Now that the Flyers have a new coach, they can go ahead with the next phase of their offseason, who they are re-signing, and who they are saying goodbye to. Cam York and Tyson Foerster are definitely two of the priorities before they become RFAs. However, there is another RFA that they will need to deal with: Noah Cates.
While it is rare for teams to purge a player from another team via the RFA route, the Flyers have three intriguing candidates that could be ripe for the plucking. York is a young defender, a former first-rounder, who has shown flashes of potential greatness while being vastly inconsistent. Foerster is a dynamic forward who has a propensity to score. They could be attractive to other teams (or make great trade bait). Cates, however, is a different story.
Cates was one of those guys, when he first arrived, that nobody thought much of. He was a depth forward on a last-place team. When John Tortorella took over, Cates went from a bottom-line forward to playing all over the place, mostly due to injuries. He had a great rookie season, drawing comparisons to Sean Couturier.
His second season was marred by injuries. Despite everyone having high hopes, he struggled. His production fell from thirteen goals to six and 38 points to 18. This past season, he bounced back, setting a career high of sixteen goals and was one point shy of his rookie record.
Cates has played on all four lines. He is a solid, defensive forward who can contribute offensively when needed. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes, has stepped up his physicality (career high 87 hits last season), and seems to be a popular guy in the clubhouse.
Why the Flyers Need to Extend Him
Cates is very versatile. He can play center and left wing. If you haven't noticed, this team lacks quality centers, especially after trading away Scott Laughton this year. Cates, who just turned 26, could be here for a while, under the right circumstances. And, more importantly, the right price.
Cates earned 2.625 million this past year. Surely, he wants more than that. How much more is he worth? He probably wants in the neighborhood of at least 3 million. Will the Flyers think he is worth it?
According to Anthony DiMarco, Cates is leaning more towards going to arbitration. So, instead of signing a long-term deal, he would prefer a one-year deal on arbitration with the prospects of a potentially bigger payday on the market next year. The payoff there, for Cates, is that after another bounce-back year, he could command more money. The danger is, if rattled by injuries and inconsistent pay, he could not get the pay he deserves.
Cates is valuable to this team. It might be worth extending him to a longer-term contract. Three million isn't bad for a player like him. Keeping a solid, fundamentally sound player in-house for the next three years might not be bad. A three-year, $9-$10 million contract ($3-$3.33 a year) would not be breaking the bank for a person of his abilities. He's been a good soldier and should be rewarded. If he plays better than that, he can be rewarded with an extension. If not, he could be traded.
Even more than that, Cates's re-signing determines the rest of the offseason. If he is extended, they will only need to find one center to bring in. Without him, they may need two, or would have to consider whether Jett Luchanko is going to come up permanently. Likewise, they will have to see which players might complement him, what line he could fit on, and what situations he could appear in on special teams. All of that could affect what free agents they sign.
Going to arbitration with Cates could also signal that the team is losing faith in him. What sort of message would that send to him? What message would that send to attract other free agents? Not sure. It would depend on whose decision it is to go to arbitration in the first place.
While all three potential RFAs are going to be important for Daniel Briere to figure out what to do, Cates is the most important of the three. Once the Cates' situation is figured out, everything else can fall into place.