Philadelphia Flyers: What Could Ivan Provorov’s Contract Look Like?

The Philadelphia Flyers Restricted Free Agent defenseman is still without a contract as the month of July comes to a close.

General Manager and Team President Chuck Fletcher has taken care of the majority of the Philadelphia Flyers RFA’s so far this offseason. With guys like Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel all receiving their contracts, that leaves the Flyers GM with just Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov remaining to sign. Both have been their most important players to re-sign, given their respective impacts on the ice. I’ve already broken down what Konecny could possibly obtain from Fletcher in terms of term and money, leaving Provorov left for speculation.

The Russian blue-liner had a notably down year for the Orange and Black during the 2018-19 campaign, netting just 26 points in 82 games after scoring 41 the season before. He never really looked like himself while on the sheet, as Provorov struggled with turning the puck over in his own zone and seemed to be easier to beat while playing defense. It’s not like the Flyers goaltending unit did him any favors in bailing him out, but you expect your number one defenseman to perform at a consistently high-level and not always rely on big saves to cancel out his mistakes.

While Provorov didn’t play well last season, he’s still likely to get a decent raise from the Flyers this summer. Philadelphia doesn’t have a clear-cut top-pair defenseman without him on the roster, and Provorov’s camp is well aware of that, giving them a bit of leverage. Not one D-Man on the team outside of Provorov averaged over 20 minutes of Time on Ice this past year, either, showing how much the coaching staff values having him away from the bench. I also don’t see that changing under Alain Vigneault. Keep in mind that the player we saw last year believably isn’t the same Provorov we’ll consistently see in the future, as he once tied for the lead among all NHL defensemen in goals back in 2017-18. That was no fluke, and there’s a reason why’s he been seen as a cornerstone of the Flyers defensive by others around the league.

It could take a while before Provorov and Fletcher come to an agreement, as the Flyers are potentially waiting for other RFA defensemen like Charlie McAvoy and Zach Werenski to ink deals of their own. I can’t envision the former Brandon Wheat King acquiring what Jacob Trouba got from the New York Rangers (7 Years, 56 Million) given how much Trouba produced on offense, but think he’ll get slightly less than that number.

I anticipate Provorov will receive a seven-year deal with an average annual value of around 6.5 million dollars. A contract of this nature should benefit both sides as the Flyers would keep their best defenseman in the City of Philadelphia for a reasonable amount of time while Provorov gets the money he deserves without a drastic overpay.