Flyers buying out contracts of LeClair, Amonte

[swflyers25]

July 23, 2005

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Flyers are buying out the contracts of forwards John LeClair and Tony Amonte.

The buyouts will be announced at a news conference scheduled for Saturday morning, team spokesman Zach Hill said.

The 36-year-old LeClair spent 10 years with the Flyers, and was a member of the famed ``Legion of Doom'' line with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg in the mid-1990s. He tallied 382 goals and 379 assists overall in the regular season in his career with the Flyers and the Montreal Canadiens; he had 42 goals and 47 assists in the playoffs.

LeClair, who entered the lockout due $9 million this season, was to make $6.84 million after the leaguewide 24 percent pay cut.

Amonte, who started the lockout at about $5.61 million, was due $4.26 million. In 14 seasons with New York, Chicago, Phoenix and Philadelphia, Amonte tallied 392 goals and 436 assists in the regular season; he had 20 goals and 31 assists in 86 playoff games.

The buyouts will give the Flyers room to make qualifying offers to restricted free agents and begin negotiations with unsigned rookies.

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[swflyers25]

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Goodbye to final link to 'Legion of Doom'

LeClair's 10-year Flyers run ending

By ED MORAN

morane@phillynews.com

IT'S NOT as if he didn't see this coming.

In fact, John LeClair has been standing on a cliff with the Flyers for at least the past two seasons, a victim, as much as a beneficiary, of his bloated salary.

But today, in one of the first official moves the Flyers will make on this first official day of business in the new NHL, John LeClair will be placed on waivers and bought out of his $9 million contract, according to Flyers general manager Bob Clarke.

"It's been a great 10 years or so with the Flyers," LeClair, 36, said earlier last week. "They've been good to me. Some of it could be that they're ready to move on with me; another part of it is a business decision."

Also scheduled to be placed on waivers in preparation for a buyout is Tony Amonte. The two buyouts will be done in an effort to reduce the Flyers' payroll and help bring the organization into compliance with the league's new $39 million salary cap, as determined by the new collective bargaining agreement ratified this week.

LeClair, who went into the lockout with a $9 million salary, reduced by 24 percent to $6.84 million, will be bought out at $4.56 million, two-thirds of his salary.

Amonte, who started the lockout at about $5.61 million, reduced to $4.26 million, will receive $2.84 million.

Reached last night, Amonte had not heard anything.

"Everything I hear is through the papers," he said. "But I would be surprised if they didn't. There's been so much talk that I'm going to be bought out. I don't know. If I stay, I stay, great; if not, that's life under the new CBA. I'm definitely going to try and play and go from there."

Amonte, who turns 35 on Aug. 2, said he was not happy with the deal and did not vote for it.

"I think it sucked," he said. "I just didn't think it was a fair deal. From where we started last year to where we ended up, they took everything that we offered and gave us nothing. And I think the 24 percent rollback was a disaster."

The two buyouts will give the Flyers room to make qualifying offers to their eight restricted free agents and begin negotiations with their unsigned rookies, most notably Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.

"We'll come in early and get the qualifying offers out, and whoever we're planning to buy out, we'll put them on waivers, so that everybody has the right to claim them if they want," Clarke said.

The Flyers' moves will be announced at a news conference this morning at which they also will detail marketing plans designed to lure fans back into the Wachovia Center.

According to NHL sources, those plans will include a reduction in season ticket prices, a reduction in game-day ticket prices for 2,400 seats, and the creation of "family-plan" sections that will be sold as packages in the hope of bringing in fans who could not normally afford NHL ticket prices.

In addition, the Flyers are expected to announce incentives for season ticketholders, including opportunities to meet with the players and coaching staff before games.

But the most emotional announcement is sure to be the end of LeClair's 10-year Flyers career, a run that, ironically, began in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season.

"It's difficult," said captain Keith Primeau, a teammate of LeClair's for 6 years. "It's all part of the new NHL, the new environment that now in place.

"In talking to [LeClair] at the meetings this week, this doesn't come as a surprise, but that doesn't make it any easier. It's a sad day for Johnny and the Flyers.

"He played a large part of his career in Philadelphia, and he will always be a Flyer, even when he's not with us."

Asked whether he thought LeClair would get a job on another team, Primeau said: "I hope so. I hope that the injuries that have hindered him the past few years don't make team shy away from him."

With the Flyers, LeClair anchored the left side of one of the more dominant lines in NHL history, playing alongside Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. Nicknamed "The Legion of Doom," the line was too big for most opponents to handle.

In his first full season as a Flyer, LeClair scored 51 goals. He reached 50 or more the next two seasons, becoming the first American-born player to reach that milestone in three consecutive seasons.

But LeClair's time as a Flyer also was marked by failed Stanley Cup bids, a bitter contract dispute, back surgery and other injuries that sidelined him for nearly one whole season and large parts of another.

Surgery to a herniated disc in his lower back on Oct. 21, 2000, robbed him of the strength in his legs that had made him a nearly immovable object in front of any opponent's net.

LeClair never really regained his complete form or his scoring touch and, for the last three seasons, was the subject of trade rumors and buyout talk.

Before the 2003-04 season, LeClair waived his no-trade clause and came very close to being moved to the Boston Bruins. Instead, he finished his final season with the Flyers playing 75 games, scoring 23 goals and 32 assists.

And now he waits for news of where, if at all, he will play again.

"[Playing in Philadelphia] was a big part of my career, and it was a great time," LeClair said. "It could have been a lot better if we had won a Stanley cup but that didn't happen.

On being waived and bought out, LeClair said: "That's fine. If it happens, it happens. The Flyers have been good to me, and we'll take the next step."

Asked about the necessity of a buyout, LeClair said it was strictly business.

"I think it's always a little bit sad when a great veteran player has to more on, and maybe in this case, it's even sadder, because it's because of the rules," Clarke said.

"It's not his fault. It's because of the numbers, and, obviously, with the new [bargaining agreement], some high-paid guys are going to have to go."

Clarke said the Flyers could have waited until after the weekend to begin the process of buying out LeClair and Amonte, but with the amount of moves they must make, they had to move quickly.

The Flyers want to sign restricted free agents Patrick Sharp, Dennis Seidenberg, Robert Esche, Simon Gagne, Kim Johnsson, Branko Radivojevic, Radovan Somik, along with young defensemen Randy Jones and Freddy Meyer.

They also mush sign seven prospects from the 2003 draft before Wednesday or they will go back into the draft to be held next weekend in Ottawa.

The Flyers also will be in the market for a free-agent defenseman. Devils veteran Scott Niedermayer tops that list. But that is one move the Flyers must take their time with.

"We don't have any time with the kids and with getting the qualifying offers out," Clarke said. "We have more time with any free agent we might want to sign. As for the guys we're going to buy out, we know what we're going to do, we might as well get it done."

Daily News (http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/12204551.htm)

[Madferret]

Wow. I remember when Leclair and Amonte were considered 'Premiere' players. I wonder if Leclairs played his last game?

[Iced Tea]

Wow. I remember when Leclair and Amonte were considered 'Premiere' players. I wonder if Leclairs played his last game?
Under the new CBA, Leclair's retirement is a strong possibility. Under the old system, if the Flyers had let him go, the Leafs, Wings or Rangers would have snapped him up.

[Madferret]

Under the old system, if the Flyers had let him go, the Leafs, Wings or Rangers would have snapped him up.

http://www.monkeon.co.uk/gallery/images/16h.gif ?

[leaferfan87]

I think a team somewhere will find use for LeClair and Amonte, however I hope JFJ doesn't get any ideas.

[The Insider]

I think a team somewhere will find use for LeClair and Amonte, however I hope JFJ doesn't get any ideas.

I'm sure we won't, but you never know.

I'm pretty sure the only chance that any of these two play NHL hockey again is if they drastically reduce their contracts. Let's face it, aging forwards who will be a dime a dozen during this UFA season cannot get the same type of contract they would've before, especially cause of the cap. So my advice to both players is if they want to play in the NHL again to expect between the minimum and maybe 1.5 million if they are lucky, I guess we know now who's really getting hurt by this CBA, although the buy out should bring some good coin originally, it's the follow up which will hurt.