The Philadelphia Flyers handled most of their 2024 offseason business during the regular season when they dished out extensions to pending free agents Owen Tippett, Nick Seeler and Ryan Poehling, but there are still some in-house contracts to mull over this summer. So how likely are the remaining RFAs and UFAs to ink new deals with the Flyers? Let’s take a look.
Restricted Free Agents
Egor Zamula
24-year-old left-handed defenseman Egor Zamula is the most interesting RFA left for the Flyers. He has fallen in and out of favor with the coaching staff all season, mainly because his individual play ranged from spectacular to disorganized. Though, he’s still second on the team in powerplay points, and was one of the more reliable defensemen during the middle of the season, but that was sandwiched by a slow start and a rocky conclusion. The Flyers already have six defensemen under NHL contract next season (Sanheim, Ristolainen, Drysdale, York, Seeler and Attard.)
His contract for the 2023-24 season was actually a one-year deal, in large part because they failed to integrate him in the past and had no idea what he could do at the NHL level. Realistically, he could sign another cheap short term deal and serve as a depth defenseman, but the late-season turn by Tortorella could mean they don’t bring him back at all. Reality is, if they part ways with Zamula, they’re just going to sign another depth player that will probably be even worse than Zamula himself, so bringing him back, even if it’s just for one more year may be the smart play.
Bobby Brink
Brink ended up suiting up for 56 NHL games during his rookie NHL campaign, scoring 11 goals and 23 points. But he was fighting an uphill battle all season to earn the trust of John Tortorella, spending stints in the press box and Lehigh Valley because of it, and when he has suited up, he’s struggled to break more than 10 minutes of ice time a game since the calendar flipped to 2024.
Theoretically, this was the first step in Brink’s career and he’ll return next season and earn a full-time roster spot. Yet with Tortorella around that isn’t a guarantee, just ask Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski how their “tough love” story ended.
Brink feels like a player that would be a prime trade return if the Flyers would actually seek to add talent this summer. A 23-year-old player who seems to have promise at the NHL level who will come cheap for the next few seasons could be a decent part of a package for Danny Briere to build a deal around. So while he’ll likely come back and get strapped to Tortorella’s hamster wheel yet again, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if he ends up elsewhere if the team actually upgrades.
Adam Ginning
There have been rumors for the last few months that Ginning could be heading back to his native Sweden now that his entry-level contract is over. Shortly after that news broke, the Flyers recalled Ginning for his second NHL stint. Then, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, then Ginning spent a majority of his time in the press box in favor of Marc Staal.
He’s been a perfectly fine presence in the AHL for the last two seasons, even wearing the “A” on his jersey when injuries arise, and he’s looked decent enough at the NHL level during his very brief sample size. His ceiling may be rather low in comparison to some of his fellow defense prospects, but when (if?) Staal and Johnson leave and now with Zamula’s future unsure, they could do a lot worse than keeping Ginning as the sixth of seventh defenseman at the NHL level.
Unrestricted Free Agents
Ivan Fedotov
The Flyers finally managed to bring Fedotov over from Russia, and Danny Briere has assured everyone that he will sign a new deal soon. But, there’s the fun assumption that this guy showed up to Philly during an eight game losing streak and got his own doors blown off a couple times and decides that this team isn’t for him and goes to a contender. Is it unlikely? Sure. Is it right in line with the Flyers’ luck? Absolutely.
Denis Gurianov
Briere landed Gurianov at the trade deadline when they dealt away Wade Allison, but he’s only played four games with the club. Given the sheer amount of bodies on the roster at the moment, there’s no real reason to bring the guy back. He does have some respectable AHL numbers on his résumé and the Phantoms need all the help they can get, so maybe there’s some logic for re-signing the guy, but for the purposes of being an NHL regular, that ship has probably sailed.
Erik Johnson
36-year-old Erik Johnson has played a much larger than expected role with the Flyers since he arrived at the trade deadline, but on the whole he’s been far more of a hinderance than an asset. He should be gone in the summer… but it’s the Flyers after all, if they deem him a cultural pillar, he’ll be back, likely on a multi-year deal, too.
Marc Staal
Somehow, the 37-year-old Marc Staal has only suited up for 35 games for the Flyers this season. It sure feels like double that, but all that means is he’s putting a full season’s worth of terrible play in a half season’s worth of appearances. There’s still no good reason why they signed this guy in the first place and there’s no good reason why they should bring him back again.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
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