On Jan. 30, it was valuable trade commodity Tim Gleason - a fellow defenseman - who re-upped in Carolina with a 4-year deal worth $16 million. Toronto's Jean-Michael Liles (4 years, $15.5 million) and Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin (3 years, $10.5 million), both defensemen, avoided potential unrestricted free agency.
And Carle, skating in the final season of his own 4-year deal for $13.75 million, has kept an eye on all of them.
"You certainly keep track of the potential market," Carle said yesterday. "Anytime somebody signs, whether it's a forward, defenseman or goalie, you're interested to see what's going on with other guys around the league.
"That's just being a fan, I guess."
It's tough to say if Carle is a fan of the precedent being set by those deals or not, but watching Gleason - a less talented, more defensive-minded player - collect a 50 percent raise certainly can't hurt his situation.
Carle's teammate, Braydon Coburn, drew a 40 percent raise on his new deal in November.
There are two schools of thought about the current trend of players signing new deals before the trade deadline, which is now 18 days away: (1) the market for defensemen is scarce, which is adding value to players who could walk at the end of the season; (2) that a pending labor impasse, with a CBA that is set to expire on Sept. 15, may have an impact on this summer's free-agent frenzy, causing players to instead sign early.
The trouble is the Flyers aren't exactly sure what the salary-cap picture - not to mention Chris Pronger's contract status - will look like once a new bargaining agreement is brokered.
Carle's agent, Denver-based Kurt Overhardt, made it clear when contacted in December that he was not interested in publicly commenting on his player's contract status.
