Salary Cap Deep Dive Of Philadelphia Flyers

Ristolainen remains one of the more polarizing defensemen in the league.  He’s someone who has played big minutes in all situations in the past and his contract is one where the price tag suggests that he should be in a second or third role.  However, that wasn’t the case last year.  His ice time – when healthy – was much more limited than usual and he responded with a decent performance in that role.  It’s probably not enough to give him any standalone trade value but if it’s a case where less is more for Ristolainen, the Flyers could still get at least a bit of value on this contract, albeit on an above-market price point relative to last season’s ice time.

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Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer

F Sean Couturier ($7.75MM through 2029-30)
F Joel Farabee ($5MM through 2027-28)
F Travis Konecny ($5.5MM in 2024-25, $8.75MM from 2025-26 through 2032-33)
D Travis Sanheim ($6.25MM through 2030-31)
D Nick Seeler ($2.7MM through 2027-28)
F Owen Tippett ($6.2MM through 2031-32)

Konecny has turned the corner offensively over the last two seasons.  He averaged just over a point per game in 2022-23 (though he missed 22 games) and then followed that up with career bests in goals (33) and points (68) last season, giving him some leverage in negotiations.  His new deal is on the high side for someone who hasn’t reached 70 points yet but there’s an expectation that he should reach that point soon.  If he can find another gear offensively, this should hold up relatively well.  Otherwise, it’ll be an overpayment.

When Couturier signed this contract, he was coming off a quality season offensively (although he missed nearly half of it due to injury).  The hope was that he could at least maintain an above-average level of offensive production for a few years and that coupled with his strong defensive game would give them at least a few seasons of value on this deal.  That hasn’t happened so far.  In the first three years, he has missed more games than he’s played and last season (when he was largely healthy), he struggled, was moved down the lineup, and became the first captain to be healthy scratched (not for rest) in a decade.  He’s still a serviceable player, no doubt, but this price tag is on the high side for someone trending toward being more of a middle-six piece than a top-liner.

Farabee signed his old deal when Chuck Fletcher was still in charge and considering the promise he showed in his first two seasons, the move made sense.  His development has had some ups and downs since then but after putting up 50 points last year, the contract is trending towards a team-friendly one if he even maintains that type of production.  Tippett, meanwhile, is one of the few long-term deals given out by GM Daniel Briere.  Power forwards, given their level of scarcity, tend to get bigger money relative to their production and that’s where things fall for him now.  But he’s not far off the 30-goal mark and at 25, there’s still a runway to improvement production-wise.  It might be a short-term slight overpayment but in the end, this should be a team-friendly pact fairly quickly.

Sanheim took a big step forward offensively last season, one that skews the evaluation of this deal to an extent as he struggled in that department in the first year of the contract in 2022-23.  Philadelphia is counting on him to play big minutes, especially on the penalty kill and that isn’t going to be in question moving forward.  If he can stay at this level (44 points) offensively, it’ll be a very team-friendly deal quickly.  If he reverts to 2022-23 (17 points), it’ll be an overpayment.  The likeliest outcome is that his production lands somewhere in the middle, making it a pretty fair deal overall.  Seeler’s price tag seemed a bit high for someone strictly on the third pairing although some of the comparable contracts handed out in free agency arguably make this a team-friendly pact relative to those.  If he can have the same impact as last year moving forward, they’ll do alright with this contract.

Buyouts

F Cam Atkinson ($2.358MM in 2024-25, $1.758MM in 2025-26)
D Tony DeAngelo ($1.667MM in 2024-25)

Retained Salary Transactions

F Kevin Hayes ($3.571MM through 2025-26)

Pending Grievances

F Ryan Johansen

The Flyers terminated Johansen’s deal citing a material breach but didn’t go into any specifics from there.  The NHLPA has formally filed a grievance to contest it.  For the time being, his $4MM cap charge (and Nashville’s $4MM) is off their books but all or part of that could be restored pending the outcome of the hearing.  Depending on what happens there, that could materially affect their cap situation for this season.

Best Value: (non-entry-level) Ersson
Worst Value: Couturier

Looking Ahead

For now, the Flyers enter the season with ample cap space and flexibility pending the Johansen situation.  If it holds (or there’s a lower-cost settlement), Philadelphia should be able to absorb any of the bonuses that Michkov earns, avoiding the overage penalty like they have this season ($245K) while having some flexibility for in-season movement.  If Johansen’s cap hit gets restored, they at least have the Ellis LTIR room available to them, giving them some security on that front although they’d face the bonus overage if they can’t get out from under it.

Philadelphia already has over $73MM in commitments for 2025-26 on the books although that leaves them ample space to re-sign their pending RFAs without much issue.  2026-27 sees them with only $51.35MM in commitments so that might be the summer that Briere will be able to take a bigger swing at improving the roster, one that should coincide with them exiting their current rebuild.