Broad Street Bulletin - Flyers to Sign Goalie Ray Emery

At the beginning of May, word got out that the Flyers had interest in Goalie Ray Emery.  According to Tim Panaccio at CSN.com, it now looks like Emery will indeed be the Flyers starting Goalie next season.  Are we ready for this?

Emery's potential on the ice is promising.  Everything else...is discouraging!  Emery took the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, but played last season for the Atlant Kytischi - in Russia - because the Senators felt he was too much of a distraction to keep around. 

His antics include, but not limited to: showing up late for practice, missing practice, missing team flights, fighting with a teammate on the ice, not to mention off-ice issues - road-rage, stunt driving, death threats, etc.  A move to Russia didn't cure this behavior.  After being pulled from a game, Emery punched a team trainer.

Is this a good move for the Flyers?

It's easy to say no, because really, who needs this type of a headache?  But here's something to consider: 

The Flyers have salary cap issues.  They had to trade Scottie Upshaw for Daniel Carcillo to clear up some cap space.  They had to bring up college players at the end of the season, because somebody from the Phantoms would put them over their cap limit.  Bottom line: they don't have much room to work with.

Now we need to look at the Flyers top priority.  Defense seems to be more of concern than Goaltending.  There have been big names thrown around that the Flyers would like to add to their defense - notably Jay Bouwmeester.  That isn't going to come cheap!

So what does this mean for the Goalie position?  Well, there won't be a lot of money left to handle that situation.  So this gives the Flyers minimal choices.  If they can't pay good money for a good Goalie, then they can pay little money for a bad goalie - or - they can take a shot at somebody that is a potential problem, but may give you good on-ice performance for little money.

For obvious reasons, I don't want to see Emery wearing a Flyers uniform.  On the flip side, I am a bit realistic about their situation, and think this could be the solution to a current problem.  I personally want Bouwmeester.  I also want a good goalie.  This may be the only way that can happen.

Here is an article written in early May - taking a look at Emery, along with other potential Goalie solutions for the Flyers.

Original Story: http://myteamrivals.typepad.com/flyer...