Different time. Different types of players.
Yet, the Flyers’ signing of wide-bodied left winger James van Riemsdyk conjures memories of when the team added another free-agent forward, diminutive Danny Briere, in 2007.
Briere was an elusive center who could dazzle people with his offensive creativity and his open-ice shiftiness. He was 29 when the Flyers signed him to an eight-year, $52 million deal, an annual cap hit of $6.5 million.
Van Riemsdyk, 29, skates well, but his forte is his dominance in front of the net. The Flyers signed the 6-foot-3, 217-pound power forward to a five-year, $35-million contact, an annual $7 million cap hit.