Sam Gagner hoping Flyers don't buy him out

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Sam Gagner doesn't understand.

He didn't hurt anyone while he was with the Arizona Coyotes last season. He wasn't looking to make enemies with the Edmonton Oilers in the first seven years of his career, either.

He got traded just after the NHL draft ended Saturday, to the Flyers in what was clearly a salary-cap move and his new team might not even want him.

The Flyers are on the hook for a $3.3 million cap hit next season on Gagner and aren't sure if they're going to keep him yet.

Neither is Gagner.

"I honestly couldn't even give you a ballpark," the 25-year-old forward said on a conference call Sunday morning. "From the conversations I've had (with Flyers GM Ron Hextall), it's just trying to figure out where I fit against the cap. They said they like me as a player and they're gonna try and make it work, but in this league with the cap situation and everything like that, it's hard for me to say."

Gagner, who was selected one spot sooner than Jake Voracek in the 2007 draft, was a buyout candidate with the Coyotes and the Flyers are thinking about doing the same. That leads to uneasy times at home for Gagner, whose wife Rachel is pregnant their first child.

"We'll talk about all of our options all day (Sunday) and meet with the pros (scouts) on Monday and make decisions as we see it moving forward," Hextall said after the trade on Saturday. "I haven't even had time to think about anything, quite frankly. We've got to get our numbers in order. Our cap is still not totally cleaned up, but we're a lot closer now."

The Flyers are about $6.4 million under next year's salary cap of $71.4 million with a few holes to fill. One of them is a "skilled forward" that Hextall was hoping to get in free agency. Gagner might actually be able to fill that role if he's given the chance. He was tied for second on the Arizona Coyotes in points last season with 41, but apparently they didn't think too highly of him.

After Saturday's trade, Arizona GM Don Maloney told the team website that he "didn't think (Gagner) could play center at the National Hockey League level for us."

Now Gagner is, "as motivated as you can get" and waiting for word from Hextall as to what the future holds for him.

"I actually thought that last year, regardless of what's been said, I actually thought once I got adjusted…I had a lot emotionally invested in Edmonton and trying to turn things around there," Gagner said. "When I got traded, it's an adjustment period and I felt like once I got settled in, I played some pretty good hockey down the stretch there and played some good two-way hockey and was able to produce a little bit in an pretty tough situation. I'm actually certainly happy with how I handled things down the stretch. I thought I competed and played hard and played pretty well. I gained confidence from that and I'm looking forward to bringing that next year with some added motivation."

If the Flyers decide to keep Gagner, they might ask him to play the wing as he was asked to do last season at times with the Coyotes. He says he is comfortable playing both wings, although his natural and preferred position is center.

"I think I have a lot of people to prove wrong and I plan on doing that," Gagner said. "For myself, I always want to be the best I can be. I always want to be the best I can be and that hasn't happened yet. I still feel very confident in my abilities that I can be a very successful player in this league."

Dave Isaac; (8560 486-2479; disaac@courierpostonline.com.