Clowe is a little overpaid, but he's been a better player than Clarkson over his career and signed for less money and less years. And Clarkson turned down a higher offer! I'm not concerned about performance, my only concern with Clowe is health.
He also got Ryder at a good price and straight up stole Schneider. That more than makes up for overpaying Clowe. The Devils definitely got better.
What did Holmgren do to fix the Flyers' terrible defense? He replaced your good starting goaltender with one of the worst in the league and added a backup who was only good playing for the Blackhawks against non-playoff teams. He added an old defenseman who doesn't play defense and Lecavalier at admittedly a good price.
Good luck winning every game 7-6.
You're as big a homer as I am. Let's get that out of the way so we can continue seeing our teams as better than they are.
Clowe's contract is ridiculous. This is a guy who has topped out at 24 goals and 60 points 3 years ago, scored 3 goals last year, and has had multiple concussions. I wanted this guy in Philly as a 3rd line winger, but not for 5 yrs and 25M. I get that he was Plan B to Clarkson, who I think is a very comparable player, but who probably wasn't signing anywhere but Toronto anyway - and he got overpaid for his production, too. You dodged a bullet on that one.
Schneider was had for a fair price. He's in the Bernier and Bishop category - a backup who may be ready to break out. If it works out, that'll put you guys at like 3 decades of stability in the crease.
If you think Bryzgalov was good, though, dude. Come on. He wasn't even average, unless you find a GAA > 2.5 and a SV% south of .9 acceptable. He won't even be on an NHL roster next season, and probably not a KHL one either. Mason's a reclamation project, but he's still young and was once good. Maybe it works out, maybe it doesn't, but the long term future of that team is better off without Bryzgalov's years and cap hit. He had to go.
Philly has more work to do on D. They needed a guy who could move the puck and make a breakout pass, and that's Streit. They gave him too many years, but I'm ok with the dollars. The rest is going to depend on the development of the younger players, plus whoever comes via trade, since right now they're over the cap and at the 50 contract limit - so some players are going to go, and the return is hopefully going to be on defense.