Looking to bolster the defensive play of his forwards, GM Paul Holmgren is talking Brendan Shanahan, a 40-year-old winger known for goal scoring. Shanny is a free agent, having last played with the Rangers, who didn't re-sign him in the off-season. With 680 career goals, he's not known as a defensive forward, so adding him for anything but production is a bit surprising (although he's no seive on D either).
At nearly 40 years old, he's not likely to score 40 goals again, but the 23 he put up for the Rangers last season would be a welcome addition at the right price. So how much can the Flyers spend? Sam Carchidi:
With the Flyers only about $700,000 under the $56.7 million cap, the
club would have to be creative to sign Shanahan, even if he signed for
a bargain-basement price of, say, $1 million.
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Fortunately, Homer is much better at math than I am, and he sounds pretty interested in Shanny. The other question is who would be moved/shuffled/sent down to make room for him? The Flyers are loaded with forwards (and scorers at that).
Adding an aging power forward to a team in need of better defensive
play is something of a mad-scientist solution, and it's something Tim Pannachio
seemed to disapprove of when discussing the potential deal on Comcast
Sportsnet. As a young hockey nerd, Shanahan was one of my favorite
non-Flyers, and I always wanted to see him in Orange & Black.
Fifteen years later, we may get that chance. But will it help keep the opponents' tallies down, or simply add to the high-scoring games at both ends of the ice?