Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota is home for Flyers president Paul Holmgren. He was born in St. Paul, went to the University of Minnesota and finished his playing career with the North Stars.

Aside from the homecoming, he had more reason to smile Thursday with the Flyers out of salary-cap trouble.

In large part, the former general manager put them there with big signings like Vinny Lecavalier and Andrew MacDonald. He also traded a 30-goal scorer in James van Riemsdyk to Toronto for stay-at-home defenseman Luke Schenn. Lecavalier and Schenn were both traded to Los Angeles Wednesday, giving the Flyers some much needed relief against the cap, but Holmgren doesn't have any regrets about the moves he made or watching as current general manager ships those contracts away.

"Part of the business," Holmgren said.

Holmgren took over as general manager from Bobby Clarke in the 2006-07 season season and got the team from last in the NHL to the Eastern Conference finals the next season. The Flyers appeared in the playoffs in six of the eight seasons under his tenure, including an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals.

But eventually the big-name moves and big-time money caught up to him.

Does he think twice about giving Lecavalier, who has agreed to retire at the end of the season, a five-year, $22.5 million contract of which the player is now walking away from the final two years?

"Nope."

How about trading for Schenn and leaving the Flyers desperate for a scoring winger?

"No. Not at all," Holmgren said. "Luke’s a good player. He’ll go to L.A. now and be a good player there."

By trading Lecavalier and Schenn to L.A. and Hextall's former club — he was assistant general manager for six seasons before returning to Philadelphia — the Flyers cleared $4.11 million in salary-cap space. They still have high-priced players Sam Gagner ($3.2 million cap hit) and MacDonald ($5 million cap hit) in the minors and get only $950,000 each in salary-cap relief for them being there.

"It certainly makes life easier for Ron that he can basically call up who he pleases now and who he thinks is best for the organization or the team on a day-by-day basis," Holmgren said. "That’s a good situation. We’re a little cleaner next year than maybe we would have been. There’s a lot of good things that happened there for all people involved (Wednesday)."

The Flyers' benefit comes mostly in cap space, but there's no question a few of Holmgren's past decisions sting a little bit and put Hextall behind the 8-ball when it comes to flexibility to map out a winning future for the franchise moving forward.

"Everyone’s aware of it," Brayden Schenn said of the Flyers' cap situation. "There’s no secrets there. We know where our team stands anyway and at the same time we needed to get some cap relief and I think those are two guys that probably, with Luke being a (unrestricted free agent) at year’s end and the D men we have coming up and how (Shayne Gostisbehere) is playing, you thought they’d be looking to move a piece or two and he was one of them."

Holmgren did admit that when a defenseman is drafted fifth-overall like Luke Schenn was, there's an expectation to be a different type of blueliner, "but he’s a very good defenseman in our league and I think he’s going to a team now that needs a player like that and I think he’ll excel there."

As for Lecavalier, who was scratched 22 consecutive games to end his career with the Flyers, everyone in orange and black was impressed with how he handled himself.

"It was really impressive. He’s one of the classiest guys I’ve ever played with," Jake Voracek said. "It was an honor to be in the same locker room with him because he’s a future Hall of Famer. The pro he has been, it’s been a pleasure. I’m very happy for him that he’s going to get the chance to play. He can finish his career on a high note."

"I had a lot of respect for Vinny prior to coming to the Flyers and his career and what he’s done in the league," Holmgren added. "Now that he’s no longer a Flyer, my respect for him has gone up tenfold based on what he went through and how he handled it."

As for the irony of watching two of his big acquisitions leave at the hands of his successor, Holmgren isn't offended.

"It’s a good trade for both teams," he said. "I think they’re getting a couple players that will help them and we’re getting a young player in Jordan Weal that Ron has a good knowledge of and a future asset in the draft pick and some cap flexibility for us moving forward."

Dave Isaac; (856) 486-2479; disaac@gannettnj.com.