With the Vegas Golden Knights being crowned NHL champions, the season has officially ended and now we are being ushered into the offseason – which is what we’ve been waiting for ever since the regular season came to an end in Chicago.
The buyout window opens tomorrow and will run through the 21st of June, while today the Philadelphia Flyers announced their qualifying offers.
As expected, Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Olle Lycksell, Ronnie Attard, and Cam York received qualifying offers, while Evan Barratt, Kieffer Bellows, and Wyatte Wylie did not.
In addition, due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Ivan Fedotov’s standard player contract has been tolled and will remain intact and in effect for next season.
Couple of surprises here with the first one being Wyatte Wylie not receiving a qualifying offer, but maybe more importantly is the status of goaltender, Ivan Fedotov who was stationed in his native Russia for one year of military service.
Noah Cates is coming off his rookie season where he finished with 13 goals, 25 assists, and 38 points in the full 82-game allotment, while averaging 17:46 TOI and becoming one of John Tortorella’s favourite and most used players. He played a primary role on the penalty kill, was a top-6 centre for most of the season, and showed great composure as a 23-year-old who was always touted as having great hockey IQ.
Morgan Frost had a breakout season at the most opportune time for him, especially after signing a make-it-or-break-it contract last summer that only cost the Flyers $800,000. He scored 19 goals, 27 assists, and 46 points, while averaging 16:21 TOI. He finished 3rd on the team in goals, 4th in assists and points, and led the team in points in the second half of the season.
Cam York split time with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Flyers after being cut almost immediately during training camp, John Tortorella wanted to see more out his supposed number one defenseman of the future and he responded in a big way. He scored 3 goals and 13 points in 20 games with the Phantoms before becoming a main fixture for the Flyers in his final 54 games, He scored 2 goals and 20 points, averaged 19:39 TOI, and was a top-pair defenseman with Ivan Provorov.
Olle Lycksell and Ronnie Attard spent the majority of the year in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, playing a large role in their playoff push. Lycksell scored 14 goals and 45 points in just 53 games, which was good for 2nd on the team – trailed Tyson Foerster by 3 points but in 13 less games. Attard recorded 12 goals and 32 points in 68 games and finished 8th on the team in points – first on the back-end.
Lycksell had 3 short stints with the Flyers, one to start the season, one in mid-December, and one at the end of February where in totality he registered 1 assist in 8 games. Attard got into 2 games at the end of the season, recorded no points but did play close to 19 minutes in one of the games.
The Flyers traded Cooper Zech to the Chicago Blackhawks for Evan Barratt on the 26th of October, with the latter spending the season in the ECHL with the Reading Royals. Barratt played 4 games for the Phantoms with 1 assist to his name but recorded 26 goals and 50 points in 46 games for the Royals on top of 14 points in 11 playoff games.
Kieffer Bellows was an early-season waiver pickup who never panned out with the big club. For the Phantoms, he scored 3 goals and 10 points in 12 games but for the Flyers he was a non-existent, bottom-6 forward, who didn’t do enough to get in the good graces of his head coach. He scored 3 goals in 27 games, was a -7, and averaged 9:47 TOI.
Wyatte Wylie scored 3 goals and 10 points in 45 games for the Phantoms and was seen as a possible late-season call-up for the Flyers – who opted for Adam Ginning instead. He was a 5th round pick back in 2018 who enjoyed a lot of success with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, including 64 points in his final season, but couldn’t translate that offense in the AHL. He spent parts of 3 seasons down in the AHL, and scored 9 goals and 35 points in 131 games.
Ivan Fedotov was detained in Russia before trying to make the trip over the pond after signing his ELC with the Flyers last year. The 6’8” goaltender was reportedly evading his military conscription and was sent to the Arctic for a year. He has completed his service, but mum’s the word on his availability for the Flyers. Fortunately, his contract year didn’t count and they still hold his services for the 2023-24 season, but CSKA Moscow have said they expect him to play for them this coming season.
Per CapFriendly, the qualifying offer values are as follows:
Cam York: $971,250
Noah Cates: $874,125
Ronnie Attard: $874,125
Morgan Frost: $840,000
Olle Lycksell: $787,500
Ivan Fedotov’s contract will still carry the $925,000 value it had before.
Meanwhile, Bellows and Wylie are now officially set to become unrestricted free agents while Barratt has signed overseas with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers of the DEL in Germany.
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