Salary Cap Deep Dive: Philadelphia Flyers

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  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 often 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 2024-25 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 PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Metropolitan Division, next up is the Flyers.

Philadelphia Flyers

Current Cap Hit: $84,829,763 (below the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Tyson Foerster (one year, $863K)
F Matvei Michkov (three years, $950K)

Potential Bonuses
Michkov: $3.3MM

Michkov was able to get out of his contract two years early to the surprise of many, enabling him to come to North America this season.  Projected to be a key cog of their rebuild, he’s likely someone they’ll want to sign long-term by the time this deal is up.  From a bonus perspective, he has $1MM in ‘A’ bonuses, four at $250K apiece.  If he plays the prominent role it looks like he will this season, those could be reachable although the ‘B’ bonus is highly unlikely to be met.  Foerster’s first full NHL campaign was a solid one with 20 goals.  That said, he’d need a significant breakout to bypass a bridge deal, especially with this management group generally leaning toward using those.  In that case, something around the $3MM mark is where his next contract might land.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

F Noah Cates ($2.625MM, RFA)
F Morgan Frost ($2.1MM, RFA)
D Erik Johnson ($1MM, UFA)
G Cal Petersen ($5MM, UFA)
D Cam York ($1.6MM, RFA)

Cates was someone who received a recent bridge contract, a move that looks wise on Philadelphia’s part given his struggles last season.  He’ll need to get back to at least his rookie-season numbers (38 points in 82 games) to have a shot at a qualifying offer when he’ll have arbitration rights as well.  Frost was no stranger to the rumor mill last season but still wound up with his second straight season of more than 40 points.  If he hangs around that number again, he could double his $2.4MM qualifying offer on his next deal, one that likely will buy out some UFA-eligible years.

York finished off last season on a high note, providing plenty of optimism heading into this season.  Yet another player who is on a bridge agreement, if he plays at the level that he finished at last year, tripling this price tag wouldn’t be out of the question while quadrupling it on a long-term deal could be doable as well.  Johnson was picked up at the deadline to give them a serviceable veteran at the back of their lineup and was extended to fill that role for this season.  He’ll be going year to year from here and considering he’s best served as a sixth defender, it’s unlikely he could command much more than this next time around.

Petersen has already cleared waivers and he’ll once again play in Lehigh Valley where he’ll carry a slightly reduced cap hit of $3.85MM.  It’s safe to say he won’t come anywhere near that next time around; a six-figure deal is more likely.

Signed Through 2025-26

F Bobby Brink ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Nicolas Deslauriers ($1.75MM, UFA)
D Jamie Drysdale ($2.3MM, RFA)
G Samuel Ersson ($1.45MM, RFA)
G Ivan Fedotov ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Scott Laughton ($3MM, UFA)
F Ryan Poehling ($1.9MM, UFA)
D Yegor Zamula ($1.7MM, RFA)

When Laughton signed this contract at the 2021 trade deadline (taking himself out of trade talks in the process), it seemed like somewhat of a team-friendly deal at the time.  It still is today.  The 30-year-old isn’t the biggest offensive threat (only reaching 40 points once in his career) but is a solid defensive player.  He should be able to add at least $1MM to this next time out on another multi-year agreement.  Poehling accepted this deal as a midseason extension back in January, giving him a bit of stability after starting the year on his third team in as many seasons.  He’s coming off his best offensive output (28 points) but will need to show that’s repeatable if he wants to get into that next tier of money.

Deslauriers got more money and term than many expected for an enforcer but his track record of scoring a bit more than a typical tough guy helped his marketability.  That’s a harder sell now at this point of his career coming off a one-goal, four-point campaign.  He still can fill that role but with the decline in production and the fact he’ll be 35 when this contract expires, it’s hard to see him getting this on his next deal.  Brink is yet another player on a bridge deal after a season that saw him establish himself as a regular.  He’ll have arbitration rights next time out and between that and ideally two more years of being a full-timer, he should at least get past $2MM, obviously more if he becomes more of a contributor offensively.

Drysdale was the key piece coming to Philadelphia in the Cutter Gauthier trade but as was the case at times in Anaheim, injuries limited him.  He’s someone who has shown flashes of being an above-average player at the NHL level and if he puts it together and stays healthy, pushing past $6MM isn’t out of the question.  But, if injuries continue to be an issue, a second one-year bridge agreement might be the safest play, one that would eclipse $3MM with arbitration rights.  Zamula inked this bridge deal in early July after locking down a regular role last season.  He’ll need to at least move past being more of a fifth or sixth defender over the next two seasons since his offensive game is somewhat limited (which will hurt him in an arbitration hearing).  Notably, his qualifying offer in 2026 is only $1.4MM since signing bonus money doesn’t count in calculating those offers.

After a long battle to get him to North America, Fedotov debuted late in the season (although he struggled in limited action) and quickly received this two-year agreement, a sign of the faith the team has in him.  He’ll need to establish himself as at least a 1B type of goaltender to hang around this price tag but if he plays up to expectations, this deal will be a team-friendly one for Philadelphia.  The early extension to Ersson raised some eyebrows but after becoming their starter, it’s a move that looks great for the Flyers already.  He will have one RFA-eligible season remaining once this deal expires and if he’s still in the starting role, it stands to reason that his next contract should be at least three times this one.

Signed Through 2026-27

D Ryan Ellis ($6.25MM, UFA)
F Garnet Hathaway ($2.375MM in 2024-25, $2.4MM in 2025-26 and 2026-27, UFA)
D Rasmus Ristolainen ($5.1MM, UFA)

Hathaway had a good first season for the Flyers while splitting time between the third and fourth lines.  Rather than see what his market value would be this coming summer, he accepted an early extension at pretty much the same money.  That gets him under contract through his age-35 season and at that point, it would be tough predicting that he’d get more than that if he’s still in that role.  Ellis, meanwhile, will remain on LTIR, giving the Flyers the ability to spend above the cap if needed.

Ristolainen remains one of the more polarizing defensemen in the league.  He’s someone who has played big minutes in all situations in the past and his contract is one where the price tag suggests that he should be in a second or third role.  However, that wasn’t the case last year.  His ice time – when healthy – was much more limited than usual and he responded with a decent performance in that role.  It’s probably not enough to give him any standalone trade value but if it’s a case where less is more for Ristolainen, the Flyers could still get at least a bit of value on this contract, albeit on an above-market price point relative to last season’s ice time.

Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer

F Sean Couturier ($7.75MM through 2029-30)
F Joel Farabee ($5MM through 2027-28)
F Travis Konecny ($5.5MM in 2024-25, $8.75MM from 2025-26 through 2032-33)
D Travis Sanheim ($6.25MM through 2030-31)
D Nick Seeler ($2.7MM through 2027-28)
F Owen Tippett ($6.2MM through 2031-32)

Konecny has turned the corner offensively over the last two seasons.  He averaged just over a point per game in 2022-23 (though he missed 22 games) and then followed that up with career bests in goals (33) and points (68) last season, giving him some leverage in negotiations.  His new deal is on the high side for someone who hasn’t reached 70 points yet but there’s an expectation that he should reach that point soon.  If he can find another gear offensively, this should hold up relatively well.  Otherwise, it’ll be an overpayment.

When Couturier signed this contract, he was coming off a quality season offensively (although he missed nearly half of it due to injury).  The hope was that he could at least maintain an above-average level of offensive production for a few years and that coupled with his strong defensive game would give them at least a few seasons of value on this deal.  That hasn’t happened so far.  In the first three years, he has missed more games than he’s played and last season (when he was largely healthy), he struggled, was moved down the lineup, and became the first captain to be healthy scratched (not for rest) in a decade.  He’s still a serviceable player, no doubt, but this price tag is on the high side for someone trending toward being more of a middle-six piece than a top-liner.

Farabee signed his old deal when Chuck Fletcher was still in charge and considering the promise he showed in his first two seasons, the move made sense.  His development has had some ups and downs since then but after putting up 50 points last year, the contract is trending towards a team-friendly one if he even maintains that type of production.  Tippett, meanwhile, is one of the few long-term deals given out by GM Daniel Briere.  Power forwards, given their level of scarcity, tend to get bigger money relative to their production and that’s where things fall for him now.  But he’s not far off the 30-goal mark and at 25, there’s still a runway to improvement production-wise.  It might be a short-term slight overpayment but in the end, this should be a team-friendly pact fairly quickly.

Sanheim took a big step forward offensively last season, one that skews the evaluation of this deal to an extent as he struggled in that department in the first year of the contract in 2022-23.  Philadelphia is counting on him to play big minutes, especially on the penalty kill and that isn’t going to be in question moving forward.  If he can stay at this level (44 points) offensively, it’ll be a very team-friendly deal quickly.  If he reverts to 2022-23 (17 points), it’ll be an overpayment.  The likeliest outcome is that his production lands somewhere in the middle, making it a pretty fair deal overall.  Seeler’s price tag seemed a bit high for someone strictly on the third pairing although some of the comparable contracts handed out in free agency arguably make this a team-friendly pact relative to those.  If he can have the same impact as last year moving forward, they’ll do alright with this contract.

Buyouts

F Cam Atkinson ($2.358MM in 2024-25, $1.758MM in 2025-26)
D Tony DeAngelo ($1.667MM in 2024-25)

Retained Salary Transactions

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

Pending Grievances

F Ryan Johansen

The Flyers terminated Johansen’s deal citing a material breach but didn’t go into any specifics from there.  The NHLPA has formally filed a grievance to contest it.  For the time being, his $4MM cap charge (and Nashville’s $4MM) is off their books but all or part of that could be restored pending the outcome of the hearing.  Depending on what happens there, that could materially affect their cap situation for this season.

Best Value: (non-entry-level) Ersson
Worst Value: Couturier

Looking Ahead

For now, the Flyers enter the season with ample cap space and flexibility pending the Johansen situation.  If it holds (or there’s a lower-cost settlement), Philadelphia should be able to absorb any of the bonuses that Michkov earns, avoiding the overage penalty like they have this season ($245K) while having some flexibility for in-season movement.  If Johansen’s cap hit gets restored, they at least have the Ellis LTIR room available to them, giving them some security on that front although they’d face the bonus overage if they can’t get out from under it.

Philadelphia already has over $73MM in commitments for 2025-26 on the books although that leaves them ample space to re-sign their pending RFAs without much issue.  2026-27 sees them with only $51.35MM in commitments so that might be the summer that Briere will be able to take a bigger swing at improving the roster, one that should coincide with them exiting their current rebuild.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.