The Flyers, who despite their lack of success last season still came out on top in the 30-team race to spend (and sometimes waste) the most money on players, have reportedly agreed to a four-year contract with defenseman Mark Streit.
General manager Paul Holmgren acquired pending unrestricted free agent Streit's rights via a trade with the New York Islanders last week. A report from TSN in Canada said Streit will sign a four-year deal, though the team didn't immediately announce anything Monday.
It's likely they won't confirm anything until they can comply with the so-called "tagging rule," which is to say their payroll figure has to be no more than 10 percent higher than the salary cap. That may not happen until at least a couple of days after the Stanley Cup Finals end, because that's when the "amnesty" period for compliance buyouts will kick in.
The Flyers are fully expected to use that clause not only on Danny Briere's contract, but also goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's monstrous deal. The club would then commence to look to sign a veteran goalie to back up Steve Mason.
Meanwhile, despite Streit's age, he only has seven seasons on his NHL resume. He will anchor the second power play unit behind Kimmo Timonen, who likely is entering his last season with the Flyers. For this, Streit figures to pull in a total contract value of  perhaps $21 or $22 million.

The Flyers today acquired the rights to veteran defenseman Mark Streit from the New York Islanders with the intention of reaching a new contract with him as soon as possible. The Islanders received a fourth-round draft pick in 2014 and minor league winger Shane Harper in the exchange.
Streit, 35, scored six goals and 27 points last season in logging all 48 games for the Islanders. He is a pending unrestricted free agent. It's believed Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren and Streit's agent, Pat Brisson, will soon commence negotiating a deal.
“Mark is a player we would have had interest in on July 5," Holmgren said in a statement, referencing this year's belated start to the free agency period. "We now have exclusive negotiating rights and we are hopeful that we can get an agreement in place prior to him becoming a UFA.”
Streit joined the Islanders as a free agent in 2008 and led that club in scoring his first season with 16 goals and 56 points. A native of Switzerland, he was originally an overage draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, selected in the ninth round in 2004 at the age of 26.
Harper, 24, was a Flyers free agent pickup in 2010. In 143 games with the Phantoms he scored 20 goals and 41 points.