James van Riemsdyk signs big $35M, 5-year deal with Flyers
A 36-goal scorer is moving closer to home and couldn’t be happier about it.
No, the other one.
James van Riemsdyk signed a $35 million, five-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, the second-richest deal signed by an NHL unrestricted free agent when the market opened and John Tavares left the Islanders for his hometown team in Toronto.
I think my whole game has definitely expanded, van Riemsdyk said. Style-wise, I think I’m still very similar. I think I’m still a cerebral type of player who can skate well and have good offensive instincts and can make the smart plays in all three zones.
He has to be for the Flyers to make this type of commitment. This is by far Hextall’s biggest free-agent signing and Philadelphia’s richest since giving goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov $41.88 million on a nine-year deal in 2011.
Bryzgalov is retired and still collecting $1.6 million per year from the Flyers through 2026-27. As Bryzgalov was tweeting from Russia’s World Cup game against Spain, the Flyers were introducing van Riemsdyk, who they hope will be a far better use of money with an eye toward contending for the Stanley Cup in the coming years.
Our philosophy four years ago was to get our cap in order and gather young assets, Hextall said. We’ve kind of been through that process now. It’s coming to fruition in terms of guys we have on our team, and where we can add to strengthen our team, we want to do it.
If Jordan were to opt into his contract, the Clippers would be able to trade him to the team they saw fit and get something in return for one year of control. This is what Los Angeles did with Chris Paul last season when they sent him to the Rockets.
The Mavericks, of course, agreed to a deal in principle with Jordan in 2015 before the Clippers allegedly cordoned off the center and kept him from signing with Dallas so he could stay in Los Angeles.
Dallas would love to get a hold of Jordan, and it would appear the team also has their minds set on dealing veteran guard Wesley Matthews to get the 7-footer, according to the Times.