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 for the 2023-24 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: $83,322,620 (under the $83.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

G Samuel Ersson ($859K this season)
F Tyson Foerster (two years, $863K)

Potential Bonuses
Ersson $32.5K

Foerster impressed in limited action last season and has become a full-time regular this year.  That said, he’s more of a secondary player at this point which likely has him heading for a short-term second contract, especially with the limited action as a rookie.  If he finds another gear offensively next season and pushes into the 40-point-pace range, he could surpass the $2MM mark on that agreement.

Ersson has already signed his second contract so we’ll look at that in more detail shortly but it’s worth noting his bonuses are based on games played.  The exact number needed isn’t known but the lower end of a games played bonus is usually around 20.  If that’s the case here, he has already reached it.

Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level

G Carter Hart ($3.979MM, RFA)
D Nick Seeler ($775K, UFA)
D Marc Staal ($1.1MM, UFA)
D Sean Walker ($2.65MM, UFA)
D Yegor Zamula ($775K, RFA)

Walker was picked up from the Kings in the summer with his inclusion appearing to primarily be for cap purposes.  However, the 29-year-old has rebuilt his value nicely, spending a lot of time on the second pairing.  Now, instead of a likely pay cut had this season gone like last year, Walker is set up to potentially land a small raise on a multi-year agreement.  In the meantime, he is a speculative trade candidate as is Seeler.  Seeler has become a regular with the Flyers over the last year and a half after being a player on the fringes of the roster.  His playing time is still somewhat limited as he’s a full-time part of the third pairing.  Philadelphia is believed to be interested in an extension, one that should push into the $1.25MM to the $1.5MM range.

Staal signed with the Flyers early in free agency to give them a bridge veteran, allowing them to keep some of their youngsters in AHL Lehigh Valley a little longer.  He has missed time with injuries and has been scratched at times as well.  Accordingly, while it’s possible he lands another deal to fill that type of role, it’s likely to come in closer to the league minimum.  As for Zamula, he hasn’t been in the lineup every night but he has more than held his own and is even seeing time on the second power play unit at times.  Doubling his current AAV on a two-year bridge deal could be achievable for the 23-year-old.

Hart had been performing at a level similar to last season which had him on track to be qualified at just under $4.5MM.  However, his leave of absence pertaining to the sexual assault charge as part of the 2018 investigation into Canada’s World Junior team now has that outcome looking doubtful.  Now, a non-tender looks likely.

Signed Through 2024-25

F Cam Atkinson ($5.85MM, UFA)
F Morgan Frost ($2.1MM, RFA)
F Noah Cates ($2.65MM, RFA)
F Garnet Hathaway ($2.375MM, UFA)
F Travis Konecny ($5.5MM, UFA)
G Cal Petersen ($5MM, UFA)
D Cam York ($1.6MM, RFA)

After missing all of last season due to a herniated disk in his neck, Atkinson has been healthy all season long and is producing at close to a 50-point pace.  That’s on the high side for this price tag but that was likely expected when he signed this deal back with Columbus in 2017.  His next contract should check in closer to the $4MM mark if he can stay at that pace for another year and a half.

Konecny’s future with the Flyers has been speculated about for a while.  First, he looked like a long-term core piece but then when he took a step back in 2020-21 and then followed it up with just 16 goals the following year, some questioned if he was going to be part of those plans much longer.  Since then, he has authored a year and a half of top-line production and now, the idea of an extension is very much on the table.  If it happens, Philadelphia will be paying him off two career platform years which certainly will carry some risk while likely upping the price tag close to the $8MM mark.  But after leading the team in scoring last season and for most of this year, there’s a strong case to make to keep him around.

Cates has had a year to forget.  A broken foot kept him out for the better part of two months and in between, he has struggled mightily, sitting on just one goal in 28 games.  This AAV will be his qualifying offer in 2025 and he’ll have arbitration rights again at that time.  There’s plenty of time to turn his fortunes around but at this point, a non-tender could be on the table if his struggles continue.

Hathaway signed a surprisingly high contract for someone who is best deployed on the fourth line but the Flyers put extra value in trying to fill his particular role.  It would be surprising to see another raise coming but in a more favorable cap environment, it’s not out of the realm of possibility either.  Frost had a breakout year last season, earning a nice bridge deal for his troubles but he has struggled somewhat this season while John Tortorella has scratched him frequently, leading to trade speculation.  At this point, a one-year deal after this one that basically works as a second bridge might be the most likely outcome; that contract would check in a bit higher than his $2.4MM qualifying offer if his production stays in its current range.

York is also on his bridge contract and while the offensive potential he showed in the US National Team Development Program and in college hasn’t quite translated to big point totals yet, he’s logging heavy minutes.  That alone could help him double this price tag in 2025 and if the production comes, the cost of a long-term agreement will go up quite quickly.

Petersen was acquired as salary ballast in the Ivan Provorov three-way trade last summer and has spent most of the last year and a half in the minors.  With Hart’s absence, that should change but his struggles in his limited NHL action make this a steep overpayment.  If this continues, he’ll be closer to the $1MM territory as a free agent.

Signed Through 2025-26

F Nicolas Deslauriers ($1.75MM, UFA)
G Samuel Ersson ($1.4MM in 2024-25 and 2025-26, RFA)
D Jamie Drysdale ($2.3MM, RFA)
F Scott Laughton ($3MM, UFA)
F Ryan Poehling ($1.4MM this season, $1.9MM in 2024-25 and 2025-26, UFA)

Laughton has shown he can play in the top six but is likely best utilized as a third-line middleman.  This price tag is certainly quite fair for that role which is why teams are starting to call about his potential availability.  With a 43-point season under his belt, there’s room for his price tag to grow if he’s able to produce near that level with any type of consistency; doing so could push him into the $4MM range.

Deslauriers is another player they willingly gave more than market value to in order to have their desired grit on the fourth line.  While he has had some success offensively in the past, he is starting to slow down on that front.  Another contract is definitely achievable (even at 35 which he’ll be when this deal ends) but it should come in closer to the minimum next time.  Poehling has held his own in a bottom-six role and inked his new deal recently, a nice outcome for someone who was non-tendered last summer.  He’ll need to become more productive to have a chance at getting third center money.

Drysdale was acquired less than a month ago and has fit in nicely so far.  Injuries have limited him significantly the last two seasons which hasn’t helped to firm up where his expected long-term deal after this one will land.  If he lives up to his upside and stays healthy, he should become Philadelphia’s top-paid blueliner.  But if the injury trouble continues, that will certainly scale that price tag down.

Ersson impressed down the stretch last year, landing this extension before the 2023-24 campaign started.  It’s a move that looks better now as he had pushed his way into more playing time early on and is now their likely starter the rest of the way.  He’ll have that time to show if he’s a legitimate number one or more of a backup with the range of outcomes money-wise stretching past a few million per season depending on how he plays.

Signed Through 2026-27 Or Longer

F Sean Couturier ($7.75MM through 2029-30)
D Ryan Ellis ($6.25MM through 2026-27)
F Joel Farabee ($5MM through 2027-28)
D Rasmus Ristolainen ($5.1MM through 2026-27)
D Travis Sanheim ($6.25MM through 2030-31)
F Owen Tippett ($1.5MM in 2023-24, $6.2MM from 2024-25 through 2031-32)

On the surface, a $7.75MM price tag for a number one center is perfectly reasonable.  In a lot of cases, it’d be a bargain.  The problem for the Flyers is that Couturier probably isn’t an ideal top middleman at this stage of his career.  He has done well considering he missed 22 months after undergoing back surgery twice and he has produced at a second-line level.  However, while he remains a key defensive player, will he be able to get back to top form offensively?  If so, Philadelphia will have a bargain in those seasons.  But considering Couturier is signed until he turns 38, it was already likely that some of those years would be tough on the books.  If he can’t get back to top form, this contract could become a problem in a few years.

Tippett also signed just recently as he has lived up to the offensive expectations placed on him when he was the tenth-overall pick back in 2017.  He’s scoring at a better-than-30-goal rate this season and as long as he stays there, they’ll do well with this contract given the premium often placed on big scoring wingers.  As for Farabee, his per-game output dipped the last two seasons but he has rebounded nicely this year.  At this price point – one lowered by bypassing a bridge deal – he only needs to produce around the 50-point mark to provide value on the contract.  Farabee should be able to do just that.

After signing the early extension last season, Sanheim struggled last year, leading to some speculative trade inquiries to see if the Flyers wanted to sell low.  They didn’t and were wise for holding onto him as he has emerged as a capable top-pairing player this season.  If he plays at a similar level throughout the deal, this will become a team-friendly one fast.  The same can’t be said for Ristolainen.  His playing time has dipped in each of the last five seasons and barring a big uptick in playing time after the All-Star break, that will become six.  While he is a good fit for his current role on the third pairing, the price tag is about double what it should be for someone with his experience in that spot.

Ellis, meanwhile, has played just four games for the Flyers who acquired him back in 2021 due to a torn psoas muscle.  At this point, he’s not expected to be able to play in the coming years.  While he’s not on LTIR now (as a below-cap team, Philadelphia doesn’t need to place him on there), he’s eligible to go on there when needed.

Buyouts

G Ilya Bryzgalov ($1.643MM through 2026-27, cap-exempt)
D Tony DeAngelo ($1.667MM through 2024-25)
F Oskar Lindblom ($667K in 2023-24)

Retained Salary Transactions

F Kevin Hayes ($3.571MM through 2025-26)

Best Value: Tippett (on this season’s contract)
Worst Value: Petersen

Looking Ahead

While cap space is at a premium right now, that’s only on paper since Ellis can be moved to LTIR at any time.  Doing so runs the risk of bonus carryover but with Ersson’s games played one being the only one to contend with, that’s not much of a concern.  If they want to buy at the deadline or take on a contract to add future assets, they can go that route without an issue.

At this point, it doesn’t seem likely that next year’s roster will look much different than this one.  They have around $78MM in commitments on the books already with a few spots to fill.  Over $28MM comes off the books for 2025-26, however, so that might be the time when GM Daniel Briere really gets to make his mark on this roster.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.