Short deal with free agent defenseman makes too much sense for power play-starved Flyers

Even after a successful stretch drive of the season that resulted in a playoff berth and a first-round victory over their most hated rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers won’t be sitting on their hands this summer. Management knows that there are more improvements to be made to this roster, and they have a number of ways that they can address them.

With the unrestricted free agent market looking extremely thin, they would be wise not to overpay someone simply because they feel like they have no other choice. But the rising salary cap does open the door to big-money, short-term contracts for veterans who can fill an immediate need. For the Flyers, the power play has to qualify as the most glaring issue to address, and few available players could help it as much as pending free agent defenseman John Carlson.

Carlson, a career Washington Capital, was dealt to Anaheim this past trade deadline, and he enjoyed a successful stint with the Ducks as they found themselves playing games deep into May for the first time in quite a while. He posted four goals and 10 assists in 16 games with Anaheim to close out the regular season. He added six assists in 12 playoff games while eating big minutes for the team. The 36-year old Carlson is a veteran of 1,159 regular season games, and 149 more in the playoffs, and he can lend some instant credibility to a Flyers power play that has been historically bad this decade.

Bringing in a long-time offensively productive defenseman like John Carlson could do wonder for the Flyers, and their power play in particular

While it’s true that the Flyers can hope for positive gains in this area thanks to the ascension of Porter Martone and hopefully a return to form from Matvei Michkov, they still lack the point presence that a player like Carlson would bring. They’ve tried it with Rasmus Ristolainen, but he isn’t the answer. Meanwhile, Jamie Drysdale seems mostly suited to second-unit duty, while well-rounded rearguards Travis Sanheim and Cam York are heavily relied upon elsewhere, but haven’t had any sustained success on the man advantage in their careers.

The Flyers’ blueline is solid but unspectacular at this point in time, and it has a lot of pieces seemingly locked into place. Still, the team will need to find room for David Jiricek to play on a regular basis next season, as he is not eligible to be sent down to the AHL without clearing waivers first. The hope is that he will eventually settle in to become the booming shot and right-handed power play quarterback that the team desires but, until such time, a stopgap like Carlson makes sense. It would be a lot of pressure to place on the 22-year old Jiricek’s shoulders to expect him to come in and run the top unit, so some tutelage under a grizzled vet and likely future Hall of Famer like Carlson for a year or two would seemingly be ideal.

Of course, it takes two to tango, so the desire from Carlson would have to be there. He would likely welcome a move back to the east coast given the many years he spent here, but one wonders what he’d prioritize in his next contract. He could conceivably play another three years, give or take, so what length of contract would he be looking for? Could the Flyers, or maybe a team like the Bruins (Carlson is a Massachusetts native) simply blow him out of the water with something like a one-year, $15 million deal and dare him to refuse? It’s possible. And, in the Flyers case, it might be advisable, assuming they tidy up their other business of signing their restricted free agents and adding another impact forward this offseason.

With Carlson in tow, the Flyers wouldn’t have room for someone like Ristolainen, or possibly Emil Andrae and/or Nick Seeler, so it could be the first domino in a series of moves on the blueline. It all depends on how comfortable the club would be handing over NHL ice time to the likes of Ty Murchison, Hunter McDonald, etc. when injuries inevitably strike at some point.

These are matters for another day, as the top priority for the Flyers’ backend this offseason should be to find someone that can generate offense from it, particularly on the power play. John Carlson would be an expensive, temporary band-aid, but he could be just what the doctor ordered to instill the confidence that the team’s top man advantage unit doesn’t possess. And he could bridge the gap to Jiricek and the wave of younger players who will take on prominent roles in this area.

If it’s just a matter of money, it shouldn’t be a problem for the Flyers to flex their finances and bring in a veteran player who still has a lot to give to any team.

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