Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers came to terms on a contract with veteran goaltender Brian Elliott in free agency Saturday.

Fox Sports Midwest's Andy Strickland reported Elliott will receive a two-year, $2.75 million deal from the Flyers. 

The 32-year-old netminder was traded from the St. Louis Blues to the Calgary Flames last offseason for a second-round draft pick.

Elliott split time with Chad Johnson in goal, starting 45 games and going 26-18-3 with a 2.55 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and two shutouts during the regular season.

The two-time All-Star struggled mightily in the playoffs, however, as he went 0-3 with a 3.89 goals-against average and .880 save percentage in four appearances. Calgary was swept out of the first round of the postseason by the Anaheim Ducks.

Elliott's playoff showing was a far cry from the performances he often put up during his five seasons with the Blues.

With St. Louis, Elliott went 104-46-16 with a sparkling 2.01 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and 25 shutouts.

He also split the 2011-12 William M. Jennings Trophy with Jaroslav Halak, as they combined to allow the fewest goals in the NHL that season.

Despite his solid numbers, Elliott was dealt due to the emergence of young goalie Jake Allen, who is seemingly entrenched as the Blues' long-term goalie.

Elliott may not be a workhorse in the crease, but he has proved capable of being an asset when placed in the right situation.

Aside from the 2009-10 season when he appeared in 55 games for the Ottawa Senators, Elliott has never played in more than 49 games in a single campaign.

That suggests he isn't in line to be a clear No. 1 goalie, but the fact that he has played well in timeshares over the course of his career is a positive since he will be comfortable regardless of his role.

The Flyers needed to address their goalie situation in free agency. Steve Mason is reportedly going to sign with the Winnipeg Jets, per Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press, leaving a huge hole in net for Philadelphia. 

Elliott gives the Flyers a stable veteran presence who has the potential to keep the team competitive and return to the playoffs after missing out last season.   

Claude Giroux has seen his points total drop each of the last three seasons. He finished 2016-17 with 14 goals, his lowest over the course of a full season since 2008-09.

The Philadelphia Flyers captain has, especially over the last two years, seen his eight-year, $66.2 million contract become an albatross. His deal holds a $8.275 million cap hold through the 2021-2022 season and a no-move clause, meaning Giroux has final say on any deal.

The Flyers appear open to making a move themselves. Bob McKenzie of TSN appeared on Montreal's TSN 690 and said the Flyers are looking at potential deals, though nothing is imminent.

Per Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports, McKenzie said: "They did say that there have been a couple of calls recently from teams asking just, 'Is he available? Would he be available? Would they consider going down that road?'

"And the Flyer answer is very simple: A) He's got a no-move clause, B) We'll obviously listen."

The Flyers have one problem: It does not appear Giroux is remotely willing to leave Philadelphia. 

"Ah, I haven't really thought about it. I've been in Philly for nine years, and I don't plan on leaving. Like I said, it's not for me to make those decisions, and I'm not leaving," Giroux told reporters in April. 

While not to the same extent, there are parallels here one could draw between Giroux and Carmelo Anthony in the NBA.

Like the Flyers, the New York Knicks are in the midst of a rebuilding stage and have young stars ready to take the spotlight. Like the Knicks, the Flyers have an extremely talented but expensive former franchise face who is taking a up a lot of cap space.

Like Anthony, Giroux has final say on whether he gets traded.

The difference here is years committed. While the Knicks could realistically buy Anthony out and get out from under their uncomfortable situation, Giroux's contract does not have an end in sight. The Flyers still like having him around and it's possible he'll return to form next season, but the contract issue isn't going away.

The Philadelphia Flyers traded center Brayden Schenn to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for center Jori Lehtera, the 27th pick in Friday's draft and a conditional first-round pick in next year's draft. 

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the news during the draft in Chicago.

Schenn is just 25 years old and has demonstrated notable durability after missing just five combined games over the last four seasons. He notched 55 points on 25 goals and 30 assists in 2016-17 and tallied a career-high 59 points in 2015-16.

The Blues were a solid 12th in the league in goals per game but could use an offensive boost from Schenn as they look to take the next step in the Western Conference following a second-round exit in 2017 and a Conference Final loss in 2016.

Lehtera has yet to register a season where he was the scoring threat Schenn was in the last two, but he did notch 44 points in 2014-15. He finished with just 22 in 64 games in 2016-17, although the Flyers also landed two draft picks as they look to rebuild after missing the playoffs.

They turned one of those picks into center Morgan Frost with Friday's No. 27 selection. The 18-year-old is likely some development away from thriving at the NHL level, but he has the potential to be an impact scorer for Philadelphia following this trade.

The Philadelphia Flyers landed a potential franchise player Friday, as they selected center Nolan Patrick with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft.

The @NHLFlyers have their man at No. 2: @nolan_patrick19. #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/V9AcA7paDT

— NHL (@NHL) June 23, 2017

Patrick has long been considered a likely high pick since bursting onto the scene with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings three seasons ago.

With all that hype around him, here's what social media thought of the Flyers adding the 18-year-old Patrick:

Welcome to Philadelphia, Nolan Patrick! #NHLDraft https://t.co/ugOYRqZT2Y

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) June 23, 2017

Nolan Patrick is certain to play this season if Flyers take him

— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchRET) June 23, 2017

Second overall pick of 2017 goes to #TeamCanada alum and @bdnwheatkings captain, Nolan Patrick! #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/zAGOee5qFE

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) June 23, 2017

Nolan Patrick right there for the Flyers to grab. Had he not been injured, he was a lock #1 overall selection. Would not have been close.

— Jason Myrtetus (@jasonmyrt) June 23, 2017

Nolan Patrick becomes the 21st @bdnwheatkings to be chosen in the 1st round. Ties Wade Redden as highest drafted #BWK. (2nd overall NYI '95)

— Leah Hextall (@leahhextall) June 23, 2017

His breakout campaign came in 2015-16 when he registered 41 goals and 102 points in 72 regular-season games before putting up 30 points in 21 playoff contests.

Patrick was expected to put up big-time production in 2016-17, but injuries limited him to just 33 games. He managed 20 goals and 46 points, but he carried durability questions with him into the draft.

As seen in this tweet courtesy of The Draft Analyst's Steve Kournianos, Patrick has been plagued by injuries for much of his career:

https://twitter.com/TheDraftAnalyst/status/858878805666144256

Despite that, Patrick is confident in his health heading toward his rookie season.

According to Bleacher Report's Adrian Dater, Patrick isn't concerned about those who believe durability will continue to be an issue in the NHL: 

"People can say what they want about me. Ninety-nine percent of the people who are talking don't even know what happened with my [hernia] injury and how it went down. People can talk and have a right to their opinion, but for me, it is what it is. Before [last season], I think I played 110 games or something like that, didn't miss a game. I'm 100 percent healthy now."

When Patrick is on the ice, it is difficult to argue against the notion that he is the most talented and complete player in the 2017 draft class.

Per Dater, NHL scout Paul Henry believes Patrick is bound to be a legitimate superstar at the next level: "I don't see any vulnerability or weakness in his game. He's so big, so strong, with great hockey sense, and he's totally unselfish. I think he'll be an A-plus, franchise player."

In addition to his eye-popping numbers, Patrick boasts an NHL pedigree that few other prospects in recent memory can match.

Patrick's father, Steve Patrick, was a first-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1980. His uncle, James Patrick, was also a first-round selection, as the New York Rangers took him at No. 9 overall in 1981.

In his own right, Nolan Patrick stands 6'3" and weighs nearly 200 pounds, which gives him the ideal size needed to excel in the current, tight-checking NHL.

While Patrick isn't necessarily considered a sure thing like blue-chippers Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews over the past couple of years, he is seemingly the closest thing to it in the 2017 draft.

The Flyers entered the draft knowing they would get a potential superstar in either Patrick or Nico Hischier, and Patrick somewhat surprisingly fell into their lap.

Injury concerns likely played a role in the New Jersey Devils passing on him at No. 1, but his skill level was too immense for Philly to do the same at No. 2.

The Flyers ranked just 20th in the NHL in goal scoring last season, but adding Patrick to a forward group that already includes Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds should allow them to move up the standings significantly next season and beyond.

The Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere have come to terms on a new contract.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall announced Gostisbehere's multiyear deal to remain in Philadelphia on Friday, via NHL.com.

CSN Philly's Tim Panaccio reported the deal is for six years with an average annual value of $4.5 million.

A torn ACL ended Gostisbehere's 2014-15 season after just two games, but the 24-year-old has shown no lingering effects in the two years since.

He finished 10th among defensemen in 2015-16 with an average of 0.72 points per game, per ESPN.com. He also set an NHL rookie defenseman record with points in 15 straight games.

Gostisbehere followed that season by finishing third on the Flyers with 32 assists in 2016-17.

The Flyers finished a disappointing 39-33-10 and missed the playoffs for the third time in five years.

The Philadelphia Flyers have announced goalie Michal Neuvirth has been released from the hospital Sunday after all diagnostic testing was found to be normal.

Neuvirth collapsed on the ice during the first period of Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils. He stayed in the hospital overnight.

The front office believed the issue could be related to an illness.

"I don't want to speculate—he's had a little bit of a chest cold, there's been a few things going around, there has been all winter," general manager Ron Hextall said, per Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly. "We sent him over to the hospital for precautionary reasons, everything so far has been good, things are positive."

The 29-year-old has played for four different organizations since first appearing for the Washington Capitals as a 20-year-old in 2009. He has made 28 appearances (24 starts) for the Flyers this season in his second year with the team.

Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth was stretchered off the ice midway through the first period of Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils after he collapsed during a stoppage in play.

According to CSNPhilly.com's Tim Panaccio, Neuvirth "eventually began to move his legs and within several minutes was sitting upright before being helped onto the stretcher."

Neuvirth was later listed as awake and alert, and general manager Ron Hextall released a statement saying he was transported to Pennsylvania Hospital for observation. 

Defenseman Radko Gudas provided an additional update during intermission, per TSN's Frank Seravalli:

Radko Gudas relayed through PHI broadcast that Michal Neuvirth is "fine" after collapsing during first period. No further details yet.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 2, 2017

The 29-year-old was tabbed to start Saturday's game, with Steve Mason scheduled to start Sunday before he was ruled out with an illness, per Tom Dougherty of CSNPhilly.com. Anthony Stolarz—who has made two starts all season—entered with the Flyers leading 1-0 in the opening frame.

To date, Stolarz has recorded a .938 save percentage and mark of 1.79 goals against average in 201 total minutes on ice.

The Philadelphia Flyers sent veteran defenseman Mark Streit to the Tampa Bay Lightning prior to Wednesday's NHL trade deadline in exchange for forward Valtteri Filppula and two draft picks.

The Flyers announced that they will receive Tampa's fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft and a conditional 2017 seventh-round pick as part of the deal.

Both the Flyers and Lightning are battling for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, as they are four and five points out respectively.

In Streit, Tampa Bay acquires a 39-year-old veteran who has put up five goals and 21 points in 49 games this season.

The former All-Star has spent the past four seasons with the Flyers after previous stints with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders.

He has registered 40 or more points in a season on six occasions and fills a need for a Tampa team that reportedly attempted to acquire defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk from the St. Louis Blues before he rejected the deal and was sent to the Washington Capitals instead, per Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

While the Swiss blueliner is set to hit free agency during the offseason, the 32-year-old Filppula has one year remaining on his deal at a cap hit of $5 million, according to NHLNumbers.com.

The native of Finland has seven goals and 27 assists for 34 points in 59 games this season.

His best performance was a 66-point performance with the Detroit Red Wings in 2011-12, and he also set a career high with 25 goals for the Bolts in 2013-14.

Filppula adds some offensive punch to a Flyers team that ranks just 21st in scoring this season.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to be among the people representing his country when Philadelphia Flyers alumni head to the Eurasian country for a series of hockey matches later this month.

Former Flyers defenseman Joe Watson said Putin has expressed a desire to play, though it's unclear if his schedule will allow it.

"I don’t know about that," Watson said, per Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post. "He’ll have to earn it from us as far as we’re concerned. We may be stuck in Siberia, but what the hell? We’ll have a good time. They never release Putin’s schedule until 24 hours before because of security reasons, so Putin, if he’s around, he wants to play the game against us."

Watson has been attempting to organize a game in Russia with Flyers alumni since last year. He said he had trouble finding former players willing to go to Russia given the current political climate. U.S. intelligence has claimed Russian hacks impacted November's presidential election, and Putin's relationship with President Donald Trump has drawn national scrutiny in recent months.

The Flyers alumni team will have just nine former NHLers going from the United States to Russia. The remainder of the roster is comprised of Watson associates and some former players who reside in Russia.

"Oh I think it had to do with politics," Watson said. "Some of our guys said, ‘They’ve got bad gas in their planes and their engines go down.’ I said, ‘Well, I never thought of that before,’ but we’re flying Aeroflot directly from Kennedy to Moscow, so I think we’ll be fine."

Current Flyers winger Jakub Voracek said he does not believe Putin would pose any threat to U.S. citizens making the trip. 

"This isn’t World War II," Voracek said. "With the weapons and the armies that countries like the U.S. and China and Russia can use are so advanced, it could literally (screw) up the whole world. It would be the end. It would be a crisis. Is he dangerous? Who is dangerous? You can’t be dangerous anymore. You have some power, sure, but you can’t do stuff that maybe sometimes you want to do because it would end the world. I’m sure he knows that and everybody knows that. Of course we have to battle against ISIS and those guys, but to count him as a dangerous guy? I don’t think so."

In 1976, Russian national players traveled to Philadelphia for a matchup against the Flyers. Philadelphia won the game 4-1.   

In 1950, Ebony magazine published an article concerning the possibility of black hockey players making the National Hockey League.

The article was titled, "Can Negroes Crack Big League Hockey?"

Clarence Campbell, who was the league president from 1946 to 1977, told Ebony on the subject:

The National Hockey League only has one policy: to get the best hockey players. There is no tacit or otherwise, which would restrict anyone because of color or race.

Eight years later, Willie O'Ree suited up for the Boston Bruins. Along the way, O'Ree endured racial slurs and taunts from fans and opposing players. Even in recent history, some in the NHL have had a hard time dealing with a sport that is changing before their eyes. In 1989, Joe Bucchino, then the assistant general manager of the New York Rangers, told journalist Jeff Pearlman, then writing for his high school newspaper, that black players "medically don't have strong enough legs" to play professional hockey.

Last Sunday, Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds won the NHL All-Star Game MVP award, becoming only the second black player to do so. During the pregame ceremony, former Edmonton Oilers goaltender Grant Fuhr was named one of the 100 best players in the history of the NHL. He was the first black player to win the All-Star Game MVP award back in 1986.

Joining Simmonds on the All-Star team this year were other players of color including Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, the No. 1 pick in the most recent NHL Draft.

Based on that amount of star power, one could say the NHL—and hockey as a whole—is finally ready to take the next steps toward diversifying the sport. Hockey is still largely a "white" sport. It's already insular by nature, and within the bubble still lives a small demographic that is not ready for players of color to hit the ice.

Remember, it wasn't that long ago—2011—that the reigning All-Star MVP had a banana thrown onto the ice while he was playing in an exhibition game.

Kevin Weekes, a black former NHL goaltender and current hockey commentator, knows all about the ugly side of hockey fandom. In 2002, someone threw a banana at him during the Stanley Cup Final. He tweeted a reminder of this ugly incident after Simmonds' experience.

"For those that asked: I'm extremely disappointed with what happened to Wayne Simmonds tonight in London Ont. We've taken HUGE steps to grow the game of hockey, as I speak Willie O'Ree and I are in D.C. attending the Black Congressional Caucus on behalf of the NHL and ironically this takes place."

"I'm not surprised," Weekes told ESPN at the time. "We have some people that still have their heads in the sand and some people that don't necessarily want to evolve and aren't necessarily all that comfortable with the fact that the game is evolving."

Eric Stephens, a black reporter who covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register, said that Simmonds winning the MVP award could do wonders for the NHL and the sport. He told Bleacher Report that he hopes the league can capitalize on the moment.

"I'm not sure it will be a seminal moment in the growth of players of color in hockey, but I would hope it becomes that," Stephens said. "This is what is needed—someone like Wayne Simmonds, who is a leading player on the Philadelphia Flyers, to seize a spotlight moment and make it his by winning the All-Star game MVP award. This is where a youngster who may be taking up hockey for the first time and is old enough to follow the NHL can see someone excel that looks like them.

"To me, if the league really wants to grow the game as it says, the way is to involve more minorities and players of color from backgrounds traditional and non-traditional."

Stephens went on to say that a kid who watched the All-Star Game might be inspired to play hockey.

"Having those like Simmonds and P.K. Subban, Auston Matthews, Kyle Okposo be examples of players that not only are in the NHL but perform at an All-Star level and are recognized as among the league's best can serve as inspiration for the young kid from Philadelphia or Phoenix or Chicago or Toronto or Los Angeles who may imagine being a star one day like them."

Damon Kwame Mason, a documentary filmmaker who created Soul On Ice: Past, Present, and Future, a film about the history of black hockey players, attended Sunday's All-Star Game. He echoed Stephens' sentiments that a generation of kids could become hockey fans because of the amount of players of color who participated in the All-Star Game.

"There is a kid out there watching who looks like Wayne Simmonds that jumped for joy because Wayne is his favorite player and seeing him made him feel he could do it as well," Mason told B/R. "There is a kid that watched that doesn't look like Wayne, but he is also his favorite player and seeing Wayne confirmed to him that there is no difference. They are just hockey players."

Evan F. Moore is a journalist, columnist and educator who writes about the intersection of sports, race, violence and culture. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune and Ebony. Follow him on Twitter @evanfmoore.