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Sean walker itrain hockey career6/22/2023 ![]() ![]() Presumably, the Flyers will either retain part of his cap hit for the next three years in a trade, or alternatively take back another pricey contract in return for Hayes. Moving Hayes should clear at least some extra cap space, though it’s not reasonable to expect that the full $7.14 million will come off the books. ![]() And neither, for that matter, is Hayes, which is where he’d likely have to play if Laughton remained in the top nine.Ī roster without Hayes, however? Laughton comfortably fits back into the top nine at wing, and a spot opens up on the fourth line for a prospect like Tanner Laczynski or Elliot Desnoyers or a cheap veteran free agent. But Laughton ranked second among Flyers forwards in ice time last season he’s no fourth-liner. But his fit on the roster isn’t obvious anymore, especially given the projected returns of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson to the lineup in 2023-24 and that head coach John Tortorella doesn’t appear to view Hayes as a center.įor example, the above projected roster - with Hayes in it - puts Scott Laughton on the fourth line for no other reason than it’s his only natural fit with Couturier and Atkinson back and Tyson Foerster making the big club out of camp, which he is well positioned to do after a very impressive NHL audition in March. Hayes is expecting a move, the Flyers are motivated to sell him, and with the Provorov trade, Briere raised confidence that he has the negotiating skills and creativity to pull off a move. The four players given orange designations, however? That’s to signify that they stand as the four most likely veterans to follow Provorov out this summer to further the team’s rebuild.Īt this point, it feels like a near-certainty that Kevin Hayes will be plying his trade somewhere that is not Philadelphia come October. The potential moves and cap implicationsĬates, Frost and York were given yellow designations in the above chart because of their status as unsigned players. And that’s even before further roster changes come. The Flyers still have a fair amount of cap flexibility, in other words. But with Ellis’ $6.25 million on LTIR, it’s an easy fit, and even leaves the Flyers with over $5 million more to spend after accounting for the Ellis cap allowance. Technically, that would put the Flyers at $84.45 million in overall cap charges, a little under a million dollars over the expected $83.5 million cap ceiling for 2023-24. Frost is projected to receive a two-year contract with a $2.492 million cap hit Cates’ most likely deal is two years at $2.203 million York checks in at two years at $2.192 million. That would be a bit of a tight squeeze, but given Ellis is destined for LTIR, the Flyers realistically are staring at over $12 million in cap space available to re-sign Cates, Frost and York.Īnd how much might their cost? To make things easy, let’s pop in contract projections from Evolving-Hockey, which uses a statistical model to estimate the most likely contracts for all looming free agents based on the deals of comparable players in comparable contractual situations.Įvolving-Hockey’s model doesn’t see any of the players as likely to break the bank. Cap compliance isn’t looking like much of a problem.Įven including Ryan Ellis in the cap mix - despite that he’s almost certainly going to spend the rest of his career on long-term injured reserve - the team still has $5.94 million worth of projected cap space available to lock up their three main restricted free agents ( Noah Cates, Morgan Frost and Cam York) to new contracts. The Provorov trade was just the first in what is expected to be a busy offseason as Briere fully pivots the organization to a rebuilding mentality.īut if they wanted to largely close up shop for the summer, they could. ![]() The Flyers are far from finished with their offseason moves. So after Provorov’s exit and the Petersen and Walker additions, where do the Flyers stand from a cap standpoint? And what might their next rebuilding maneuvers do to their available space as well? Breaking down the roster Instead, it’s about ensuring that enough space is available to retain key young players, while also maximizing the ability for general manager Daniel Briere to “weaponize” the remaining space - use it to pick up additional future assets by serving as a third-party intermediary in other trades (like Los Angeles retaining 30 percent of Provorov’s final two seasons of his deal) or taking on bad contracts to help contenders revamp their rosters (as the Flyers did for the Kings in the same deal with Petersen and Walker). In the short term, it’s less about opening up space to fit shiny trade and UFA targets. Yep, it’s time for a mid-June look at where the Flyers stand in terms of cap space entering the heart of the NHL offseason.Ĭap space still matters for a rebuilding club, just not in the same way it did when the Flyers were trying to contend. ![]()
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