This morning the Flyers came to an agreement with their last remaining restricted free agent, Cam York, and essentially put a close to this offseason’s spending. After starting with around $20m in their pocket, they are just about out of money. So how did the Flyers spend their summer vacation? Let’s answer all the pertinent questions…
Who Did We Bring In?
We had dreams of top spending after the trade deadline when it became pretty clear that we would have money to spend for the first time in forever. So much for that. The Flyers brought in some solid veterens, but nothing to lose our minds over.
- Christian Dvorak: The former Montreal center signed a 1/$5.4m deal for his age 29 season. Before you go look at his stats and see roughly 10-15 goals per season, keep in mind that he is known much more for his defense than his offense. He played for new coach Rick Tocchet back when both were in Arizona. One thing to know is that he won 56% of his faceoffs last year. That’s good!
- Daniel Vladar – It is no secret that the Flyers goaltender situation last season was dismal. Enter Vladar for 2/$6.7m, a $3.35m AAV cap hit. He saw his most action last season as a backup in Calgary posting an .898 save percentage and 2.80 GAA. He will likely replace Ivan Fedotov as the primary backup as he is expected to be waived and sent to the minors.
- Noah Juulson is another former Toccheteer, this time from Vancouver, the Flyers signed for 1/$900k. He is a big defenseman who you can imagine is there to help get Tocchet’s message across rather than providing reliable minutes.
- Dennis Gilbert will be another big depth defenseman with little upside at 1/$875k.
Who Did We Keep?
- Cam York and the Flyers had been discussing an extension for a little while, but pen was finally put to paper at 5/$25.75m. The $5.15m AAV has been seen as somewhat of a bargain by the experts. York has seen a tumultuous last few months end nicely in Philadelphia. He had clearly hit a boiling point with former head coach John Tortorella as a confrontation apparently occurred between the two leaving York on the bench and Torts without a job. The Flyers apparently took York’s side in the argument. For a situation that good have gone very sideways, the Flyers end up getting a respected leader out of the fireworks. Standing up to a coach is no joke.
- Tyson Foerster had 25 goals last season and the Flyers rewarded him with a 2/$7.5m contract. That was signed despite knowing that a minor elbow injury for Foerster developed an infection and will keep him out for several months now. He will likely not be available to start the season. Lovely!
- Noah Cates, Foerster’s linemate with Bobby Brink, signed a 4-year extension worth $16m. The 26-year-old turned in a solid season despite all the Tortorella related nonsense that was occurring.
Who Did We Lose?
- Jakob Pelletier – Pelletier was a part of the Morgan Frost/Joel Farabee trade with Calgary, but his time in the orange and black only lasted around 25 games. Instead of being offered a qualifying offer of around $850k, the Flyers let him walk. He istead signed a 3/$2.33m deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That is the league minimum, which was apparently too rich for Philadelphia.
- Cal Peterson – He has been buried in the minors the last season and half but finally leaves in free agency signing with the Minnesota Wild.
Who Didn’t We Get?
- Maxim Shabanov had been rumored to the Flyers for awhile with a report claiming it was a done deal about a month ago. Not so fast. In the end, Shabanov ended up going to the New York Islanders. He had sparked a ton of interest from NHL teams after lighting up the KHL after filling a lengthy highlight reel of ridiculous goals. The winger is small at 5’8″, but at still only 24 and a ton of professional experience in Russia, he would have provided a nice spark for a team that needs it. Oh well.
News thanks to prohockeyrumors.com
Contracts thanks to Spotrac.com
Philly Front Office 
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