Flyers’ 2021 Offseason: A Look at their Needs, Cap Space, and Potential Plans
There are plenty of reasons to remain optimistic about this Flyers team moving forward.
In their first full season under head coach, Alain Vigneault, the Flyers definitely exceeded expectations, and if it weren’t for the five-month stoppage in the middle of the season when the Flyers were the hottest team in the league, who knows what they could have done in the playoffs.
Photo: Jose F. Moreno/Philadelphia Inquirer
Unfortunately, we can only speculate. What really happened was that we saw the Flyers come out hot in the round-robin but seemed to get exposed a bit in their two playoff series against the Canadiens and the Islanders.
They relied heavily on their defense and goaltending to get them past an uber-aggressive Canadiens team but just couldn’t slow down a very-skilled Islanders team as their lack of scoring and defensive mistakes ultimately sunk them in seven games.
So, let’s look ahead at a very important offseason for the Flyers if they want to make a deeper run into the playoffs in 2021.
Pending Free Agents
- Nate Thompson, Center, Age 35 (UFA)
- Derek Grant, C/W, Age 30 (UFA)
- Tyler Pitlick, W, Age 28 (UFA)
- Justin Braun, D, Age 33 (UFA)
- Brian Elliott, G, Age 35 (UFA)
- Nicolas Aube-Kubel, W, Age 24 (RFA)
- Phil Myers, D, Age 23 (RFA)
- Robert Hagg, D, Age 25 (RFA)
- Nolan Patrick, C, Age 20 (RFA)
As it stands, without moving a contract like JVR ($7 million in 2020-21), Gostisbehere ($4.5 million), or any of their other high-dollar players, the Flyers will have $72,589,727 on the books for next season.
With the cap staying flat at $81.5 million, that leaves the Flyers with just under $9 million to work with to bring back their impending free agents or go out and bring someone in.
While we don’t know exactly what Chuck Fletcher has under his sleeve, it’s very likely that we’ll see Aube-Kubel, Myers back with the Flyers, and potentially Pitlick and Hagg as well.
The unknown in all of this is Nolan Patrick.
The former second overall pick in 2017 missed the entire 2019-20 season with neurological issues and no one seems to know if he’ll be ready to go for next season. But a recent comment from Chuck Fletcher has shed some light on Patrick, saying that “he’s living mostly a normal life” and that “they are counting on him playing at some point next season.” So, it seems that Patrick will be given a qualifying offer this offseason.
As for the rest, Thompson, Grant, and Braun certainly left much to be desired during the playoffs while Brian Elliott, though coming off a good season, will be 36 next April.
Potential Needs
There are certainly a lot of question marks heading into this offseason in regards to what the Flyers need. Mainly, the health of Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick will play huge parts in whether or not Chuck Fletcher will need to look elsewhere to fill holes in their lineup.
Assuming Thompson and Grant are not re-signed, it would be easy to just pencil in Patrick and Lindblom to take their place and give them two much younger, faster, more-skilled options but with their unknown health status, it’s hard to assume just yet.
On the back-end, the Flyers should probably look to replace Justin Braun on their third-pairing as it was a glaring weakness in both playoff series.
Lastly, in net, unless they want to squeeze one more year out of Brian Elliott, they’ll need someone to back up Carter Hart.
So, for now, we’ll look at the Flyers’ needs like this:
- Two Middle-Six/Bottom-Six Forwards
- Third-Pairing Defenseman
- Backup Goaltender
Potential Plan for Chuck Fletcher
There are two different routes that Chuck Fletcher could take In building his roster for next season. Either he could add small pieces to the lineup or he could move one (or two) of their big-name players and potentially make a splash move in the offseason.
Fletcher clued us in on his plan on Thursday, stating that, “I don’t expect us to be a major player in free agency for the next couple years. Do expect to be working the phones and be aggressive retaining our existing players.”
So, it’s unlikely they go out and grab a big name in free agency but he seems to be keeping a potential trade as an option. Obviously JVR or Gostisbehere would be the two most likely options as they struggled to crack the lineup and combine for an $11.5 million cap hit in 2021.
The question is “will there be any buyers?”.
So that leaves them with two potential plans: one where they keep all their big-name players and another where they create space by unloading some of their contracts and bringing in outside players.
Let’s look at both routes.
Option A) The “keep the same core and rely on low-level FA’s” plan
Say they choose to keep JVR, Voracek, Giroux, Niskanen, and Gostisbehere for next season, the Flyers would have, as aforementioned, just under $9 million to play with. With this route, most of the $9 million is used on bringing back Myers, Aube-Kubel, Hagg, Pitlick, and potentially Nolan Patrick. So, with this route, they’ll likely rely on some in house options to fill holes and it’s unlikely they go out and make anything more than a depth signing in free agency.
Guys like Patrick, Lindblom, Frost, Farabee will be looked at to fill in their holes upfront while Friedman and possibly Zamula could fill into their third-pairing on defense.
In free agency, there aren’t many options outside of the top guys like Pietrangelo, Torey Krug, and Taylor Hall who are all out of the Flyers’ price range in this scenario. They could potentially grab one of the outcasts from Tampa Bay’s defense which include Zach Bogosian, Kevin Shattenkirk, or Luke Schenn but ultimately the low-level options are not great.
Option B) The “Move JVR, Voracek, or Ghost” plan
It was no secret that Alain Vigneault wanted more from his top guys in the playoffs. Ghost and JVR couldn’t crack the lineup consistently, their top line wasn’t producing as a top-line should. This should influence how Fletcher approaches this offseason.
I still think it’s unlikely that Giroux or Voracek are moved but van Riemsdyk and Gostisbehere could potentially be shipped out as they seem to be the odd men out on this Flyers team and will count for almost $12 million against the cap next season.
Should they move one (or both) of them, the Flyers could start looking at bringing in bigger-name players in free agency or through trades.
It’s been rumored that Nikolaj Ehlers, Patrik Laine, and Max Domi could be available in a trade, and yes, Johnny Gaudreau, too. They’re all possibilities if the Flyers can move out from under a few of their large contracts.
In free agency, the former-MVP Taylor Hall, Alex Pietrangelo, Torey Krug will be at the top of many team’s wishlists but there are also some mid-level players that could peak Fletcher’s interests.
Evgenii Dadonov ($4 mil cap hit in 2020)
The 31-year old winger could bring some punch to a weak Flyers’ powerplay as he tallied 11 powerplay goals this year and 25 overall with the Florida Panthers.
Tyler Toffoli ($4.6 mil cap hit in 2020)
He was rumored to the Flyers earlier this season before being shipped to Vancouver. A two-time Cup Winner with Los Angeles, Toffoli put up 24 goals this year with LA and Vancouver.
Mikael Granlund ($5.75 mil cap hit in 2020)
Granlund has turned into a solid two-way player with Nashville and has consistently been a 15-20 goal scorer. For the right price, Granlund could be a nice piece in the Flyers’ middle six.
Vladislav Namestnikov ($4 mil cap hit in 2020)
Being moved twice in the past year, Namestnikov put up 17 goals and 31 points in stints with the Rangers, Senators, and Avalanche in 2019-20 and was productive with 4 goals in 12 games during the playoffs.
Craig Smith ($4.25 mil cap hit in 2020)
Smith has quietly been a consistent 20-goal scorer with Nashville for most of his career. He’d slot in best as a bottom-six forward and a net-front presence on the powerplay.
Either direction Fletcher chooses, this will be a pivotal offseason for the Flyers if they hope to build on the progress they made this season under Alain Vigneault.
Their two playoff series showed that they weren’t quite there yet. With a budding star in Carter Hart and a bunch of talented young defensemen, it’s up to Flecther to help push this team to an even deeper playoff run in 2021.
Featured Image: Jose F. Moreno/Philadelphia Inquirer
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