The 2024 NHL offseason is upon us, and it means that the opportunity for changes are coming soon. The rebuilding, not rebuilding, totally rebuilding Philadelphia Flyers should be ready to listen to just about anybody on the roster, but who is most likely to get traded or stick around for the 2024-25 season?
Forwards
Sean Couturier
The 31-year-old newly named center may be embroiled in a feud with head coach John Tortorella, and an offseason swapping of agents let out some more smoke to a potential fire, but with six years left on his current contract at a $7.7 million cap hit and greatly diminished play, Couturier isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
verdict: Stays
Cam Atkinson
The 35-year-old veteran on 770 NHL games was a borderline worthless player as the 2023-24 season came to a close but he was still stealing ice time from the young players. He’s got one year left on his contract at a whopping $5.8 million, so there’s a good chance he isn’t getting traded, but the team is probably going to deal with him one way or another, which probably amounts to a buyout.
verdict: Goes
Travis Konecny
The Flyers should probably consider trading Konecny this summer while his value is at an all-time high rather than offer him a painfully stupid contract extension, but chances are he inks a new deal and he’s here until the sun burns out like every other mediocre veteran on the roster.
verdict: Stays
Joel Farabee
There’s been quite a bit of fan chatter about Farabee and his place on the team moving forward considering the abundance of wingers the team has. Yet his $5 million salary for four more years is going to make it difficult to easily move him. It really feels like a 50/50 chance they trade him, but something is going to have to give in order to make roster changes, so Farabee could very well be on the hot seat heading into the offseason.
verdict: Goes
Owen Tippett
Tippett just signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension. So we can all take our grandkids to watch Tippett play one day.
verdict: Stays
Scott Laughton
The Flyers should trade Scott Laughton during the summer, but considering they’ve balked at the notion during the 2023 offseason as well as the trade deadline, it’s probably a safe bet to assume they won’t deal him this summer either.
verdict: Stays
Morgan Frost
Despite the fact that Frost was playing semi-competent hockey by the time the season ended, he still clearly doesn’t have the full faith of head coach John Tortorella, and as we saw last summer, anybody who doesn’t fall in gets shipped out. Maybe they end up packaging Frost with Farabee in an attempt to land a high caliber NHL center, because Frost on his own just doesn’t have any real trade value.
verdict: Goes
Noah Cates
Cates is a mainly bottom six, defense-first forward who doesn’t produce much offense. A Tortorella wet dream.
verdict: Stays
Garnet Hathaway
Speaking of Tortorella’s wet dreams, mark Hathaway down in that category as well.
verdict: Stays
Ryan Johansen
The mystery injury that Johansen was struck down with the second he joined the Flyers is still unknown, but if he’s hurt the Flyers can’t buy him out, and trading him goes from hard to nearly impossible. He’s not going to play for the Flyers or Phantoms, but he’s still under contract for one more year. Good job with the one, Danny. A real masterclass.
verdict: Stays?
Nic Deslauriers
Deslauriers averaged 8:08 of ice time in 60 appearances during the 2023-24 season, with some individual games clocking in at just three to five minutes. He still has a M-NTC until July 1, 2024 (thanks, Chuck Fletcher!) so dealing him before then is going to be tough, and considering he has two years left on his contract with a $1.75 million cap hit whose only job is to punch folks in the head, there’s a chance the Flyers are stuck with him.
verdict: Stays
Ryan Poehling
Poehling inked a new deal during the season at nearly $2 million a season for some reason, so he’s coming back. Yay.
verdict: Stays
Bobby Brink
Brink spent a majority of the season trapped in Tortorella’s doghouse and struggled to gain momentum at the NHL level because of it. He’s an RFA this summer, so it’s likely he returns, but he also feels like an ideal thrown-in piece in a trade if the Flyers actually went big game hunting.
verdict: Stays
Defense
Travis Sanheim
The Flyers apparently tried (and failed) to move Travis Sanheim before his extension kicked in last summer, so it’s possible they consider exploring the trade route with him again this year, but he was used heavily in 2023-24 and the Flyers don’t have many better options in-house, so there’s a good chance Sanheim returns for at least one more year.
verdict: Stays
Jamie Drysdale
The Flyers received Drysdale from the Ducks in the Cutter Gauthier trade, so they’ll have no choice but to keep him and attempt to develop him into a franchise defenseman so that trade doesn’t end up looking any worse than it already does.
verdict: Stays
Rasmus Ristolainen
Ristolainen found himself in trade rumors heading into the deadline, but an injury kept him in Philly to close out the year. Of all the main roster defenseman he does feel like the guy most likely to get traded, and there will be takers of his name reenters the rumor mill, but the remaining three years at a $5.1 million cap hit is going to make things interesting.
verdict: Goes
Cam York
York has taken the reins as the team’s top defenseman, he’s not going anywhere.
verdict: Stays
Nick Seeler
Remember when the Flyers gave 31-year-old Nick Seeler a four-year, $11 million extension?
verdict: Stays
Egor Zamula
Zamula is an RFA this summer, and got very mixed treatment from the coaching staff during the season, so he falls in the 50/50 category as well. If they want to make a change on D, Big Z may be the one to go, if they just run it back, they might as well re-sign Zamula for another season to serve in a depth role.
verdict: Stays
Ryan Ellis
Who?
verdict: Stays
Goaltending
Sam Ersson
Ersson is signed for two more years and well get a second crack at locking down the number one goalie role on the team.
verdict: Stays
Ivan Fedotov
Fedotov recently inked a two-year, $6.5 million extension, so unless he get detained by a foreign government again, expect him in Philly for the foreseeable future.
verdict: Stays
Cal Petersen
Petersen highlights the class of potential buyouts, but he’s been serving as the Phantoms’ top guy even during their playoff run, so it’s unclear how eager the organization will be when it comes to buying him out.
verdict: Stays
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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