Fedotenko, who had nine goals in 73 games with the Rangers last season, said several teams had interest in signing him, "but I felt like I wanted to go to a team where I believe we have a chance to win the Cup."
Fedotenko won Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay (2004) and Pittsburgh (2009) after starting his career with the Flyers in 2000. "Now I obviously have more experience," he said. "You know what, I feel like I can still have that physical play. At the time, that's kind of how they called Flyer hockey. Bill Barber was training me to play that way - play physical, gritty kind of playoff hockey. I believe I thrive in that, and I'm pretty excited about that."
The signings came one day after the Flyers were among the failed bidders for Parise and Suter, this year's top free agents. They signed 13-year contracts with the Minnesota Wild for $98 million apiece.
In the offseason, the Flyers have added Luke Schenn, Michael Leighton, Fedotenko, and Gervais. They have subtracted James van Riemsdyk, Jaromir Jagr, Matt Carle, and Sergei Bobrovsky.
When he looks at what he has lost and gained thus far this summer, how does Holmgren think the Flyers have done?
"I don't know how to quantify that," he said. "We still have the nucleus of our young team that we had at the end of last year. I think we're going to be better with all those guys having one year under their belts."
Holmgren was referring to young players such as Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, Matt Read, Brayden Schenn, Eric Wellwood, and Zac Rinaldo.
"We've added Luke Schenn, and Nicklas Grossmann we get to see and get a full season out of," Holmgren said. "You could argue we lost a lot of good players, and we did. But the maturation process of our group and adding a solid guy like Ruslan to our forward mix and a steady guy like Bruno on our back end . . . I think we're still a good team that has a lot of potential."
Holmgren doesn't view Fedotenko and Gervais as consolation prizes but as players who will help the young Flyers - they played 12 rookies last season - continue to blossom.
Fedotenko started his career with a two-year stint with the Flyers. His best season was in 2005-06, when he netted 26 goals for Tampa Bay.
Fedotenko can play all three forward positions; he scored two goals in a 2-1 win in Game 7 of the 2004 Finals against Calgary, giving Tampa Bay the Cup.
Gervais, a seven-year NHL veteran who had six goals in 50 games with Tampa last season, figures to battle Marc-Andre Bourdon, Erik Gustafsson, and Andreas Lilja for the sixth spot on defense.
"He's going to fit nicely into our group; whether we carry seven or eight defensemen, we'll see," Holmgren said. "But he's a right-hand shot, and that gives us two right-hand [defensemen] shots in Luke Schenn and Bruno."
Gervais and Flyers forward Max Talbot - who, like Fedotenko, has a Cup-winning goal on his resumé - have been friends since they were 10. Talbot will be one of Gervais' groomsmen when he gets married on July 14.
Gervais said Talbot influenced him to sign with the Flyers, "but the main thing for me was that I want to win, and I want to be part of a team heading that way."
It appears the Flyers will not be trade partners for Anaheim's Bobby Ryan or Columbus' Rick Nash - unless their teams lower their demands.
The Flyers do not want to deal Couturier or Brayden Schenn.
"I really like our team, and I'm hesitant to look at anything where I've got to give up something [important] to get something back. We have a lot of good young players that have tremendous potential," Holmgren said. "Quite frankly, I'm happy with our team right now."
Contact Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @BroadStBull.
