Philly Front Office

With last night’s loss, there are 13 games left for the Flyers. They have the 6th worst record in the league while somehow also only being 8 points out of the playoffs. Don’t worry about those 8 points though, the playoffs aren’t happening. We would have to jump 7 teams to do that! I want to talk about going the other way. Losers of 8 of 10 (one SOL), we are going in the right direction for what we need.

The Competition

As of this morning, the Flyers have 64 points. The competition is as follows:

The Flyers have a real advantage here in that they are currently the coldest team in the league and have played the most games. Just need to handle our business.

The odds of winning a top 3 spot in the lottery do not really change much within the 3-9 zone (11% to 5%). However, the higher you go, the downside pick necessarily gets better. A team finishing with the third worst record can’t pick any lower than 5th.

The lower we finish, the better we pick, this isn’t that complicated. We need to be rooting for Flyers losses. Chicago and San Jose are simply too far away at this point, so don’t worry about them. Instead, root for Nashville, Buffalo, and Seattle to win at all costs. After them, I know it will be painful, but we need Pittsburgh and Boston to win too.

The Picks

The Sixers are fighting for their lives to maintain draft picks. The Flyers do not have this problem. Right now, we have 7 of the top 50 picks. That’s insane. Well, what are they? As standings currently hold:

• #6 – Our Own
• #22 – From Edmonton
• #26 – From Colorado
• #38 – Our Own
• #40 – From Anaheim
• #43 – From Columbus
• #48 – From Calgary

First round draft picks for playoff teams get repositioned the further they go in the playoffs, so you do not have to worry about Edmonton and Colorado now. Come playoff time though, let’s see some first round exits! Anaheim, Columbus, and Calgary are all looking like non-playoff teams, so let them be bad…but not too bad, we can’t have them dropping in on us in the first round. Rooting against second round pick positioning is some next level fandom.

Cash

For the first time in my memory, the Flyers are going to have money to spend this offseason. Spotrac estimates about $28.5m to spend under the $95m cap, good for 9th most in the league. Thankfully we do not have many free agents to retain either, only Noah Cates, Cam York, and Tyson Foerster will probably get extended. None of them look likely to break the bank on extensions either. Further, Rasmus Ristolainen was nearly traded at the deadline, and his $5m cap hit will likely be on the move (even if we retain some of the salary). All in all, we should have a nice chunk of change to devote to free agency. Plus, the NHL salary cap is about to go WAY up, almost $20m in the next two years. Is this the year to spend it to make the team better or to absorb salary for other teams in exchange for MORE picks. We’ll see. It probably depends on who wants to come here.

Free Agents???

Let’s just take a peek at the top guys out there. You know, some window shopping. We aren’t going to buy, just looking. I mean, one or two might look good in our lineup right? Let’s just try one out…

• Mitch Marner – He is at the end of his deal with Toronto and they will look to keep him, but he is the type of elite playmaking center the Flyers have lacked since Giroux was traded
• Aaron Ekblad – I assumed he would never leave the Panthers, but he was just suspended for PEDs at the worst possible time for him. The Flyers are the kind of team that could take a chance on him.
• Jakob Chychrun – A top tier defenseman coming from some awful teams before getting to Washington…would he want to step into thunderdome?
• Restricted Free Agents: The Flyers could throw a ton of money at some younger guys in hopes that their teams don’t match or even give up some draft picks to entice the same, guys like Evan Bouchard or Mason McTavish.

Ok, maybe none of them fit us. What about trades?

Trade

As mentioned earlier, the Flyers have an ass-ton of draft picks. I was holding back, we have substantially more than even that considering what was done at the deadline. Not only do we have all our own picks coming up, but an extra first and third in 2027 as well. Plus, there are valuable veterans that you just know Briere is looking to move, guys like Couturier (never leaving), Nick Seeler, and probably even Travis Sanheim. The team in general needs to get younger and more talented so anyone on a real contract could be on the move. We have the cash and the picks to make moves, whther it be this offseason or next.

TL/DR…even though we are at the end

Next year should be the year that the Flyers look to turn a corner. They aren’t going to just waste assets like the Sixers though as Danny Briere seems to have the full faith and patience of ownership. If a deal is there, it will happen, but he probably won’t overpay. The focus right now is the draft and positioning. Let’s go Other Team!…for the betterment of the Flyers.