Similar to last summer, the Philadelphia Flyers don’t have any pressing needs when it comes to unrestricted free agency. They signed Owen Tippett midseason and worked on a Travis Konecny extension one year in advance to set them up for an important summer in 2025.
Daniel Brière has a slew of restricted free agents to deal with in Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Cam York. With a rough estimation of a $4.5 million increase to the salary cap for the 2025-26 season, the Flyers are scheduled to have around $17 million to play with.
They don’t intend to use a lot of that, if any, on the crop of unrestricted free agents set to hit the open market on the 1st of July. They will be able to find deals for the aforementioned four players while fitting under the salary cap. However, the biggest questions will be what they’re actually worth when factoring in their current play, their potential, their importance to the club’s future, and the ever-expanding salary cap.
Of the quartet, Cates has been the biggest and best surprise to date this season. Cates has always been lauded for his defensive game but what can sometimes get lost in the shuffle is his offensive game. While he hasn’t blown any of us away with his numbers, whenever paired up with more skilled forwards, Cates produces.
Case in point a couple seasons ago when he got some run with Konecny and Joel Farabee at the end of 2022-23 and once more in 2024-25 with Foerster and Bobby Brink.
Brink, Cates, and Foerster have been the best trio for the Flyers in well over a month. They’re doing it with and without the puck with Cates leading the way. Since the 10th of December, the upcoming RFA has registered 9 goals and 17 points in 20 games to go along with a +2, only 2 PIM, and 16:16 ATOI.
On the season he has 10 goals and 22 points in 44 games, a +8, just 4 PIM, an 18.2 shooting percentage, 49.3% success in faceoffs, 48 hits and 26 blocked shots with 13 takeaways all while averaging 14:22 TOI. Cates is 3 goals away from tying his career-high of 13 set in 82 games during 2022-23, 16 points away from his 38 points he set in the same season, while averaging career highs in plus-minus, shooting percentage, and faceoff percentage.
His importance is almost unmatched in recent weeks with John Tortorella sending him out onto the ice in critical situations. We saw during their game on Saturday against New Jersey that he kept Cates on the ice with just 6 seconds remaining despite the players having spent well over a minute on the ice with Devils’ net empty and also recovering from a previous icing call.
The soon-to-be 26-year-old has essentially cemented himself as the go-to third centre moving forward and his next contract will reflect that. He was signed to a 2-year deal worth $2.625 million and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he inches closer to $4 million AAV on his new deal.
Both parties will look for a decent amount of term, which could be reflected in a 3 or 4-year deal and his AAV should be in and around $3.5 million to $4 million, especially if he continues to produce the way he has. Brière mentioned in his press conference from earlier today that he has yet to talk extension with any of the 4 players, so this would be prime time for Cates to cash in with a strong second half.
While Cates’ stock has risen due to his play this season, the same can’t be said about York. What could have been a contract worth upwards of $7 million had the Flyers rushed it over the summer has now dramatically changed to a point where $6 million might be a stretch – strictly dependent on term.
York was one of the best defensemen on the team last year and the way he ended the season gave about a lot of hope and confidence that he could be the anchor the Flyers have been waiting eons for. While his numbers aren’t horrifying by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just not the year we expected to see from the former first round pick.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson’s 8-year deal worth $8.05 million and Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber’s 8-year deal worth $8.5 million were the ceiling for what a York deal could have looked like if he continued to improve on his 2023-24 season.
With the Flyers being patient, it looked like it has paid off because now a more attainable comparison is Travis Sanheim’s 8-year deal worth $6.25 million, according to Anthony Di Marco from the Daily Faceoff. When factoring in York’s age, potential, importance to the team, and salary cap’s expected rise we could see York get slightly more if he was keen on signing a long-term deal.
Foerster will probably be the easiest of the four to sign as a bridge deal is more or less expected. The Flyers have gone down that route with players like Cates, Frost, Sanheim, York, and recently with Bobby Brink and it’s generally the course of action for most rookies coming off their ELCs, with the exception to the rule being superstars or generational talents.
Foerster has 12 goals and 22 points in 47 games this season, which includes a stretch of 6 goals and 12 points over his last 17 games. He’s had a resurgent second-half when Tortorella united Cates and Brink with the sophomore forward. He’s 8 goals away from the 20 he scored last year as well as 11 points from the 33 he reached in 77 games.
Bridge deals don’t generally cost an arm and a leg, which will help the Flyers in the short term. A contract worth $2.5 million over the next 2-3 seasons should be expected with perhaps a chance of the AAV sneaking closer to $3 million if he continues to produce in the second half of the season.
Which then brings us to the final player of the aforementioned list in Frost. Due to the fact that the former first round pick is an RFA, a deal will more or less get done, but there a few variables to take into consideration, primarily an offseason trade should the Flyers look to make a “hockey trade” for another centre.
Frost’s name has been in the trade block for several years but the Flyers have yet to move on from the ultra-skilled centre. He’s shown in flashes what he can bring to the table but the consistency has never been there for the Flyers to offer him a long-term deal.
He will be entering the offseason looking for his 3rd contract in 4 seasons after he agreed upon a 1-year deal in the summer of 2022 for $800,000 before signing a 2-year bridge deal in the summer of 2023 worth $2.1 million per season.
With 43 goals and 111 points over his last 195 games, which stretches into the last 3 seasons, there’s a lot to like about his game but also a lot to be desired. He’s had successful runs in the second half in recent years but his inability to put together strong starts has stunted his growth and standing within the organization.
The Flyers have been extremely patient over the years with a lot of their younger players and Frost will be entering a critical off-season, perhaps more so than anyone else on the club. He will be looking for security and assurances in his next contract but will the Flyers oblige.
A strong finish to the season will definitely help and his 7 goals and 12 points over his last 16 games certainly helps with that. However, it’s also hard to forget about the 4 goals and 12 points he tallied in his previous 28 games before that.
His success is critical for a Flyers team looking for help down the middle and primary scoring options. His chemistry with Tippett and Konecny also helps his standing but if he can’t elevate his game in the second half, it might be curtains for the 27th overall pick from the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login