5 Bargain RFAs Philadelphia Flyers Should Trade For

Despite the Philadelphia Flyers owning two first-round picks in this year’s draft, the real challenge for Daniel Briere is improving the team in other ways, which may include trading for RFAs looking for a new home. 

The NHL salary cap is only expected to increase by about $1 million this offseason, leaving commissioner Gary Bettman to wishful thinking for future endeavors. However, this means that opportunity fills the air for the Philadelphia Flyers. Daniel Briere’s first big move as Flyers GM saw Ivan Provorov jettisoned out of Philly, in exchange for assets, on top of more assets, thanks to the Los Angeles Kings needing to salary dump goalie Cal Petersen and defenseman Sean Walker. The Flyers still have some wiggle room with their own salary cap, despite all of the extra moving pieces they added. Now might be a good time for Briere to buy on the swing.

Just a year ago, Yegor Sharangovich was poised to be one of the NHL’s next breakout snipers, and then the 2022-23 season happened. Most Flyers fans should already be familiar with the Belarusian, who has scored five goals and five assists in 15 games against the Orange and Black. The only team Sharangovich has scored more points against is the New York Rangers, whom he has six goals and five assists against in 16 games. This season, Sharangovich managed just 13 goals and 30 points. That said, despite the down year for #17, the ability is certainly still there. He’s made plenty of highlight-reel plays despite mostly being relegated to third or fourth line duties and receiving almost no power-play time. Truthfully, Sharangovich is only involved in trade rumors thanks to New Jersey Devils coach Lindy Ruff’s wild mismanagement of the player. Like any player in the NHL, Sharangovich has his ups and downs, and strengths and weaknesses. He’s a great shooter with good foot speed and can use his reputation as a shooter to fool defenses. He struggles as a puck carrier and is weak along the boards for his size. Although Sharangovich struggles with his defense at even strength, he excels on the penalty-kill by being aggressive, having good spatial awareness, and using his long reach to clog passing lanes up high.

Sharangovich scored 26 goals in the 2021-22 season, which makes him the dream buy-low target. The problem though, for the Philadelphia Flyers as well as other teams, is that almost everyone wants him, besides the Devils. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman have both reported that the trade market for Sharangovich is heating up substantially. The Devils winger is also eligible for arbitration, which won’t make sense for New Jersey given Lindy Ruff’s reducing of his role in the regular season, and removal from the playoffs almost entirely. Obviously the Devils would like to get something for Sharangovich, and the Flyers could (and should) put in a trade offer. Sharangovich is certainly not a star, but he’d be a great complimentary piece for the next generation of Philadelphia Flyers talent.

I already named Alex Newhook as a potential trade option when the Kevin Hayes trade rumors started to take off, but time is starting to tick off of the clock for teams trying to get draft picks for their assets ahead of the 2023 NHL Draft. While Hayes isn’t a draft pick, he might come with one, especially considering that it seems his trade market seems to have cooled substantially between then and now. In addition to his report on Yegor Sharangovich on his 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Elliotte Friedman added that the Columbus Blue Jackets are starting to pull out of the race for Kevin Hayes, and to state the obvious, that there is no way back for Hayes in Philly.

The Colorado Avalanche certainly underachieved in the playoffs when they were eliminated by the Seattle Kraken in the first round. This is certainly not to blame Newhook, but his performance didn’t help their bid for a title defense all that much. In his playoff career, Newhook has just one goal and six assists in 27 games, and has a plus-minus of -3. His regular season numbers aren’t much better, as he posted 30 points in 82 games this year and regressed on the 33 he had in 71 games last year. Newhook is fast, has all the tools, and brings some moxie to the offensive zone, but it’s just not all there yet. The Avalanche’s bottom-six is barren as far as playmakers and scorers go, so it’s not all Newhook’s fault all the time.

The Avalanche only recently drafted Newhook 16th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, and it might behoove them to try and maximize the performances they get out of their youth instead of recycling them for veterans that might better compliment Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar, and Nathan MacKinnon. It comes down to a toss-up on what the Avs front office feels is best for their team, and whether or not committing to another Cup run so soon will be worth the hassle. It’s entirely possible that Newhook never thrives as a third-liner and flames out as a Morgan Frost-type. We’ll never know unless he gets a run with real minutes, which is unlikely in Colorado. If the Avalanche are unwilling to continue to try and bring Newhook further along, that’ll be a red flag to teams aspiring to be as successful as the Avs. But, if I’m Daniel Briere, I’m at least considering putting some feelers out there. Kevin Hayes and a draft pick aren’t massive wagers to gamble away on an NHL talent.

Much like the Boston Bruins, the New York Rangers are up against the cap, but in a slightly better position overall. The Rangers have $11.7 million in cap space, but need to sign K’Andre Miller, Alexis Lafreniere, Tyler Motte, Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, and Jaroslav Halak or another backup goaltender for Igor Shesterkin. It is not entirely out of the question that the Rangers sign all of these players, but that would hinge on the contractual demands of Miller, as well as Tarasenko. Kane will be out for several months following hip surgery, and Lafreniere remains unproven. If the Rangers commit a large amount of money to any of these players, they’ll be back to square one next summer when Kaapo Kakko, Braden Schneider, and Ryan Lindgren will be in need of new contracts as well.

While Lafreniere might come at a relatively cheap cost to teams seeking to take a flier on him, the same cannot be said for Miller, who can and likely will demand to be paid a figure close to that of a number one defender. Of course, as is the purpose of this article, a “bargain” is relative to what you’re getting and what you pay for it. The Flyers do not have a true number one defender on their roster at this moment in time. I recently said that Cam York could very well be that for the Flyers, but he (York) also talked extensively about his experience playing off-handed at exit interviews. That could be mighty handy for a situation like this. Starting to connect the dots?

For the Philadelphia Flyers, the fastest way to start to build a team is to make at least one area of the team a strength and build from there. For example, the New Jersey Devils added Nico Hischier, then they added Jack Hughes. Now they have two of the best centers in the NHL. They had Damon Severson, and then they added Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, Ryan Graves, and John Marino. Then they had the biggest season-to-season turnaround in NHL history. This is not to say that drastic turnarounds are the new norm, and that every bad team has to become the 2022-23 New Jersey Devils at some point, because that just isn’t realistic. But great GMs continue to add, even when it isn’t particularly necessary.

This isn’t just about K’Andre Miller, either. The Flyers have very few players with upside like Alexis Lafreniere has. Lafreniere barely played in New York, and barely got power-play time, but he has a dominant skill set that can truly take form in the right environment. Lafreniere’s salary demands are unclear, but anything north of $2 million probably spells trouble for the Rangers. Even with his lack of production and factoring in age, $2 million is completely reasonable. Provided the Flyers don’t part ways with their seventh overall pick in any of these hypotheticals, Lafreniere could find himself playing on the Flyers’ top line regularly rather than endlessly bouncing around the Rangers’ top-nine.

One or both of these players will cost a pretty penny to bring down to Philadelphia, but risks are a necessary part of this game. It’s highly unlikely the Flyers strike a deal for Miller, or any of the previously mentioned players, but these are all avenues worth exploring. And if you’re a team with very limited cap space, exploiting.