Next Year's Offseason Will Be Critical To Flyers' Future

For what seems like forever, the Flyers have been greatly hampered in what they can do to improve this team. Hamstrung by high salaries left over from the Chuck Fletcher administration, the Flyers have been shelling out lots of money to underperforming players and forced to pay salaries to players who are no longer here via buyouts or trades. As a result, the Flyers for years have had very little in the way of salary cap room for years.

Next season will be different for two reasons. The first reason is that, given the way that the NHL has been trending, we can expect that the salary cap will rise again and possibly break the $90 million mark. That would help out the Flyers

However, there is another reason that the Flyers can be expected to have a busy 2025 offseason. Unlike this year, they have a lot of players who will become free agents. Which ones will the Flyers extend? Who will the team let walk away? We'll have to see.

An early look at the Flyers 2025 offseason

First, let's check with the RFAs. Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, and Tyson Foerster are the forwards who will be up for a new deal. I can guarantee you that Foerster is going to earn a heck of a lot more than the $863K that he will make this year. If Cates can stay healthy, he will probably earn himself a pay raise too. This brings us to Frost. Does he still fit in the team's plans? We'll see.

On defense, Cam York is playing out his final year on his contract. If he keeps improving like he has been, we can expect him to earn a larger contract.

In the minors, the Flyers will also have some players who the team will have to decide on. On offense, this includes Olle Lycksell, Zayde Wisdom, Elliot Desonyers, and Oskar Eklind. For the blueliners, the Flyers will have to choose to re-sign Ronnie Attard and Helge Grans.

Now we come to the UFAs. The Flyers have two on offense, one on defense, and four players in the minors. On offense, the Flyers will have Ryan Johansen and Travis Konecny. We'll see if Johansen even suits up this year after being injured and reportedly not wanting to play here.

The bigger issue is going to be Konecny. Does he want to stay in Philly? If so, for how much? Does the team want him here? If so, for how long? This will probably be the top storyline as the Flyers' season rolls on. Well, that and how well Matvei Michkov plays. Keep an eye on this one this season.

Erik Johnson is the Flyers' lone defender who will be eligible for free agency. It looks as if he will play the role of a Marc Staal/Justin Braun elder statesman defender helping to mentor the youngins this season. It's possible if he plays well, he could re-sign for one more year, but with the youthful crop of defenders expected to make their impact soon, he's probably in his last season here.

As for the minors, there are older depth forwards in Rhett Gardner and Rodrigo Abols. They will probably stick around as long as the Phantoms need them. Likewise, on defense, Louis Belpedio is up for a new contract next season. The biggest name will be Cal Petersen. With some of the young goalies the Flyers have been stocking up, Petersen will be gone and so will his $5 million salary.

The Flyers will have some extra money coming off the books as they will no longer have to pay for Tony DeAngelo's buyout. Who knows, maybe they are stocking up money to make a play for Leon Draisaitl after all.