With the NHL’s recent announcement of a substantial salary cap increase, the stage is set for the Flyers to navigate a critical juncture in their financial strategy, paving the way for potential high-stakes moves in the seasons ahead.
The NHL just announced a salary cap increase from $83.5M to $88M for the 2024-2025 season. This is a $4.5M increase or approximately 5.5%. It is expected that the salary cap will increase by another few million to $92M by the start of the 2025-26 season.
Currently, with this salary cap increase, the Flyers are sitting right up against the cap, at roughly $87M. Keep in mind that this includes Ryan Ellis, who will most likely be placed on LTIR to start the season, providing the Flyers with $6.25M in cap relief. Although Ellis’ cap relief is helpful, the Flyers don’t really have the option to spend big in free agency this summer. That is why we will focus on the Flyers’ cap situation ahead of the 2025-26 season. By then, I expect it will be time for Danny Briere to make some bigger acquisitions.
2025-26 Cap Space
Ahead of the 2025-2026 NHL season, we should expect the Flyers to be in a much better cap situation than they are now. A large sum of money will be coming off the books due to expiring contracts and buyouts. The total dollar value amounts to a whopping $15.395M!
The breakdown is as follows:
- Cam Atkinson: $5.875M
- Ryan Johansen: $4M
- Cal Petersen: $3.85M
- Tony Deangelo: $1.67M
Not including those players mentioned above, I believe there are a few other players on the roster who will not be Flyers a year from now. Those players being Scott Laughton, Morgan Frost, and Rasmus Ristolainen. The three currently take up $10.2M in cap space.
To be conservative, I’m going to assume Danny Briere is unable to move all three. So, let’s add another $3M of cap relief by 2025-2026, which brings our total to $18M. This assumption would mean the Flyers moved Laughton, which I think is very likely within the next year.
CONTRACT EXTENSIONS
Although $18M in cap space is promising in theory, several Flyers will need to be re-signed over the next year. Again, being conservative, we will assume the Flyers re-sign a majority of these players. I have estimated those signings as follows:
- Travis Konecny: $9M x 8 years
- Cam York: $6M x 6 years
- Morgan Frost: $4.5M x 2 years
- Tyson Foerster: $4M x 4 years
- Noah Cates: $3M x 2 years
- Garnet Hathaway: $2.75M x 2 years
Oh, I’m assuming the Russian Mutant, Matvei Michkov, is here by then! So, we’ll sign him to a 3-year ELC at $1M per season. After all these signings, here’s what the roster looks like next summer, assuming these estimations are correct.
(Screenshot via CapFriendly.com; RIP)
MONEY MOVES
If my contract estimates are correct, Danny Briere will have roughly $14.5M in salary cap space to work with heading into the 2025-26 season, with a few holes on the roster to fill. I tried to be very conservative with all of my roster moves, so I’m hopeful this is the type of situation the team will actually be in a year from now. Obviously, some other trades could occur between now and then, but I’m not a fortune teller, so I tried to be as reasonable as possible with the trades and signings I projected.
With $14.5M, Danny Briere should be able to work his magic and add more star power to this roster. Whether through trades or UFA signings, this team will be in a great position to make big moves.
CONCLUSIONS
The Flyers have no business making major moves heading into this season. Being right up against the cap essentially confirms that. However, if they play their cards right and avoid making any poor decisions (e.g., buying out Atkinson for minimal cap relief this season), they should be able to be active in the 2025 free agency market or use their built-up assets to trade for a difference maker.
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