Philly Front Office

The Flyers just finished their season in the most realistic best way possible. They overcame a big deficit to not only make the playoffs but knock off our biggest rival in the process. Then, and this is key, they were completely outclassed by the Carolina Hurricanes. That last part is the type of cold shower the organization needed to understand that the gap between where they are and where they need to go is still quite large. The team is very aware that there is still work to be done.

Over the last couple weeks of hockeying, I couldn’t help but see similarities between this current Flyers team and the Pre-Process Sixers of Andre Igoudala, Evan Turner, Thad Young, Nik Vucevic, and Jrue Holiday. That team was nothing but high-end role players without a true star. Unfortunately, they didn’t get their cold shower. By defeating the very injured Bulls and taking the Celtics to 7 close games, they thought they were better than they were. This delusion caused the over eager Sixers to trade for Andrew Bynum and trade Igoudala, Vucevic, and picks, ruining what made them special. It failed miserably.

Why so much preamble? Because the Flyers have to avoid making this same mistake. They need a star but can’t give away the team. Is there a way to do this? Let’s give it a try.

Why You Need To Pay Attention to the NHL Draft Lottery

Assets

While the team owes a few mid round picks in 2026 around the league, the powder is still very dry overall. Not only do we have all our other picks, but also a likely unprotected first from Toronto in 2027. If a team wants picks, we have picks.

What we don’t have is top level pro-ready prospects. Porter Martone is/was our elite talent and he can’t go anywhere. After him there are a lot more of those high-end role player types that would look good in a deal, but would not move the needle on their own. These are guys like Jack Nesbitt, Jett Luchanko, and Jack Berglund; three 19-year-old centers taken in the last two drafts. Other recently promoted and solidly regarded prospects include Denver Barkey and Alex Bump.

The headliner for a top deal would have to be Matvei Michkov and that stinks. No, I am not a doom and gloom antei-Matvei, just trying to be realistic about our assets. In a perfect world, he stays and levels up next year.

If a team needs more of anything, there is also the possibility of moving Travis Konecny. He is 29 and led the team in points last year. While he is just beginning his big extension with 7/$61.25 remaining, if the Flyers decided to pay down some of that money he could fetch a good return. This would be banking quite a lot on guys like Michkov and Martone, but it would fix up the team’s books and get the team even younger in the process.

Free Agents

The Flyers should have around $25m to spend in free agency after locking up Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, but there is not much inventory to spend it on. The Flyers picked the wrong year to have space after there were a ton of extensions signed last summer. Instead of Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov and Jack Eichel, it’s Alex Tuch, Darren Raddysh and … lots of old guys who are not coming to Philadelphia.

• Darren Raddysh – He is older at 30, but he was a very late bloomer who popped off for 70 points this season for Tampa. If the Flyers wanted to fix their power play in a down free agent market, Raddysh would be a good way to use the money. Projection: 5 years/$35m

What Would a Trevor Zegras Contract Extension Look Like?

There are some restricted free agents as well. Stealing an RFA isn’t common for a few reasons. The team the player is already on can match the deal and if they don’t you could owe them up to 4 years in draft picks. The Flyers famously tried to do this with Shea Weber back in 2012 but the Predators matched and the Flyers dodged a 14/$110m bullet. Here are semi-realistic targets:

• Jason Robertson – He is a winger which the Flyers do not need, but getting Robertson would make other wings on the team expendable. Plus, he’s awesome. He has a 109 point season on his belt and had 96 last year. He’s a threat for 40+ goals every season. Dallas needs to shed salary too. Not sure if they want to invest top dollar at the position though and they would need to.
• Leo Carlsson – Stealing Carlsson from the Ducks would feel pretty good, but at what level would they try to lock him up? The highest compensation threshold will probably be around $12m to level up to 4 picks and that’s right where Carlsson is trending. Would the Flyers go there to tempt the Ducks to leave him or is that too much of a bet on the future of a 21 year old? Oh yeah, they have to pay Cutter Gauthier too.
• Connor Bedard – Chicago letting Bedard leave is probably completely crazy. He’s a former #1 pick and a big name, but while he was much improved this season, he hasn’t moved the needle yet for Chicago. The Flyers would need to come in and severely overpay for the 21-year-old in the form of 7/$100m+ to get him and then pray the Blackhawks still don’t match (they probably would). It would be a HUGE bet on a franchising altering move.

Neither are likely to change teams, but the Flyers can decide to really go big and ruin the day of two of our pseudo-enemies if they want.

January 9, 2024: The Betrayal of Cutter Gauthier

Trades

What they lack in high end NHL ready talent, the Flyers can make up for with draft picks and possibly taking on bad salary if needed. The NHL is a money driven sport and for once the Flyers have the ability to play…

• Elias Pettersson – The Canucks would LOVE to get off this contract and might be willing to pay to do it. Why would we want him then? For the same reasons we wanted Trevor Zegras. Pettersson had a 102 point season 4 years ago and is only 27. It’s possible he just needs out of dismal Vancouver. Even if they paid down some of his 6/$70m remaining contract, it would still be a crazy risk. I don’t know enough about hockey to tell you that’s a good bet.
• Robert Thomas – Thomas almost left the Blues at the deadline so he is a top candidate to leave rebuilding St. Louis in the offseason too. Thomas is 27 and has 5/$40.5m left on his contract. He has been a point per game guy for the last 5 seasons and would be the kind of captain the offense needs without really breaking the bank. Plus, how much fun would it be to have a guy named Rob Thomas on the team to make Matchbox 20 jokes? It would be so smooth.
• Auston Matthews – He is the big fish possibly on the market in that he is maybe the premier goal scorer in the NHL when he’s on. The problem is that he has been “off” his standards for the last two seasons. He will be 29 to start next season and will have 2 years left on his $13m AAV contract. With the #1 pick though, the Maple Leafs could look to seriously rebuild. The Flyers have the added luxury of being able to dangle the Leafs’ own 2027 draft pick in front of them in case they opt for a very bad season. It would still cost a ton, but as long as they didn’t have to decimate the core to get him a la Andrew Bynum, he would change everything.

Contracts: Spotrac

Stats: Hockey Reference

Photo: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con