The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the dark horse teams that could be poised to make a big push in free agency this summer.
While the Flyers may not seem like a team ready to make a splash on the free agent market, the following moves could put the team in a position to cash in, making significant improvements to their roster for next season.
So, let’s look at three ways the Philadelphia Flyers can set themselves up for a big push in free agency this summer.
3 ways Philadelphia Flyers can set themselves up for big push in free agency
Leverage LTIR
The Philadelphia Flyers have $6.25 million to work with from Ryan Ellis’ contract on LTIR. It’s unlikely that Ellis will be coming back, especially since the 34-year-old’s contract is up in 2027. So, he’ll likely spend another year on LTIR, giving the club over $6 million to work with.
Fans might be thinking that $6 million isn’t a lot in today’s hyperinflated NHL. But it depends on how a team allocates that cap space. $6 million could represent two solid bottom-six forwards, two good bottom-four blueliners, or even a good backup goaltender with plenty of spare change for other needs.
Of course, that LTIR money won’t last forever. So, it’s crucial that the Flyers allocate that money wisely in order to avoid cap crunches.
Weaponize dead cap space
This past season, the Philadelphia Flyers had $8.12 million in dead cap space. $3.85 went toward the final year of Cal Petersen’s deal. $1.67 million will come off the books from Tony DeAngelo’s buyout, and $600K will come off from Cam Atkinson’s buyout.
This upcoming season, the Flyers will have only $1.76 million in dead cap space, the final year of Atkinson’s buyout penalty. All told that’s another $6.36 million the Flyers have to work with. That amount could represent a top-six winger or even a 2C, depending on the right circumstances.
If the Flyers really wanted to make a splash, they could target a top-pairing blue liner for about $8 million per season. That might be stretching things a bit, but $8 million could be enough to get a player with a solid upside.
Cash in on retained cap space plus increase in cap ceiling
As for retained cap space, the Flyers had $7.82 million this season. Andrei Kuzmenko’s $2.75 million will be coming off the books. Meanwhile, the Flyers still have one more year of Kevin Hayes’ $3.75 million and $1.5 million for Scott Laughton.
So, that’s $2.75 million that could be added to the roughly $4 million corresponding to the cap ceiling bump this upcoming season. That’s another $6 million or so the Flyers could work with.
That amount could land the Flyers a potential starting goaltender. Perhaps the Flyers can hit one out of the park like the Vancouver Canucks did with Kevin Lankinen or the Toronto Maple Leafs did with Anthony Stolarz.
When you put it all together, the Flyers could have $6.25 million from LTIR, $6.36 from recovered dead cap space, and $6.75 million from retentions and cap ceiling increases. All of a sudden, the Flyers could have as much as $19.36 million to play with this summer.
Whether the Flyers splurge on two or three big names or sign a host of solid mid-tier players to round out the roster, the Flyers could be this summer’s biggest player in the free agency market. The Flyers would have enough cap space to lure a big fish like Mitch Marner, or potentially veterans like John Tavares, Brock Boeser, Brad Marchand, or Brock Nelson.
Anything is possible when the cap space is there.
(Salary cap data provided by PuckPedia.com)