Despite a strong effort to kick off the season, the Flyers' defense leaves much to be desired in terms of personnel. Injuries to key contributors and bottom-pairing guys underperforming have left a question mark on the organization's depth at the position.
With rumors of the team supposedly interested in bringing in some established defensive talent circulating since the start of training camp, many have speculated on what Danny Briere’s long-term outlook for the d-core could be. Should the Flyers look to make a significant addition to the back-end, or is waiting for the likes of Rasmus Ristolainen to fully recover from injury the right call? These are questions that upper management is going to have to ask themselves as they evaluate their team throughout the first few months of play.
Today, we will be diving into what options the Flyers brass have to bolster the defense at their disposal, and what course of action makes the most sense for the team’s overall timeline of contention.
The Patient Approach
While not the most attractive route to improvement, an argument could be made for standing pat and waiting out this temporary hole in the lineup. The third pairing has been a bit of a mixed bag to start the year, but who’s to say their play won’t eventually stabilize as the season progresses?
With Ristolainen set to return in just a few weeks and Emil Andrae playing his way back onto the NHL roster, we could see a new layer of depth added to the back-end sooner rather than later. Briere is not someone who acts off impulse, and if he believes that the answer on defense lies within his own pipeline, we could see the team ride with the current rotation on the bottom pair until they can operate at full power.
However, Briere is also someone who can recognize when something is not working out. He isn’t afraid to move on from a player who underperforms or simply does not fit the timeline of the team’s rebuild. Ristolainen’s return is a welcome one, but there is no guarantee he remains healthy for the remainder of the season.
Emil Andrae has shown flashes of legitimate top-four potential, but is someone who struggles with consistency at the NHL level. They are both definite upgrades over the middling at best trio of Noah Juulsen, Egor Zamula, and Adam Ginning, but neither is a sure-fire solution to recalibrating the d-core.
Additionally, Rick Tocchet has leaned heavily on guys like Travis Sanheim, Jamie Drysdale, and Cam York early on, each of them averaging 20-plus minutes a night. That kind of workload is unsustainable for an entire season, especially with York and Drysdale already prone to injury. If the bottom pair remains a liability even after it gains some semblance of regularity, the front office’s hand will be forced into seeking outside relief.
The patient approach is one that has the benefit of familiarity. Choosing to develop the talent you already have can result in previously underachieving players finally hitting their stride and maximizing their full potential. Unfortunately, it could also backfire and cause the roster to stagnate if said players don’t run with the opportunities allotted to them.
Flyers fans have become all too familiar with the latter of the two outcomes over the past decade or so, and I don’t see a world in which the current regime hasn’t learned from those mistakes. With far too many unknown variables and the third pair remaining a work-in-progress, sticking to their guns on defense may not be in their best interest moving forward.
The Trade Market
Trade rumors have been running especially rampant over the past handful of weeks in the NHL, with the Flyers in the headlines on more than one occasion. As previously mentioned, reports of Briere looking into a potential deal for a top-four defenseman can be traced back to even before the start of training camp. Many pointed to the surplus of wingers in the organization to dangle as trade bait for teams looking to move on from a defensive asset. Nothing has materialized yet, but the rumors continue to persist even as the season kicks into full gear.
A name that has been connected to the team since early June, Bowen Byram fits the bill for what Danny Briere and company are looking for in a top-pairing defenseman. His offensive ceiling, elite transitional play, and willingness to insert himself in the physical aspects of the position make him a hot commodity for any team looking to upgrade their top four. He also has shown the ability to quarterback a power play quite effectively, something that a still work-in-progress Flyers power play could desperately benefit from.
Unfortunately, Byram is currently under contract with the Buffalo Sabres. A team that, after years of watching talent they drafted go on to win cups with other teams, is afraid of once again being utterly fleeced in a trade involving players with high ceilings. In simpler terms, there is going to be a hefty price tag attached to any deal involving Byram.
That being said, Briere has shown in past deals that he isn’t afraid to wait out other teams until they meet him on his terms, and the relationship between Byram and the Sabres has soured immensely since he arrived there during the 2024 trade deadline. If that rift between the two continues throughout this season, and Buffalo is more willing to lower the asking price, we could see the Flyers end up with yet another young talent with potential to be a real needle pusher on defense.
Former first overall pick and Byram’s current teammate, Owen Power, has found himself in trade talks since nearly the beginning of his pro career. Despite having all of the tools to be a legitimate number one defenseman, his style of play just hasn’t fully translated over to the NHL at this point. There have been questions on whether or not Buffalo remains faithful that he will turn into a franchise cornerstone, and other teams have been eager to try and pry him away from the city that he was supposed to have a hand in saving.
The Flyers should be one of those teams. Power is far from a fully finished project, sitting at just 22 years of age, and he has the foundation to be one of the better defensemen in their entire league. The opportunity to acquire that kind of talent does not come along very often, and there is not a single reason why the Flyers shouldn’t aggressively pursue Power if he were to become available. Especially taking into account that even if he never reaches his ceiling, he is still an incredibly useful, offensively minded defenseman that can play reliable minutes and will most likely come at a bargain bin price.
It’s fairly obvious that if the Flyers want to make legitimate changes to their defensive makeup, they will have to tap into the trade market at some point. They have the resources to do so, and are slowly entering a phase of the rebuild that emphasizes adding to an already talented core of young players. Making a well-timed trade or two to land a legitimate top four contributor could set the team up for success for years to come.
2026 Free Agency
Since Briere and Keith Jones took over the keys to the franchise in 2023, we have been hearing about how vital this upcoming offseason will be for the future of the orange and black. Cap space that is tied up in dead contracts (Kevin Hayes, Scott Laughton, etc) will be made available, and Briere’s vision of a roster that consistently makes it to the postseason can start to take shape. For the first time in ages, the Flyers are going to have cash to spend on veteran talent that can help the team shift into a win-now mentality.
Taking this approach to next offseason in terms of the defense, there are a few noteworthy free agents the team could look to target. Rasmus Andersson is in dire need of a scenery change after spending most of his time in Calgary on a rebuilding squad. He brings decent size, average to slightly above average offensive contribution, and is a right-shot veteran presence that could play alongside Sanheim on the top pairing. The amount of term and money inevitably going his way might deter the Flyers at first, but he brings enough value to the team without eclipsing an age that would handcuff them for the back half of any potential contract.
Mario Ferraro is another name that could be a good fit. He would come at a cheaper rate than Andersson, as his overall numbers/eye test are somewhat skewed by how abysmal the Sharks have been post-2019. His game is mostly a shutdown one, bringing physicality and the ability to stop opposing offensive momentum to the table. He also isn’t the worst puck-mover in the world, and slotted next to Jamie Drysdale on the second defensive line, he could potentially unlock another level of production he was unable to reach in San Jose. He isn’t the flashiest of players, but he offers a younger, better skating version of Nick Seeler on a nightly basis. This would be the exact kind of low-risk, high-reward signing that the organization has prided itself recently.
While an offer sheet may seem like a bit of a pipe dream, there are a few noteworthy RFAs that the Flyers should be keeping tabs on. Simon Nemec was drafted 2nd overall back in 2022 by the New Jersey Devils, hasn’t been able to stick at the NHL level just yet. However, there was a time when he was being touted as a defensive prospect with top-pairing potential. His skating and play-driving ability make him a threat at both ends of the ice, with a solid understanding of gap responsibilities. To have that kind of skillset at such a young age is quite rare for a defenseman.
Critics will point to his pure defensive zone play as to why he hasn’t been able to crack the NHL roster consistently, which is a fair argument to some degree, but how much could a 22-year-old prospect truly develop playing a 7th defenseman role on a team focused on making deep playoff runs? Especially when we have seen some of his slightly older peers thrive when allowed to play to their own strengths on teams with less pressure to win now.
2026 may not be the free agency class to end all free agency classes the way it was being built up as, but it still gives the Flyers plenty of flexibility when it comes to what areas of their roster they feel the need to spend on. The free agent market is a resource that should only be mined for complementary talent.
This is a lesson so many transitioning teams end up having to learn when they attempt to build an entire cup-contending roster on July 1st. However, the Flyers will be in a position next year where they can afford to take a swing at an established defenseman that could end up becoming a key contributor in future sustained playoff success.