’s more to it than meets the eye but several media outlets have speculated Giroux is headed back here for the last roundup.
“We want to be careful with that,” Briere said. “We have said all along that you look at all the signings, a lot of them were for the fringe players in the lineup.
“Our young guys have shown a lot of promise last year, the way they battled in the playoffs. I think they deserve the first look. And we didn’t feel we needed to dive in other than that specific need with
Acciari. We didn’t feel we needed to blow our brains out on crazy contracts on the outside.”
Briere wasn’t sure if he’s completely done with the free-agent market.
“You never know in this job,” he said. “We’re still having some discussions. But we’re most likely done for the day.”
The Flyers also have the trade market to fully explore. They already made one “major” deal, acquiring goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit from Toronto. Would other players, some with no-move clauses, consider coming to Philadelphia, now that the Flyers are back in playoff contention again?
“We’re working on it,” Briere said. “Working it as a destination. That’s our goal. It was a little bit of a surprise to the league the way we played down the stretch. Winning a round against Pittsburgh – I think the league is starting to take notice.
“They’re starting to realize there are some good players on this team. You’re definitely seeing a lot more interest than we’ve ever had. Two years ago we were on most players’ no-trade lists. That’s starting to change and the league is starting to take notice.”
>Power play solutions
Briere was asked if any of his transactions can help the ailing power play, which has been one of the worst in recent NHL history.
Can Briere get some more outside help?
“We’d like to improve that if we could,” he said. “But that’s usually a game-changer (big star player) we’re talking about.
“I’m hoping that our young players, as they get more comfortable, will help improve the power play. I just don’t want to bring a strict power-play specialist who will sit on the fourth line and block some of the young guys. But if we have a chance to improve with a big-time player, we’re looking at that.”
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