We are technically just three days into the NHL offseason and the Philadelphia Flyers have not been involved in anything much. Will that change before the team heads to training camp in the fall?
So far, the team has done exactly what we thought and expected they would do. The Flyers have re-signed Erik Johnson to provide veteran depth for their blue line and keep a guy around that is more than comfortable sitting in the press box and playing just a handful of games. They signed a bunch of depth free agents from either overseas or AHL teams to probably start the season in Lehigh Valley. They sent qualifying offers to some restricted free agents and a player currently charged with sexual assault get away from this organization. And of course, we weren’t expecting them to bring Matvei Michkov early but that has definitely happened.
Is there anything else left to do for Danny Briere and his fellow front officemen?
According to Briere himself, he is still working around for the next couple of weeks before really letting the summer take over and not think about hockey for a little bit. So, what can he do during those weeks? What else is there for the Flyers to do?
Re-sign a couple of restricted free agents
The most obvious and necessary thing that this team will need to do, and maybe it doesn’t happen for a little while, but is sign their current restricted free agents to some nice little contracts. Both Yegor Zamula and Bobby Brink require new deals as restricted free agents and is really the only thing left this summer that needs immediate attention. Everything else can be a mid-season move or something down the line, but these dudes need some pen put to paper to play next season.
Both contracts shouldn’t be anything significant. Zamula showed flashes this past season but is ultimately going to be in competition with Ronnie Attard, Adam Ginning, and Emil Andrae, for that bottom-pair spot on the Flyers’ blue line. Meanwhile, Brink has potential to be a top-six scorer for this team but never got consistent minutes in the NHL last season — while only averaging under 14 minutes, he still managed to score 11 goals and 23 points — so he most likely wants a short-term deal to cash in when he is scoring way more.
Would we be shocked when both of these deals come around the one-year, $1.5-million mark? Probably not. For Zamula it would be essentially doubling his salary, and for Brink, it would be just something to cement as he really tries to establish himself as an NHL scorer.
Maybe there is a trade coming to clear some room
Oh, fun, more financial chat!
The Flyers current cap situation — before the incoming Brink and Zamula contracts — is that they have about $2.37 million in cap space for a 20-man roster that is 13 forwards, five defensemen (will be six with Zamula), and two goaltenders under contract. Everything is pretty much figured out except that final defenseman spot which we assume will be Zamula, since he is not exempt from waivers, and someone like Ronnie Attard, who is also waiver eligible.
Those available dollars will most likely be spent no matter what. So, it makes sense that there might be a trade coming to create a little bit more flexibility.
Why do they need to do that? The Flyers want to avoid using Long-Term Injured Reserve. Essentially, using LTIR is allowance to go over the cap ceiling, it isn’t just extra cap dollars suddenly created. Using that would prevent the Flyers from banking more cap space throughout the year — since cap space is technically accrued daily and if a team has, say, $10,000 in daily cap space that means millions later on — and therefore creating room to either get more creative financially at the trade deadline or to prepare for incoming cap bonuses from Matvei Michkov’s contract.
Even if you don’t want to get the details and just skimmed through that last paragraph, just know that the Flyers don’t want to use LTIR and more financial room is always better.
We know that Scott Laughton’s name and his $3-million cap hit has been out there in trade rumors, but something they could do is get rid of basically retired Ryan Ellis’s remaining contract in a creative way to some team that needs to reach the cap floor before the season starts. Or, there could be a Rasmus Ristolainen or Nic Deslauriers deal that comes out of nowhere.
We are just feeling that there has to be some transaction in the future that gives the Flyers more financial room. They are most likely not going to pay a premium draft pick or prospect to do that, but if they can find a team that, for some reason, wants one of these players who projects to be a bottom-of-the-lineup player, then they will pull that trigger.
Explore the Travis Konecny extension situation
While there has been no significant update on the Travis Konecny Extension Saga, we are just assuming that the Flyers are keeping their lips tight until they eventually sign him to a long-term deal. Maybe the comparable contracts that have come down — like Sam Reinhart and Pavel Buchnevich’s new extensions — gave the Flyers some ammo to push back on the player’s initial asks. But as of right now, we’re still expecting Konecny to have a big new deal that starts the 2025-26 season by this year’s training camp.
While Briere said that he wants to get most of the work done in the next couple of weeks, this negotiation might take longer and we could be hit with a mid-August transaction to get us talking for the next four weeks until camp opens. We can only pray for things like that to happen. And this will happen. We are not going to even entertain the possibility of a Konecny trade.
Let Michkov settle in
The star is here! It will almost be the only thing we talk about for the entire 2024-25 season. We will be providing daily Michkov updates for everyone, don’t worry.
But, this summer, the main goal with Michkov — obviously other than bringing him over here and getting his signature on a contract — is letting him settle in. After all, the reasoning that he provided as to why he left the KHL was because of tragically losing his father and the team allowing him to be in a new environment. Provide as much support as humanly possible for Michkov to get comfortable in the Philadelphian summer. That is a necessary goal.
There is nothing really else
And, well, uh, hmm… That might just be it.
We know it’s not as fun as speculating a big free agency splash or a massive earth-moving trade that will send us dreaming about future Stanley Cups, but the reality is that this summer is just one of patience and process. They have a team to put on the ice, they have young guys to develop, they have their potential star making his NHL debut — and that’s the focus right now. Can’t change up anything in just a couple weeks.
They will sign their remaining players, maybe make a boring trade to move out a roster player for almost nothing, and that will be it.
Boring, we know.
