Flyers Rumors

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Philadelphia Flyers

October 2, 2022 at 6:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

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.

Looking For A Partner In An Anton Khudobin Trade

October 2, 2022 at 5:08 pm CDT | by John Gilroy 12 Comments

It’s not much of a secret that the Dallas Stars would be interested in moving Anton Khudobin. That desire isn’t for a lack of liking the player or appreciating the tremendous run he went on over the COVID-shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, as well as a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020 bubble. Instead, the team has just over $7MM left in salary cap space and still needs to re-sign breakout superstar winger Jason Robertson. The remaining $7MM could, technically, be enough to sign Robertson, but clearing some, or ideally all, of Khudobins”s $3.33M cap hit would make it not only much easier to re-sign the forward, but could allow Dallas to negotiate it’s way into a max-term deal.

The problem for Dallas is that trading Khudobin is easier said than done. For one, finding a team that is interested in a goaltender who’s dealt with injuries for much of the last year who is owed a $3.75MM salary (and $3.33MM cap hit) would be difficult. Second, even if a match is found, it’s clear this would be a cap-dump and Dallas is already in a tough position with Robertson still not in camp. If Dallas wants to make that deal, they’ll have to pay the market price to do so, but before going that far, let’s take a look at their options and who Dallas could turn to.

Bury The Contract

If the Stars are unwilling to pay the price to move Khudobin, or if they genuinely cannot find a suitor, one option would be burying Khudobin’s contract in the minors. Under the terms of the current CBA, teams can bury a player and their cap hit in the minor leagues and recoup $1.125MM against the salary cap. By doing this, Dallas would give itself $8.21MM in cap space with which to re-sign Robertson. That figure might be just enough to get a deal done with Robertson, but with little coming out of the Dallas or Robertson camps when it comes to any specific figures and considering the recent contracts given to Jack Hughes, Tim Stutzle, Joshua Norris, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou, it’s not hard to believe that $8MM AAV, whether on a long or short-term deal, is only the starting point in these negotiations.

Potential Need:

Philadelphia Flyers: When talking about teams who could take on a salary-cap trade, generally the obvious rebuilding clubs with plenty of space come to mind, and that’s no exception for Khudobin. However, some would argue the Flyers aren’t in that same position, having not committed to the rebuild and without a ton of cap space. Right now, the team is just under $2.4MM over the salary cap ceiling. But, factoring in the expected LTIR stints of forward Sean Couturier and defenseman Ryan Ellis, they will be left with a little over $11.6MM available.

In net, the Flyers will rely on young netminder Carter Hart to make a bulk of the starts and an apparent backup slotted in with Felix Sandstrom. However, with Sandstrom suffering an injury in yesterday’s game against the Boston Bruins, the organization may find itself in need of another goaltender beyond Troy Grosenick and Samuel Ersson. More impactful though, would be the ability to have Sandstrom continue his development by making the bulk of starts in the AHL and allowing Khudobin to backup Hart.

Minnesota Wild: Another peculiar team on this list, the Wild made their way into this offseason with a goaltending glut and cap issues of their own, issues which necessitated the trade of star winger Kevin Fiala and goaltender Cam Talbot. But, now, they could be a fit for a Khudobin trade. Today, the Wild have roughly $5.74MM in cap space, enough to acquire Khudobin outright. The team projects to start the legendary Marc-Andre Fleury in net, backstopped by a young Filip Gustavsson. The younger goaltender has 27 games of NHL experience under his belt, but has struggled to an extent in that time. Should the Wild want to see him continue his development in the AHL and have a veteran backstop for Fleury, taking on Khudobin might make sense. Still, the Wild had to make tough sacrifices to be cap compliant, namely Fiala, so relying on Gustavsson and looking to use their cap room to address other needs could be the more prudent option.

Cap Room To Give:

More than a few teams have the room to take on Khudobin’s contract; in fact, Robertson aside, the Stars are one of them. But, there are only a handful that not only have the room, but are in the position to do so.

Chicago Blackhawks: With $7.54MM in available cap space, the Blackhawks could afford to take on Khudobin’s contract with ease. An issue with doing so for Chicago is, given their rebuild and desire to stockpile draft picks, they will likely want to make as many cap-trades of this nature as possible. Acquiring Khudobin would bring them to just over $4.2MM in available cap space, making trades of this nature a bit more difficult, at least for this season. Moving one or both of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane would free up some space, but the team will likely be expected to retain significant portions of their salary.

Anaheim Ducks: Clocking in with $15.75MM in available cap space, acquiring Khudobin would be no issue for Anaheim. But, this Ducks team, unlike the Blackhawks above, is no longer in the depths of their rebuild. Making a trade of this sort is still possible, but considering where the Ducks stand, holding on to as much of their cap space as they can to see if they may wish to buy at this year’s trade deadline might make the most sense. If the team finds it’s not in that position yet, they can still utilize their cap space to aid other teams (for a price) at that time. Also at issue is the team’s goaltending situation as it stands now. Of course, John Gibson is not going anywhere, and behind him, Anthony Stolarz has proven to be an incredibly sound backup. Anaheim could bury Khudobin in the AHL, but would presumably like to give the overwhelming majority of the playing time there to promising young netminder Lukas Dostal, as well as Olle Eriksson Ek.

Buffalo Sabres: Like the Ducks, the Sabres are looking to turn a corner this year and take the next step, whether that’s a playoff spot or at least putting up a fight for one. That wouldn’t necessarily mean they aren’t interested in utilizing their league-best $20.54MM in cap space to their benefit, however it might not be top of mind. In addition to that, Buffalo has an even more crowded net than Anaheim. The team projects to rely on veterans Craig Anderson and Eric Comrie in net after waiving Malcolm Subban earlier today. Even if Subban were to be claimed, the development of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the AHL is of great importance to Buffalo.

The Arizona Coyotes:

Given that the Coyotes are in a full rebuild and set to play at least the next two seasons at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena, their $19.47MM in cap space, and their well-documented desire for goaltending, a deal sending Khudobin to Arizona seems obvious. Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong has made clear this offseason he would continue to monitor the goaltending market, whether that be in free agency, the waiver wire, or via trade. Arizona has acted on it thus far, signing Jon Gillies, offering a PTO to Christopher Gibson (who has since been released), and most recently claiming Jonas Johansson off of waivers. Even after claiming Johansson, Armstrong reiterated his commitment to monitoring the goaltending market.

As of today, Arizona currently has Karel Vejmelka, Ivan Prosvetov, Johansson, and Gillies all under contract and with NHL experience. Adding Khudobin into the fold would make an already crowded situation more so, but would give the Coyotes a veteran netminder who could serve to mentor their less experienced ones. Worth noting as well, the Coyotes have been in this situation more than a couple of times and know what they can get in exchange for their cap help. Most recently, they acquired second and third round draft picks and swapped the 32nd overall pick in 2022 for the 29th overall pick to take on the contract of forward Zack Kassian from the Edmonton Oilers. What the price for Khudobin would be is unclear, but this sort of trade has paid dividends for the Coyotes before.

Waivers: 09/30/22

September 30, 2022 at 1:09 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 3 Comments

After waivers opened yesterday, quite a few players have ended up on the wire today. Teams keep making cuts to their rosters, and any veteran player needs to clear before being assigned to the minor leagues. Here are the names on waivers today.

Dallas Stars

Riley Barber
Ben Gleason
Tanner Kero
Jerad Rosburg
Joseph Cecconi
Rhett Gardner

Detroit Red Wings

Chase Pearson

Florida Panthers

Connor Bunnaman

New York Rangers

Andy Welinski
Tim Gettinger

Philadelphia Flyers

Isaac Ratcliffe
Linus Sandin

San Jose Sharks

C.J. Suess
Andrew Agozzino

Tampa Bay Lightning

Daniel Walcott
Darren Raddysh
Maxime Lagace
Trevor Carrick

Washington Capitals

Michael Sgarbossa
Riley Sutter
Mike Vecchione
Hunter Shepard

Carter Hart Expected To Be Ready For Season Opener

September 30, 2022 at 12:06 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

Of all the injuries that the Philadephia Flyers are already dealing with before the year even begins, Carter Hart’s status might be the most important. The young netminder does not have a veteran backup to insulate him this season, and any hope the Flyers have of competing for the playoffs will likely come down to his performance.

It’s frightening then for Flyers fans when Hart is absent from practices or preseason games, as he has so far. Today, when meeting with the media, he explained to reporters including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic that they are just being cautious and that he will be ready for the start of the season. The Philadelphia medical staff has deemed Hart (along with Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson) has been cleared for non-contact practice, and he was on the ice today with the group.

After bursting into the NHL with an outstanding .917 save percentage as a rookie and following it up with a strong sophomore campaign, Hart hasn’t been quite that franchise-altering netminder that the Flyers were hoping for. In 2020-21 he posted an .877 save percentage in 27 appearances, and last season he had a .905 in 45. While a good chunk of that is due to the weak play from the skaters in front of him, there should be legitimate criticism of his performance as well.

If he can get back to the goaltender that he looked like a few years ago, the Flyers have a chance of really improving on their poor 2021-22 campaign. But given that it is Felix Sandstrom and his five NHL appearances behind him, any struggles could be devastating. Being cautious is certainly warranted, though fans won’t be very trusting of the Philadelphia medical staff after the past few years.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Artem Anisimov To PTO

September 30, 2022 at 11:25 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 4 Comments

Sep 30: After showing some early signs that he might be of use to the Flyers, Anisimov is now out with a lower-body injury and is not cleared to rejoin camp. The team has not yet announced an end to his PTO, though he hasn’t skated since the first exhibition game, according to Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sep 19: The Philadelphia Flyers released their training camp roster today and along with Antoine Roussel, whose PTO was reported yesterday, they will also be bringing Artem Anisimov to camp on a tryout contract. Nolan Maier, Pat Nagle, and Tyler Wall are the other PTOs for the Flyers, all goaltenders who will be helping fill the crease for the next few weeks.

Anisimov, 34, has a history with new Flyers head coach John Tortorella going back to when both were with the New York Rangers. The veteran forward made his name there and was a key depth piece during their Conference Finals run in 2012. Anisimov then went to the Columbus Blue Jackets (though not at the same time as Tortorella), the Chicago Blackhawks, and appeared to have finished his NHL career with the Ottawa Senators.

After playing in just 19 games with the Senators in 2020-21, Anisimov played last season back in Russia, suiting up for his hometown team in Yaroslavl. That seemed a likely place for him to continue, with his NHL saga behind him.

Not so fast, as he’ll try to show he can still compete at that level and earn an NHL contract. There was a time when Anisimov was a solid two-way center that you could rely on for 20 goals and around 40 points, though that seems like quite a while ago now. The last time he broke that 20-goal mark was in 2017-18 with the Blackhawks, and even then he had just 31 points on the year.

There’s basically no risk to bringing him to camp though, and at the very least he will help fill up the veteran minimums for preseason contests. Perhaps there’s still something left in the tank, too, after he scored 19 points in 27 games for Yaroslavl last season.

Sean Couturier Will Not Require Surgery

September 28, 2022 at 12:59 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 3 Comments

It appears as though the Philadelphia Flyers have avoided the worst injury outcome (at least for now) in regards to Sean Couturier. According to Chuck Fletcher, who spoke with reporters including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic, the veteran center will not require surgery for his recent setback but remains out on a week-to-week basis.

There was some speculation that Couturier could miss the entire season when it was announced that he was dealing with a back injury again. This essentially rules that out, though fans of the Flyers who have gone through the Ryan Ellis saga over the last year won’t be satisfied until they see the Selke winner back on the ice.

Couturier, 29, missed all but 29 games last season, which became one of the reasons why the Flyers struggled so mightily. Losing him for this season would likely have the same effect, even if John Tortorella’s new coaching staff can get the best out of the rest of the roster.

One of the most dominant two-way players in the league a few years ago, Couturier hasn’t quite been himself since winning the Selke in 2020. If he can avoid surgery and get close to that level, the team will have a legitimate star at the top of the forward group to build around.

Unfortunately, even if there is no surgery required right now, back issues aren’t something that usually go away completely. Given Couturier is only just beginning an eight-year, $62MM contract extension, which will carry a $7.75MM cap hit through 2029-30, it’s hard to know how much value the Flyers are actually going to receive.

Evening Notes: PWHPA, Hischier, Hodgson

September 26, 2022 at 8:08 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 7 Comments

There’s some exciting news coming on the women’s hockey front. In an interview with The Hockey News’ Ian Kennedy, Canadian National Team captain Marie Philip-Poulin confirmed that the current touring structure for PWHPA games will turn into a league for the 2023-24 season, bringing two professional women’s leagues back into the fold for the first time since the CWHL and NWHL were both active.

The PWHPA Dream Gap Tour is the main pool of talent that Canada and the United States select for their national teams. They’ve effectively been limited to playing exhibition games without a league structure governing competition, although that shouldn’t diminish the level of talent and competition on display. A league structure should bring more financial stability and a better plan for growing the women’s game in North America.

New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier left the team’s in-progress preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens at the first intermission. The team reports that Hischier’s absence is simply due to cramping and that he won’t return to the game for precautionary reasons. Hischier registered a shot on goal and played 6:24 in the first period, his preseason debut.
Philadelphia Hockey Now’s Sam Carchidi tabs winger Hayden Hodgson as a candidate to crack the Flyers’ roster out of camp this year. Hodgson made waves in the Flyers organization this season after a breakout year in AHL Lehigh Valley, earning an NHL contract near the end of the season and a six-game call-up, where he registered three points. Hodgson hadn’t even played in the AHL since 2017-18, spending every season since then entirely in the ECHL (and partly in Slovakia).

Philadelphia Flyers Add Cal O’Reilly On PTO

September 26, 2022 at 4:10 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

In conjunction with announcing today’s training camp cuts, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher also announced that the team has added veteran forward Cal O’Reilly to camp on a professional tryout (PTO).

O’Reilly, 35, hasn’t played in the NHL since a one-game call-up to the Minnesota Wild in 2017-18. Before that, however, he spent quite a bit of time bouncing up and down between the NHL and AHL. After the Nashville Predators selected him 150th overall in the 2005 NHL Draft, he stayed in the organization through the beginning of the 2011-12 season. In Nashville, O’Reilly never managed to crack the lineup full-time but did finish his Predators career with 11 goals, 24 assists and 35 points in 85 games. Just a few weeks into the season, though, Nashville dealt O’Reilly to the then-Phoenix Coyotes for a fourth-round pick, essentially moving up one round in total value while also getting a solid, yet brief NHL stint out of O’Reilly. After just five points in 22 games, though, the Coyotes attempted to waive O’Reilly, whom the Pittsburgh Penguins claimed for the remainder of the season, where he had one assist in six games.

After playing 33 games in that busy 2011-12 season, O’Reilly would only see NHL ice again in three more seasons: 20 games with the Buffalo Sabres in 2015-16, another 11 games with the Sabres in 2016-17, and that one-game call-up in Minnesota in 2017-18. O’Reilly did remain in the Wild organization for another season after that, though, serving as the captain of the AHL’s Iowa Wild from 2017 to 2019.

O’Reilly’s technically been in the Flyers organization ever since, spending the last three seasons as a leader for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Already signed to an AHL contract for 2022-23, O’Reilly will enter his third straight season as the Phantoms’ captain. His 53 points last season were his most since he scored 67 points in 67 games during his last season in Iowa.

With Philadelphia’s depth continuing to get hit by injuries, the Flyers will have O’Reilly in camp to evaluate if he’s still NHL call-up material at age 35. He essentially comes in (maybe just temporarily) to replace one of the team’s other PTO additions, Artem Anisimov, who currently is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Flyers Issue Injury Updates

September 25, 2022 at 1:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 12 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers issued a few injury updates today, as reported by NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer. Per the update, both Artem Anisimov and Carter Hart are dealing with lower-body injuries, and Cam Atkinson is dealing with an upper-body ailment. All are officially day-to-day. While these injuries don’t seem likely to have any major impact on Hart or Atkinson, an injury could pose an issue for Anisimov, who is in Flyers camp on a PTO and is battling for a roster spot.

Flyers Open Extension Talks With Travis Sanheim

September 24, 2022 at 12:52 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim is entering the final year of his contract and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer. However, GM Chuck Fletcher told reporters including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the goal is to re-sign the 26-year-old and discussions with his agent have already started.

Back in the 2021 offseason, Philadelphia somewhat surprisingly opted to file for club-elected arbitration with Sanheim. That allowed the defender to choose the term had it gone to a hearing and he likely would have picked two years, permitting him to get to unrestricted free agency at 27. It didn’t get that far as the two sides settled three days before the scheduled hearing but again, somewhat surprisingly, the Flyers agreed to give him a two-year deal with a $4.675MM AAV, putting them in the situation they are now where they’re really going to have to pay up to keep him beyond the upcoming campaign.

Sanheim is coming off arguably the best season of his five-year NHL career as he collected 31 points in 80 games last season while logging nearly 23 minutes a night. That wasn’t his best single-season point total (that was 35 back in 2018-19) but he clearly established himself as one of their top defenders.

With Ivan Provorov ahead of him on the depth chart, Sanheim slots in as their second-pairing left defender although, with special teams time, he was still their second-most-used defender last season. That’s an important distinction to note as while the team might want to argue that he’s not a top-pairing player based on their depth chart, Sanheim’s camp can easily claim otherwise.

Philadelphia already is one of the highest-spending teams in the league when it comes to their blueline at over $31MM this season. While Ryan Ellis’ playing future is in doubt, things aren’t at the point where they can conclusively rule that he won’t play in 2023-24 so they can’t automatically assume he’ll be on LTIR at that time. They already have $23.875MM in commitments to just five blueliners for that year and a new deal for Sanheim alone would push that amount over $30MM before they round out the rest of their back end.

Can they justify spending that much on their back end? Spending upwards of 40% of the salary cap on the blueline isn’t something many teams want to do. But at the same time, can they afford not to? Letting Sanheim go would deal a big blow to their defense corps and considering their stated intention is to get back to being a playoff contender, losing him would make that task much more difficult. There’s still plenty of time to work on a new deal but with most of the heavy lifting for the 2022-23 roster now done, reaching a new agreement with Sanheim should now be at the top of Fletcher’s priority list.