Flyers Not Expected To Buy Out Cal Petersen

The Flyers had a pair of strong buyout candidates this summer, but it looks like they won’t execute one on either. They’re not expected to buy out the final season of goaltender Cal Petersen’s contract, reports The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco. They’ll also likely be prevented from buying out the final season of center Ryan Johansen’s $4MM cap hit as he continues to recover from a hip injury.

Petersen, 29, will likely remain in the organization for a second straight season after Philly took him on as a cap dump from the Kings in the Ivan Provorov three-team trade with the Blue Jackets last offseason. He spent most of the campaign on assignment to AHL Lehigh Valley, where he put up a respectable but unimpressive .902 SV% and 2.71 GAA with two shutouts in 28 games.

The Iowa native once looked like a goalie of the future for the Kings, who plucked him from Notre Dame after he didn’t sign with the Sabres, who selected him in the fifth round in 2013. By 2020-21, he was challenging to take over the starter’s crease from future Hall-of-Famer Jonathan Quick and had logged a career .916 SV% and 19-25-6 record in 50 starts and four relief appearances by the end of the season.

Entering the final season of a cheap three-year deal with a $858K cap hit, Los Angeles general manager Rob Blake opted to lock him into a three-year, $15MM extension to have him backstop the Kings through the mid-2020s. His play immediately regressed upon signing, though, and in the final season before the extension kicked in, he conceded nearly 12 goals above average and put up a .895 SV% in 37 games.

That remains a career-high in appearances for Petersen, who started the extension so poorly (.868 SV%, 3.75 GAA in 10 GP) that he was demoted to the AHL. After putting up average numbers in the minors with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, the Kings were able to get out of the final two seasons of the extension by dumping the contract on the retooling Flyers.

Petersen did make a few NHL appearances this season, backing up Samuel Ersson for small stretches after Carter Hart took personal leave to face sexual assault charges, but again struggled with a .864 SV% and 3.90 GAA in four starts and one relief appearance.

While buried in the minors, Petersen’s cap hit is reduced from $5MM to $3.85MM. Buying him out would have incurred a $1MM cap charge next season, saving them $2.85MM in space immediately, with a $2MM penalty in 2025-26. Overall, the Flyers will forego $2MM in actual cash savings and a higher cap charge this season in order to get him off the books sooner.

He also still has some value to the organization as a serviceable minor-league netminder, even if his days in the NHL are likely over. The Flyers have a lot of dead money on the books next season aside from Johansen and Petersen, though, including $3.57MM worth of retained salary on Blues center Kevin Hayes and a $1.67MM penalty for buying out defenseman Tony DeAngelo last summer. They also have three seasons remaining of injured/retired defenseman Ryan Ellis at a $6.25MM cap hit, although he can be placed on long-term injured reserve for some temporary spending flexibility.

The Flyers have most of their roster already signed for next season, but they do have a few open spots on defense and just $500K in projected cap space, per CapFriendly. Without the buyouts, they’ll need Ellis’ LTIR flexibility to round out their blue line and remain cap-compliant.