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Personnel decisions loom for the Flyers
Luke Richardson tops the list of those expected to be made available in the expansion draft.
By Tim Panaccio
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
It became clear that veteran defenseman Luke Richardson's days were numbered when Flyers coach Roger Neilson didn't dress him in the playoffs after benching him in four of the club's five final regular-season games.
The only question has been what to do with a guy who has three seasons to go on a five-year, $12.6 million deal.
General manager Bob Clarke has decided to leave Richardson unprotected in the June 25 expansion draft with hopes that he will be selected by the Atlanta Thrashers.
"We'll expose him in the draft. I don't have a choice," Clarke said. "If Roger won't play him, we have no choice but to get rid of him."
The 30-year-old Richardson, who has had stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers in his 12-year NHL career, will earn $1.8 million in salary for 1999-2000 and $700,000 in bonus money.
Here's the rub: When the Flyers signed Richardson in July 1997, they gave him a $3.6 million signing bonus, payable over five years. Only in rare instances, such as former Flyer Chris Gratton's $9 million signing bonus, are signing bonuses paid out in full up-front. Gratton's bonus was paid up-front to keep the financially strapped Tampa Bay Lightning from matching the Flyers' five-year, $16.5 million offer in August 1997.
Under the terms of Richardson's contract, the Flyers pay him $700,000 of his bonus annually in two payments of $350,000. One payment is due Oct. 30, the other on April 30. In the last year of Richardson's contract, he will earn $800,000 in bonus money, with $400,000 payments in October and April.
Richardson has $2.2 million in bonus money remaining on his deal. That is probably enough to make the expansion Thrashers pause. There is little question Richardson would be valuable to an expansion club, but the bonus money . . .
"I'm not sure if Atlanta wants him, but I would hope they would like to have Luke," said Richardson's agent, Pat Morris. "Luke still makes a lot of money, though."
The Flyers are not a team to allow money to stand in their way when it comes to unloading a player. Clarke agreed to pay $1 million of Paul Coffey's contract last summer when he traded the future Hall of Fame defenseman to Chicago.
There is speculation around the NHL that if the Flyers pick up some of Richardson's bonus money, the Thrashers will be inclined to take him in the expansion draft.
Atlanta general manager Don Waddell is prohibited by league tampering rules from commenting on players before June 25.
For now, Clarke says he has not heard from the Thrashers.
Clarke has already said he would expose goalie Ron Hextall in the draft. When asked whether he would offer to buy out the remaining year of Hextall's contract ($1.14 million plus deferred money), Clarke said: "We're not making any decisions until the draft."
It's also possible that the Flyers will expose checking-line center Marc Bureau, who was outstanding against Toronto in the playoffs. Clarke didn't rule out the possibility. Bureau will earn $1.1 million this season and has a year left on his contract at $1.2 million.
Bureau saw limited playing time during the regular season, but his time increased after Eric Lindros went out of the lineup and all the centers moved up one line.
"When he gets ice time, you can see what he does," Clarke said. "And it's through no fault of his own that he can't get more time. He's a very good player."
It is likely unrestricted free agents Craig Berube and Steve Duchesne will be exposed, especially if they are not re-signed by the draft. Clarke already has said that he wasn't planning to re-sign Duchesne, but that he would like to re-sign Berube.
It is also likely the Flyers will expose Jody Hull, Mikael Andersson, Roman Vopat, Mark Greig, Dennis Bonvie and Richard Park among the forwards.
In the expansion draft, each club is allowed to protect either up to five defensemen, nine forwards and one goaltender; or up to three defensemen, seven forwards and two goaltenders.
Goalies Jean-Marc Pelletier and Brian Boucher are exempt because they have not played enough games in the NHL -- Pelletier has played one game and Boucher none. That means the Flyers will probably opt for the 5-9-1 scenario because they need to protect only one goalie, John Vanbiesbrouck, if they plan to expose Hextall.
"You have to remember something about this draft," said assistant GM John Blackwell, who monitors the minor leagues for the Flyers. "This is an exercise on who you expose and not who you protect."
What about Bast? Defenseman Ryan Bast's stock reportedly has dropped, and he is now rated the fourth-best young prospect in the organization behind Mark Eaton, Dmitri Tertyshny and Mihail Chernov. Blackwell would not say how the defensemen were ranked.
Bast has a two-year, two-way contract that pays him $1.85 million, but only if he plays in the NHL. He is exempt from the expansion draft because he has played in just two NHL games. Bast, who earns $75,000 as a Phantom, has a guaranteed $925,000 signing bonus that is to be paid out over both years of his deal.
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