The '25-'26 Philadelphia Flyers thread

[zambonir]

Oh Tippett was a fine acquisition, just not sure the eight-year deal was necessary. It spread out the cap hit certainly. But he's past "development" age and his no-trade kicks in next year so he has to start showing more of what got him that deal, even if his advanced stats look better. Maybe AF is right that $6 million won't seem like that much. But $5 million for a 20 minute defensive dman isn't either, and that money goes poof in 2027, not 2032.

I just don't see where the cap space is an issue, he cleared a ton of it already, plus Dvorak is only a one-year deal, Fedotov and both the buyouts plus Kevin Hayes come off after this year and Ellis remains LTIR. If they can replace Risto with a Phantom and/or get something for him great, especially with Drysdale and Zemula and Zegras needing new deals for next year. But as things currently stand where he wasn't tradeable last March and this team isn't tanking, there's no urgency, because he's not a bad player.

[LegoDoom]

Tippett is probably the most underrated player on the Flyers.
Evolving Hockey has a measure Goals Above Replacement (GAR), Tippett led the Flyers last season.
He's one of the top 50 goal scorers at even strength the last three seasons.
His defense has gone from below average to average at least.
He also got jacked around last year, RW to LW and no consistent center until he was matched with Poehling at the end of the season
One of the ten fastest players in the NHL at 6'2 210.

Now he's not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree (in terms of instincts and hockey IQ) but has a high motor and has worked hard to improve. Could be more deceptive with his shot, and shoot closer to the net. Has improved his passing but needs to see teammates better.

With the rising cap, his contract is a bargain at $6M.

I have warmed up to Tippett and he obviously always had the talent, but you are cherry picking a bit here. While goals are nice and the game is usually played at even strength, he's not exactly Brett Hull where you can ignore his passing deficiencies and not being all that useful on the PP.

He's more of an athlete/talent than a hockey player. And there is nothing wrong with that, but as Z has pointed out, it is a lot of years for someone that will be in his late 20's when you think the team will be competitive.

[VoteForKalas]

Risto has actually become a pretty solid D-man under Shaw. and physical RHDs have high value.
The problem was trading for him, then extending him instead of trading him.
If he's healthy at the TDL, he'll be valuable trade bait with only one season at $5M left.
2025 TDL trades:
L Schenn for 2026 2nd, 2027 4th
Dumoulin 2025 2nd
Lindgren, 2025, 2nd, 4th
Walman, 2026 1st
Carlo, 2026 1st, 2025 4th

Exactly my point. I'm fine with Briere waiting until trading him at max value, but the fact that we've gotten extremely lucky with how Risto has performed so far does not negate the stupidity involved in acquiring him and then compounding the mistake by extending him. Hopefully, he'll come back healthy, have a good season and we can move him along for value at the deadline or offseason.

[Austinfan]

Hard to judge any Flyer on the PP, it's been that dysfunctional.

But most of the game is played at ES, and I see STs as different, and PP and PK are sort of mirror images - both can add value if you're above replacement in those roles.

Tippett was #132 in ES points among forwards, #144 is a median 2nd line forward (96 + 48) - I look at medians b/c you want players on each line to be above the median, so 1st liners above #48, etc. SInce he's at least average defensively, that makes him a legitimate 2nd line forward. Third line median #240.
TK #28
Michkov #38 (but worse b/c bad defensive forward, similar to Caufield)
Brink #89 (and Cates line wasn't put together until game 21).
Couts #102
Foerster #125 (but better b/c goals > assists and he's an elite defensive winger)
Cates #144
Zegras #186 (57g)
Dvorak #189
Hathaway #276

Basically traded Frost, Farabee, Poehling and Laughton for Zegras, Dvorak, Grebenkin and 2027 1st, 3rd

ES points per 60 ranking (>600 minutes)
Michkov #21
Brink #64
TK #65
Zegras #95
Tippett #132
Cates #133
Couts #139
Foerster #140
Hathaway #198
Dvorak #214

Forward play at ES is fine, this is a solid group before players promote themselves from LHV (Bump, Grebenkin, Barkey, Tuomaala, Gaucher, etc)

The key to the season will be the defense jelling, better goalie play and a PP that isn't putrid.

[bigegypt0417]

Flyers...after this coming season...will have cleared a large amount of pretty meh contracts...they'll have work to do but they will have the flexibility to make it work...

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers/yearly

[VoteForKalas]

But as things currently stand where he wasn't tradeable last March and this team isn't tanking, there's no urgency, because he's not a bad player.

There is urgency because he may get injured again and then we are stuck with him. We do not want to have to pay him next year. We do have a good amount of cap space in 2026, but we can always use more to give Briere maximum optionality.

Again, we have gotten extremely lucky he has been able to play and provide decent performance so far. Unfortunately, he went down with injury again last season and we'll have to see how to performs this season coming off that.

[Austinfan]

They need to clear cap, not to chase free agents, but to extend their own players.

With the rising cap, the only players hitting free agency will be grossly overpriced or unhappy, and those aren't optimal targets. We saw that this summer, most teams extended the players they wanted to keep.

Better off accumulating assets and emulate Zito in FLA, target players 26 or so, trade for them and extend them.
Zegras is a good example, for the cost of the 2nd rd pick they got for Frost, they get to kick the tires on a more talented player - and he won't cost that much more than Frost did to extend if he works out.

Free agency these days is best used for short-term patches while you develop prospects, not for team building.
They overpaid for Dvorak, but he buys a year for Jett, the LHV centers and Berglund. Then he's off the books.

[zambonir]

I think if he can play they might well want him next year. Fletcher's stupidity (both times) doesn't change the fact that he's a more-than-serviceable defensive defenseman with a skill set none of the others have. If the 2026-2027 Flyers want to make the playoffs they'll need one of those. Having him on an expiring deal before Bonk or someone else steps up could be preferable to signing a new vet.

As with any older injury-prone player it's a Catch-22. Hurt they're untradable, healthy they might be worth more to your own team.

The thing to watch this year is probably how Risto and all these guys do without Shaw (and yes, Torts. York may have struggled last year and hated him but all the other D-men improved overall during their tenure). But Reirden is certainly a good hire.

[bigegypt0417]

They need to clear cap, not to chase free agents, but to extend their own players.

With the rising cap, the only players hitting free agency will be grossly overpriced or unhappy, and those aren't optimal targets. We saw that this summer, most teams extended the players they wanted to keep.

Better off accumulating assets and emulate Zito in FLA, target players 26 or so, trade for them and extend them.
Zegras is a good example, for the cost of the 2nd rd pick they got for Frost, they get to kick the tires on a more talented player - and he won't cost that much more than Frost did to extend if he works out.

Free agency these days is best used for short-term patches while you develop prospects, not for team building.
They overpaid for Dvorak, but he buys a year for Jett, the LHV centers and Berglund. Then he's off the books.

Again...this would mean more if it wasn't your moneyball philosophy for every single sport and the Bill giles era of building a franchise.

No one wins using that strategy. You sign your own players and then use dollars to sign high quality FA's. The nature of free agency is overpaying.

The fanbase isn't going to sit around for 3 more years.

[zambonir]

In AF's world 100% off the prospects pan out, or at least enough of them to fill 100% of the roster. It's great when it can happen, or comes close to happening. We all saw how it went for the Phillies. The Flyers can't just spend and spend more like the Phillies did (or afford Castellanos-like mistakes) in a cap league. But the '26-'27 roster isn't even yet guaranteed to include Zegras and Drysdale, let alone every current draft pick or Phantom. They will have the money (and trade assets) for both paths. And if they have a shot at singing McDavid they'll take it.

[bigegypt0417]

A situation to watch...he's 28 but he might be ready to move on.

Wild GM calm after Kaprizov rejects record deal

[zambonir]

Well, they probably do need all the cap room they can get if they want to give someone the highest AAV deal in NHL history

[Austinfan]

Go look at the FAs who changed teams this summer, five who might be considered top 6/top 4 players.
The rest, overpaid dreck.
Marner - sign and trade
Ehlers
Boeser, 6/yr$8.35M
Gavrikov
Provorov

That's pretty much it.
Doubt it'll be any better in the future with a rising cap

[bigegypt0417]

Again...no one builds a team the way that you say it should be done.

You enjoy eternal rebuilds...

money ball and that strategy has never won a ring.

[LegoDoom]

I think AF wants us to be the Florida Panthers, which is a perfectly fine thing to want, but not easy to achieve.

[bigegypt0417]

That's fair but the panthers aren't a team built through the draft...they used multiple ways to build a roster.

[zambonir]

FAs not leaving their old teams definitely makes it harder. But guys also get traded (as all the top Panthers forwards did). When the Flyers are in their window, everything will be on the table.

[phillychuck]

The Flyers are building a pretty deep roster...what they are short of is top-line talent (and a real #1 goalie). It is insanely hard to build top-line talent entirely from the draft and “cheap” trades or signings. They will have a lot of money under the cap next year, they just need to figure out how to spend it well and not overpay for a mediocre 2C or #1 pair D. I’m pretty excited that they have good to great goalies already in their system. Zavragin is going to be special, I think, but he probably won’t play here until 2027. Bjarnason has shown promise, but he’s probably a 2027 arrival at the earliest, too. They need a stop-gap goalie and a 1C in free agency. 1C’s are hard to find and expensive, I think they will have to spend for that one. Hope Ersson steps up this season!

[Austinfan]

Zito did it three ways:
1) waiver wire/SFA pickups that were good fits, Forsling, Verhaeghe
2) minor trades. Marchment (Maglin), Luostarinen, Haula, Wallmark (Trocheck), Montour (3rd)
3) trades for players in their prime, Reinhart (1st, Levi), Bennett (2nd), Tkachuk (1st, Weegar, Huberdeau), Jones (1st, Knight)

His one bad move, trading (2) 1st, 3rd, 4th and Tippett to rent Giroux and Chariot. Got swept in 2nd rd.

FA signings were generally bargains, DuClair, ($1.7M then 2yr$3M), Gudas (3yr/$2.5M), Rodrigues (4yr/$3M), Kulikov (4yr/$1.15M), Mikkola (3yr/$2.5M)

Spends his big money extending his own players, including those he traded for, not on FAs.

This is where prospect depth/extra picks matter.
Extra 1st, 3rd in 2027, possible trades of Risto, Seeler, Hathaway, Dvorak to further stock cupboard.
As prospects arrive, then package a 1st, a NHL player and a prospect for a top player.

[zambonir]

His one bad move, trading (2) 1st, 3rd, 4th and Tippett to rent Giroux and Chariot. Got swept in 2nd rd.

Yes, a mistake from which the franchise never recovered!

(You make deadline deals to make your team better for the playoffs, in the current format it still doesn't guarantee you a long run.)