Salary Cap Deep Dive: Philadelphia Flyers

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2022-23 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Philadelphia Flyers

Current Cap Hit: $84,273,107 (over the $82.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Ronnie Attard (one year, $884K)
F Bobby Brink (two years, $925K)
F Noah Cates (one year, $925K)
D Cam York (two years, $881K)

Potential Bonuses
Attard: $850K
Brink: $212.5K
Cates: $450K
York: $725K
Total: $2.2375MM

Brink did well in a late-season call-up last season but it’ll be a while before he sees the ice in 2022-23 as he’ll be out until late 2022 or early 2023 after undergoing hip surgery.  He’ll be on season-opening injured reserve which will carry a reduced AAV at the ratio of the number of NHL days divided by total days in the season.  As far as his next contract goes, how he fares upon returning will go a long way towards dictating that.  Cates was also quite impressive late last season and should have a chance at a full-time role this year.  However, even if he locks down a regular spot, his limited experience last season pushes him towards a likely bridge deal.

York got into 30 games in his rookie year with some up-and-down results.  As a strong point producer at the lower levels, he’s the type of player that could break out and earn a big second contract but that doesn’t look likely just yet.  Attard signed back in March and acquitted himself relatively well on the third pairing the rest of the way.  As is the case with Cates, the limited NHL action overall will make a long-term deal unlikely.  He, like the other three in this section, is probably heading for a bridge contract.

Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level

D Justin Braun ($1MM, UFA)
F Patrick Brown ($750K, UFA)
F Morgan Frost ($800K, RFA)
F Zack MacEwen ($925K, RFA)
D Travis Sanheim ($4.625MM, UFA)
F James van Riemsdyk ($7MM, UFA)

Potential Bonuses
Braun: $750K

While the contract has rightfully been criticized, it’s at least worth mentioning that van Riemsdyk held the team lead in goals at the end of last season with 24 while finishing fourth in points with 38.  However, that’s not worth $7MM in this marketplace.  He’ll be 34 next season and while he should still draw a reasonable amount of interest on the open market, it should be for around half of what he’s getting now.  MacEwen filled an enforcer-type role a year ago but with another player in that role now, he’s someone that could be non-tendered if the Flyers don’t want to push his salary past the $1MM mark next summer.  Frost took a ‘show-me’ deal after an up-and-down season.  Now waiver-eligible, he’ll be a full-timer on the roster and even a reasonable showing could give him a chance at doubling his AAV with arbitration rights.  If he can earn a top-six role, he could head towards the $3MM range.  Brown has been a depth player in recent years and his next deal should be at or close to the minimum.

Discussions on a new deal have already started with Sanheim who, for now at least, is set to hit the open market at 27.  He’s coming off a career year which complicates things a little bit but at this point, a long-term deal will probably push him past the $6MM mark.  A similar performance to last season in 2022-23 could push it closer to the $7MM threshold with impact defenders his age not coming available too often.  Braun is a capable third-pairing veteran who took a lower base salary but his bonuses are tied to games played and bonuses so it’s quite possible that most, if not all of those, are reached.  At this stage of his career, these are the types of contracts he’s likely to be signing moving forward.

Signed Through 2023-24

D Anthony DeAngelo ($5MM, UFA)
G Carter Hart ($3.979MM, RFA)
G Felix Sandstrom ($775K, UFA)
D Nick Seeler ($775K, UFA)
F Owen Tippett ($1.5MM, RFA)

Tippett was a logical candidate to receive a bridge contract after a bit of an up-and-down showing last season.  He’ll get more of a consistent opportunity with the Flyers and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll outperform this contract.  He’s owed a $1.75MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights in 2024 and should be able to get a fair bit more than that if he locks down a top-six role.

DeAngelo was Philadelphia’s big summer acquisition on the heels of a career year with the Hurricanes.  He has put up 50 points in his last two full NHL seasons and that type of output is hard to find.  With how things transpired from his departure from the Rangers, there are off-ice factors that certainly influenced his market (Carolina gave him permission to talk to teams before the trade this summer) but the 26-year-old could be a bargain if his production continues at that level.  Seeler is a veteran depth defender that could go back and forth to the minors if he clears waivers and his next deal should be in the area of the league minimum again.

Hart has had a bit of an up-and-down start to his career.  His first two seasons were strong, making it look like he was their starter of the future.  His third season was rocky, to put it lightly, resulting in a bridge deal instead of a long-term pact.  Last year was a little better but still not at the level from a couple of years before.  If he wants a shot at getting starter-type money in the $5.5MM to $6MM range, his next two seasons will need to be like his first two.  Sandstrom, for now, is the presumptive backup after plans to bring Ivan Fedotov over for this season fell through.  If he can establish himself as a capable second-stringer, he could double his current AAV two years from now.

Signed Through 2024-25

F Cam Atkinson ($5.875MM, UFA)
F Travis Konecny ($5.5MM, UFA)
D Ivan Provorov ($6.75MM, UFA)

Atkinson had a bit of a bounce-back season last year, finishing second to Konecny in scoring.  He isn’t a pure top-line scorer as he was a few years ago but he should still provide some value for a couple more years at least.  His next deal will be in his age-36 season, however, and he could be going year-to-year from there at a lower rate than this.  Konecny hasn’t been able to become a consistent top-liner but he has settled in on the second line as a secondary scorer.  He’s not a bargain at this price point but it’s not a considerable overpayment either.  With the Upper Limit expected to be higher by 2025, he could land a contract similar to this one at that time.

Provorov is someone who hasn’t quite lived up to the extremely high expectations but has still become a high-end part of their back end.  He very quietly has averaged over 24 minutes per game for each of the last five seasons; he’s only six years into his career for context.  That’s consistent number one usage.  However, he also hasn’t been able to get back to the level of production from his sophomore year.  At 25, there’s still room for improvement on that front and if that happens, his next contract could be in the $9MM range, especially with the expected increase to the cap by then.  This is one of the contracts that the team will need to keep in mind when it comes to their future plans.

Signed Through 2025-26 Or Longer

F Sean Couturier ($7.75MM through 2029-30)
F Nicolas Deslauriers ($1.75MM through 2025-26)
D Ryan Ellis ($6.25MM through 2027-28)
F Joel Farabee ($5MM through 2027-28)
F Kevin Hayes ($7.143MM through 2025-26)
D Rasmus Ristolainen ($5.1MM through 2027-28)
F Scott Laughton ($3MM through 2025-26)

At his best, Couturier is a legitimate top-line two-way center that can log heavy minutes, produce, and do well defensively against top opposition.  The Flyers are hoping he can do that for most of his contract.  Recent injuries since then don’t help provide much optimism but once he is healthy, he should be able to perform at that level for a few seasons at least.  The end, however, could be a little iffy.  Hayes is at the higher end of second-line center money but his production hasn’t been at the high end to justify it.  It’s a contract that looked inflated when it was signed and that’s still the case now.

GM Chuck Fletcher is banking on Farabee playing his way into earning this money.  His output so far is a below this rate but at 22, there’s still plenty of time to improve.  Even if he gets to the 50-point range in a couple of years, the Flyers will do well with this contract.  Laughton logs more minutes than a typical third-liner does and while he’s not all that strong offensively, he brings some good defensive play and physicality to them.  When he signed this extension at the 2021 trade deadline, I thought he was leaving some money on the table and I still think that’s the case.  This is a lower-end bargain for Philadelphia.  Deslauriers’ contract was a bit surprising in that he received four years.  He has scored double-digit goals just once but is a solid enough defensive player – he is a former defenseman – to play a more important role than a typical fourth-line enforcer.  That might not have been the best use of their limited money but he’ll give them a decent return on this deal.

Ellis was supposed to really help stabilize their back end when he was acquired from Nashville.  However, he only played four games last season, isn’t expected to play this year, and at this point, whether or not he plays again is in question.  He’ll be on LTIR this season at least which gives them a bit of short-term flexibility and covers their current overage.  Ristolainen remains one of the more polarizing defenders in the NHL.  Some of the advanced statistics don’t paint a pretty picture but he can log heavy minutes and plays with an edge.  That’s still appealing to quite a few teams, including Philadelphia who extended him instead of trading him a few months back at the deadline.

Buyouts

G Ilya Bryzgalov ($1.643MM through 2026-27, cap-exempt)
F Oskar Lindblom (-$333K in 2022-23 (a cap credit), $667K in 2023-24)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

None

Best Value: Frost
Worst Value: van Riemsdyk (this season)

Looking Ahead

If the Flyers are able to hang around the playoff picture for a while, they’ll have a few million to spend to add to their roster using Ellis’ LTIR flexibility.  In doing so, any bonuses hit by Braun or their entry-level players will roll over to 2023-24.  On the flip side, if they’re out of contention, getting out of LTIR by selling a player or two could allow those bonuses to count this season.

They’re in reasonable shape for next summer in that van Riemsdyk’s expiring deal can be put towards extending or replacing Sanheim but the 2024 summer could be a bit trickier with DeAngelo and Hart up at that time.  If the cap goes up, that increase could cover their new deals but little else.  The first real opportunity to try to shake up the core might not come until 2025.  For a team that underachieved last season, having to wait that long to make significant changes might not sound particularly appealing.  They’re locked in with this group for a while.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.