Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers and Free Agency: Lots of Choices, Little Cap Space
(UPDATE: The Flyers created $3.33 million of cap space Tuesday by buying out Oskar Lindblom.)
The Philadelphia Flyers have virtually no cap space, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be active when the free-agent period opens Wednesday at noon.
They could get space by buying out James van Riemsdyk, or by making a deal (Ivan Provorov? Travis Konecny?).
The Flyers might also get cap relief if Ryan Ellis ($6.25 million annual cap hit) isn’t ready for the start of the season and goes on the long-term injured list. Ditto Joel Farabee ($5 million)
Philly only has about $119,000 in cap space, but teams can exceed the $82.5 million cap by 10 percent in the summer.
And, remember, general manager Chuck Fletcher is on the hot seat and needs to change the team’s culture, whether it’s through a trade, a signing, or both. He has called for an “aggressive retool” this summer.
The Flyers are trying to get harder to play against (hello, 6-foot-4, 220-pound Mason Marchment?), and need to upgrade an offense that desperately could use a proven goal scorer. And, yes, Johnny Gaudreau, a South Jersey native who grew up rooting for the Orange and Black, would fit the latter description.
But he will probably cost $9 million or more annually.
Having acquired Tony DeAngelo from Carolina means Philly doesn’t figure to sign a defenseman unless it feels Ellis won’t be ready for a while. Ellis missed most of last season with a pelvic injury.
Here are some of the unrestricted free agents who could interest the Philadelphia Flyers:
LW Johnny Gaudreau
Age: 28.
Stats: 40 goals, 115 points in 82 games.
C Nazem Kadri
Age: 31.
Stats: 28 goals, 87 points in 71 games.
LW Mason Marchment
Age: 27.
Stats: 18 goals, 47 points in 54 games.
LW/RW Ilya Mikheyev
Age: 27.
Stats: 21 goals, 32 points in 53 games.
LW/RW Nino Niederreiter
Age: 29.
Stats: 24 goals, 44 points in 75 games.
LW/RW Frank Vatrano
Age: 28.
Stats: 18 goals, 32 points in 71 games
LW/RW Ondrej Palat
Age: 31.
Stats: 18 goals, 49 points in 77 games.
LW/RW David Perron
Age: 34.
Stats: 27 goals, 57 points in 67 games.
LW/RW Evander Kane
Age: 30.
Stats: 22 goals, 39 points in 43 games.
C/RW/LW Andrew Copp
Age: 27.
Stats: 21 goals, 53 points in 72 games .
C/RW Claude Giroux
Age: 34.
Stats: 21 goals, 65 points in 75 games.
C/RW Ryan Strome
Age: 28.
Stats: 21 goals, 54 points in 74 games.
C Vincent Trocheck
Age: 28.
Stats: 21 goals, 51 points in 81 games.
LW/RW Andre Burakovsky
Age: 27.
Stats: 22 goals, 61 points in 81 games.
G Jack Campbell
Age: 30.
Stats: 2.64 GAA, .914 SP in 49 games.
G Martin Jones
Age: 32.
Stats: 3.43 GAA, .900 SP in 35 games.
RD Justin Schultz
Age: 31.
Stats: 4 goals, 23 points, minus-15 in 74 games.
RD Justin Braun
Age: 35.
Stats: 6 goals, 18 points, plus-2 in 69 games.
RD John Klingberg
Age: 29.
Stats: 6 goals, 47 points, minus-28 in 74 games.
RD Colin Miller
Age: 29.
2 goals, 14 points, minus-2 in 38 games.
Breakaways
Patrik Laine, Matthew Tkachuk, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kaapo Kaako, and Kasperi Kapanen are among the RFAs. … The Flyers’ development camp in Voorhees will have only off-ice sessions Wednesday; players will be back on the ice Thursday and Friday. The camp, which is free and open to the public, will conclude with a three-on-three tournament Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
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Free up more Cap Space. Bring back Giroux so he can retire as a Flyer since Florida dumped him. Then, bring in Johnny G. That would be perfect for me.
The goal should be to be one of the worst two teams next year to grab one of the two generational talents, Bedard or Muskinov or however you spell his name. The good news is Fletcher is such a bad GM that this result is almost inevitable.
*Hopefully*, but not necessarily. There’s no grand strategy here. At least, not one that’s clearly visible. Blackhawks are down for the tank. I think one other team is also poised to tank (Coyotes?).
As you said, Fletcher is such a bad GM that the team will clearly perform badly. Problem is, Fletcher is such a bad GM that when there’s that point where the team should call it a season and move players for picks and prospects and invest in the future, he’s the kind of guy to do the exact opposite. I’m not saying he’ll do this (because the Flyers know 2023 is a good draft), but he’s the kind of guy who would trade a pick or prospect for an outside shot at a wild card spot–meaning that if the Flyers had a shot at a top three selection, he’d somehow navigate toward a 5-10 spot.
But part of me, the part that gives Fletcher some credit, thinks he focused on height and wingers (Gauthier, Kaplan, specifically) with the belief that they would need to address height in the roster sooner than later–implying that they’d get Gaudreau or chase Bedard, Michkov (both small forwards) or Fantilli (bigger guy–skilled power forward). We’ll see…
Credit? He is the GM of a hockey team. That is what he is supposed to do. If you think they have a plan past 12 pm today, you’re too hopeful. With Homer in his ear, and Clarkie hanging around, and Scott taking orders from Valerie, this franchise has become totally irrelevant. I’m not a betting man, but when the bookies laugh, rank you almost last in chances to win the Cup, and say “The team never rebuilds, they haven’t been contenders in a long time” it should wake every single fan. Tear this entire thing down and rebuilding would be nice, but it’s too late. Chuck has traded too many picks away. We’re stuck now for at least 3 years. Come 12 pm, it could get worse.
they would have kept Yeo around, traded some vets for more picks & cap space, and then tried to stock the AHL and roster with younger skilled players. even cast offs from other teams with more skill would have helped. they would have been horrible this year, gotten a top pick (better than 5), and changed the franchise. Nope. now we get The Great John “Drama King” Tortoliini.
The Flyers certainly need to do something significant via free agency or trades. Acquiring de Angelo has not improved the team markedly. They must know that the fan base is even angrier or more disinterested now than last season. If they had said they need to do a complete rebuild, kept draft picks, and focused on adding young talent and developing their youngsters with potential, I think the fans would accept that and could watch with interest as the team grows and develops. Right now, however, this “aggressive retool” or whatever they’re calling it just looks like it will lead to more of the same mediocrity we have endured for the last decade. That will not sit well with the fan base. As long as they have decided to try to be competitive now, then Fletcher will really need to get creative, bold, and shrewd with his moves this summer. We will see.
This is “THIS SUMMER.” He’s got 1 hour to make moves without destroying our future. Let’s see what happens.