With the Philadelphia Flyers icing a younger and younger lineup, one of the new balls they need to juggle is a fresh batch of restricted free agents every summer.
The Flyers’ front office has promised a bountiful 2025 offseason, but the oasis isn’t nearly all it’s cracked up to be. Last week, we debunked the mythical cap space the Flyers supposedly have stating that a vast majority of the current projection will go to their in-house players. So today, let’s predict what these extensions could look like.
The Flyers have one notable unrestricted free agent and four restricted free agents, all of which are in line for big raises if they’re successful during the 2024-25 season. So what can we expect the contract extensions to look like?
Travis Konecny
It’s honestly kinda surprising that as of the publication date that Travis Konecny hasn’t re-signed with the Flyers yet two weeks after he was eligible, but it’s still almost a guarantee he returns to the team that drafted him for most of the next decade.
We’ve looked at various different extensions Konecny could sign in the past, but the SparkNotes version is that none are going to be cheap or painless. Anything less than eight years is already a win, but a shorter term more than likely means a higher AAV. It’s probably a six to eight year deal with a $8-10 million cap hit. It’s gross, it’s completely unnecessary and the player probably doesn’t deserve that kind of money, but hey, it’s the Flyers, logic doesn’t win the day around here, pandering does.
Prediction: eight years, $9 million aav
Cam York
Cam York has developed into a minute-munching top pair defenseman for the Flyers, which is good for the team but not good for their wallet. He doesn’t have the pop and circumstance to his game like Cale Makar or Rasmus Dahlin or the trophy case like Erik Karlsson or Adam Fox, but he’s still in the “young top defenseman” category nonetheless.
There are 34 defenseman making at least $7 million in 2024-25 and York is better and significantly younger than most of them. Jake Sanderson in Ottawa is one of the better direct comparables in terms of age and experience and he’s clocking in at $8.05 million a season. A max-term deal falling on either side of $8 million aav is just the status quo for this situation, so unless York’s play falls of a drastic cliff that give them pause about his true ceiling, it’s a pretty obvious extension to predict.
Prediction: eight years, $8 million aav
Tyson Foerster
Foerster is easily the hardest to predict among the current restricted free agent class. He’s still on his entry-level contract and, so far, only has 77 NHL games to his name. He did post 20 goals and 33 points during his rookie season while being one of the better two-way wingers on the roster. If his point totals improve while staying in the good graces of John Tortorella along the way, it’s possible he could see a deal similar to Joel Farabee’s six year, $5 million aav contract instead of the typical two-year bridge deal hovering around $2-3 million.
It may not be the easiest thing to do, but if the Flyers can lock one of the young guys up to a longer term team friendly deal and that player actually blossoms it’s be a big win for their future cap situation. Continued bridge deals into massive contracts while the team remains uncompetitive defeats the purpose in the first place. Though it’s also possible the Flyers just default to their bridge deal and punt their problems down the line as they’re wont to do.
Prediction: three years, $3 million.
Morgan Frost
In all the inactivity during the Flyers’ 2024 offseason, the fact that Morgan Frost remains on the roster may be one of the most surprising decisions. Frost, who’s been in a two-year-long battle with head coach John Tortorella, still hasn’t hit much of a stride in the NHL because of it.
Yeah, he’s the most skilled center the Flyers currently have (which isn’t really saying much) and considering the organization has flat out ignored their center depth for years now, Frost could very well remain their most talented center in the near future as well. But if Tortorella’s here is it really in Frost’s best interest to stick around? He’ll be an RFA next summer so he doesn’t have much of a choice, but if 2024-25 comes and goes and Frost is still deep in the doghouse, it may be time for both player and team to consider their options.
If he does consider re-signing, there’s a pretty wild spread when it comes to the price tag of middle six centers. Though $4 to $5 million seems to be a starting point. It’s hard to justify a ton of money to the guy since he hasn’t even hit the 20-goal/50-point mark yet, but he has to have *some* leverage as the only center in the entire organization at the moment who can even reach 40 points.
Prediction: four years, $4.5 million aav
Noah Cates
Year three of Noah Cates will go a long way to determining what kind of extension he will sign. He looked like an up-and-coming Selke center during his rookie campaign, then fell back to a competent two-way winger during his sophomore season. Producing offense isn’t his strong suit, which could limit the ceiling the player has regardless of whether he plays center or wing, but as long as Tortorella is around and two-way play is the only thing that matters, Cates will be in Philly for a long time to come.
Considering his bridge deal already carried a $2.6 million cap hit, his starting point is going to be at least $3 million. Though if he can’t reignite his Selke-caliber play, his AAV won’t be nearly as high as it could be.
Prediction: five years, $4 million aav
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com / Getty Images
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