Of course, that assumes that Puppa passes a tryout.
Moreover, if goalie Brian Boucher, who is in a contract dispute, signs in the meantime, the Flyers could cancel the whole deal.
Against that backdrop, Clarke and club chairman Ed Snider will meet at 9:30 a.m. today with Tom Laidlaw, the agent who represents Boucher. Laidlaw has said the Puppa proposal is a bluff to exert leverage on today's negotiations. He also has said a deal can be achieved today.
"We'll see what happens," Laidlaw said.
How bad is the Flyers' goaltending situation? A group of Flyers and Phantoms veterans conducted their usual morning scrimmage yesterday at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees. There was a non-roster goalie at one end of the ice and a fabric cutout stretched over the goal at the other end.
"When are we going to get a goalie in here to play with us?" a Flyers veteran asked after the practice. "What's going on with Boucher?"
Like Clarke, some of the veterans are worried that Boucher may not sign. Clarke said Snider was joining today's meeting to make certain the Flyers' offer was "fair."
"I'm sure there will be room for both sides to get something done," Clarke said.
Clarke said he tried to meet with Boucher privately to make the 23-year-old understand that a protracted stalemate could jeopardize his career. But Laidlaw did not allow the meeting to occur.
"It's not skirting the agent," Clarke said. "I told Laidlaw that I wanted to talk to him, not about money, but about his responsibility to himself. He can't just hide up there in Rhode Island and let Laidlaw do all the work, all the speaking for him, because in the end, it is his career and his life."
Unfortunately, much of Puppa's career has been about injury.
The transactions portion of the 35-year-old goalie's statistical background in the Sporting News Hockey Register is 51/8 inches wide by 11/2 inches deep, with agate listings of injuries and games missed in a 15-year career.
