In the biggest news of the day, the Flyers have won the Vinny Lecavalier sweepstakes. The former Lightning star center has agreed to a five-year deal worth $22.5 million. It averages out to $4.5 million-per-year. On paper, it’s not bad. While most of Twitter is exploding in laughter, it might be initial overreaction.

At 33, Lecavalier still has some good hockey left in the tank. Even if it’s Philadelphia where there’s a revolving door at goalie, a motivated and healthy Vinny can form a potent duo with Claude Giroux. Essentially, the Flyers decided that he has more left than Danny Briere, who was amnestied and is drawing interest from former club Buffalo. Wouldn’t that be some encore?

Is five years too much for a player who hasn’t played a full season since ’09-10 when he posted 70 points (24-46-70). Don’t answer that right away. Not when less accomplished centers such as Tyler Bozak are reportedly asking for eight years at $5 million each. How much will David Clarkson get? The way some are reacting makes you wonder if they’ve taken a closer look at their teams. I’d much rather have Lecavalier at a more affordable cost than Brad Richards. At the very least, the Rangers can still buy him out next summer as long as he doesn’t get injured. Though it is interesting that Lecavalier and Richards partnered to win a Cup in Tampa.

Some have concluded that it’s just the Flyers being the Flyers. While many claim they don’t need more offense, their next best center was Brayden Schenn, who’s more of a third line checking type than a second line scorer. Lecavalier should balance them out at center allowing Schenn to anchor the third line and Sean Couturier to center the fourth. That’s a pretty solid 1-4.

The dilemma in Philadelphia is how they’ll get under the cap. They have a lot of money tied up and must still extend Giroux. Supposedly, defenseman Braydon Coburn was available. But nothing ever happened with Anaheim, who flaunted Bobby Ryan. The Flyers boast plenty of depth on the blueline. After adding ex-Islander Mark Streit to a corps that features Kimmo Timonen, Luke Schenn, Coburn and Andrej Meszaros, it’s not like their D is an issue. Not with Niklas Grossmann also signed and Bruno Gervais. That doesn’t include Marc-Andre Bourdon. Don’t forget Chris Pronger is still on long term injured reserve and hasn’t retired. People are forgetting that the Flyers will look quite different a year from now with Timonen and Meszaros coming off the cap.

Of course, they still haven’t resolved the goalie issue. They still have to add a vet to team with Steve Mason. It’s easy to laugh at the Flyers following their buyout of failure Ilya Bryzgalov. If they ever get semi-decent goaltending, nobody will be laughing.