from Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer,

With the free-agency period starting Tuesday, new Flyers general manager Ron Hextall will not be able to make a big splash unless he unloads some salary.

Hextall is caught between a rock and a hard cap. As a result, do not expect the Flyers to be big players in free agency.

For the time being, the Flyers are about $236,000 over the salary-cap maximum of $69 million - and they still need to sign another defenseman or forward, and a backup goalie.

So unless they are able to deal Vinny Lecavalier - who is expected to land elsewhere after he picks up a $2 million bonus on Tuesday - or another high-priced veteran such as Braydon Coburn, the Flyers have no cap flexibility.

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