Adam Clendening, Vladimir Tkachev Sign In KHL
China-based Kunlun Red Star of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League announced today that they’ve signed right-shot defenseman Adam Clendening for the 2024-25 season (X link). He wasn’t the only former NHLer to extend his stay overseas, as the KHL’s Avangard Omsk also re-signed forward Vladimir Tkachev to a five-year deal, per the league. While the agreement extends a lengthy KHL resume for Tkachev, it will be Clendening’s second season overseas and his first in the KHL.
Clendening, 31, was once a decently high-value prospect with the Blackhawks after being taken in the second round of the 2011 draft, but never managed to land a role above a seventh defenseman at the NHL level. He appeared in parts of five seasons from 2014 to 2019, making brief stops with the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Canucks, Coyotes, Oilers, Penguins, and Rangers before settling exclusively into a minor-league role shortly before the pandemic. Clendening was long an offensive force at the AHL level and put up decent numbers in his depth NHL minutes, totaling 24 points and a +11 rating in 90 career major-league appearances.
Since his last NHL appearance with Columbus in 2019, Clendening spent the next three seasons on two-way NHL contracts but didn’t receive any call-ups. After settling for an AHL contract in 2022-23, splitting the season between Rockford and Hartford, he opted to take his talents overseas for the first time. The New York-born blue-liner signed a one-year deal with Ilves in the Finnish Liiga, putting up eight goals, 20 assists and 28 points with 41 PIMs and a +9 rating in 40 showings. They opted not to retain him, though, and he now takes his talents to a Red Star team that’s failed to make the playoffs since its inaugural season in 2016-17. The team remains technically based in China but has played most of its games in Mytishchi, a suburb of Moscow, since the pandemic.
As for Tkachev, he’ll be a familiar name for Kings fans. They attempted to bring him over as an undrafted free agent in 2021, but he appeared in only four games, recording two assists, and spent most of the 2021-22 season on assignment to AHL Ontario. After failing to match his KHL production rate in the minors, they opted not to issue him a qualifying offer and let him become an unrestricted free agent, upon which he returned home. The 5’10” winger has since established his status as one of the best players in the league, leading to some spotty speculation that he would attempt an NHL comeback next season, but that won’t be the case. He had a career-high 75 points in 58 games with Omsk last year, serving as an alternate captain and ranking fifth in the league in scoring.
Free Agent Focus: Vancouver Canucks
Free agency is now just a bit more than a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free-agent situation for the Canucks.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Filip Hronek – Talk about an ideal contract year. After an injury-plagued stint in Vancouver to end last season following his acquisition from the Red Wings, Hronek began the season on the team’s top defense pairing alongside Quinn Hughes and never looked back. He recorded career highs with 43 assists, 48 points and a +33 rating, although, as critics point out, most of that production came on an early-season tear. The 26-year-old had three assists in 16 games after the trade deadline and was limited to a goal and an assist in 13 postseason games, both coming in Games 6 and 7 of their second-round loss to the Oilers. With reports indicating his ask is in the $8MM neighborhood annually, the Canucks are likely to shop his signing rights around with an unwillingness to dole out that kind of cash with the way he ended his season.
G Arturs Silovs – A couple of months ago, Silovs wouldn’t have had anything to do with a “key restricted free agents” moniker after serving as the club’s AHL starter for most of the campaign. However, injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith forced him into action for Game 4 of the first round against the Predators, and the 23-year-old Latvian remained in the crease for the rest of their playoff run. While Demko would have been an upgrade if available, Silovs was serviceable, posting a .898 SV%, one shutout and allowed 0.2 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. After posting a .898 SV% and 6-2-1 record in nine regular-season appearances over the last two seasons, he’s in line for a cheap deal to make him Demko’s full-time backup moving forward. Silovs, who led Latvia to a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championship, had a 2.74 GAA, .907 SV%, four shutouts and a 16-11-6 record in 34 games for AHL Abbotsford this season.
Other RFAs: D Nick Cicek, D Filip Johansson, F Linus Karlsson, F Aidan McDonough, D Cole McWard, D Jett Woo
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Ian Cole – While Cole had some notable individual blunders in the playoffs, he had a solid regular season in Vancouver that proved he’s still a fringe top-four blue liner as he enters his mid-30s. Much like his showing last season with the Lightning, he was a strong shutdown force, controlling 53% of expected goals at 5-on-5 despite 63.6% of his zone starts coming in the defensive end. Adding 11 points in 78 games as well, Cole is in line for a deal similar to the one-year, $3MM pact that brought him to the Canucks last summer. He turned 35 in February, so he can take a 35+ contract with performance bonuses to lower his cap hit artificially if Vancouver wants to bring him back but runs out of space. However, if he meets his performance bonuses and the Canucks can’t afford to accommodate them, they’ll be applied as a cap penalty in 2025-26.
F Dakota Joshua – A Maple Leafs draft pick back in 2014, Joshua has been on a steady rise since they moved his rights to the Blues shortly before the pandemic. He parlayed that into an everyday role with the Canucks upon reaching Group Six UFA status in 2022 and had a career year this season, posting 18 goals and 32 points in only 63 games while costing just $825K against the cap. He averaged solid third-line minutes at 14:23 per game and had nearly all of his production come at even strength, notching only one power-play point. The 28-year-old had positive relative possession numbers, too. Unfortunately, that means he’s one of the likelier candidates to have priced himself out of Vancouver, earning himself a multi-million dollar raise wherever he signs this summer.
F Elias Lindholm – The Canucks gave up quite a haul for Lindholm at the end of January, giving the Flames a large package that included a first-round pick and middle-six sniper Andrei Kuzmenko to acquire the 2022 Selke Trophy finalist. His performance in the regular season left much to be desired, potting only six goals and 12 points in 26 games after the deal. Still, he exploded back to form in the postseason with 10 points and a +4 rating in 13 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a night, tying for third on the club in scoring. That’s likely repaired a good chunk of his market value after having an extremely underwhelming contract year. After finishing the campaign with 44 points and a -14 rating in 75 games, he won’t command the upward of $8MM per season he left on the table for an extension in Calgary, but he should still get something in the $6MM-$7MM annually on a longer-term deal. Whether that comes in Vancouver or with one of his other expected suitors, namely the Bruins, remains to be seen.
D Tyler Myers – The final season of Myers’ bloated five-year, $30MM deal was his best hockey in Vancouver. He dropped down to a second/third-pairing role, averaging under 20 minutes per game for the first time in his lengthy career, but responded with 29 points and a 49.8% expected goals share at 5-on-5, his best as a Canuck. Vancouver and Myers would both like to see him back in a Canucks uniform next season, something they should be able to get done at a significant pay cut from his previous $6MM cap hit as he enters his age-34 season.
D Nikita Zadorov – Also an in-season trade pickup from Calgary, Zadorov quickly became a fan favorite in Vancouver and was, bar none, their second-best defenseman in the playoffs behind Quinn Hughes. The towering Russian rattled off four goals and eight points in 13 postseason contests, averaging over 20 minutes per game after logging 17:04 per game in the regular season after the trade. Reports indicate his camp is asking for a six-year deal at $6MM annually – likely too rich for the Canucks’ taste (or anybody’s taste, for that matter). If his camp gets the sense that he won’t be able to achieve that figure on the open market, it wouldn’t surprise anybody to see this generation’s Big Z end up back in Vancouver.
Other UFAs: F Teddy Blueger, G Casey DeSmith, F Sheldon Dries, D Mark Friedman, D Matt Irwin, F Sam Lafferty, G Zach Sawchenko
Projected Cap Space
The Canucks enter the summer with roughly $23.75MM in cap space. However,h they’re likely operating with an internal figure closer to $26.25MM with the final season of defenseman Tucker Poolman‘s contract slated for long-term injured reserve again in 2024-25. It’s a solid chunk of change – they’re still below the $64.7MM floor for next season – but the space will disappear quickly as they have likely $13-15MM committed to either re-signing Hronek and Lindholm or for their replacements.
Take another $5MM out for what Zadorov will likely command for an extension at this stage, and it’s clear not everyone on this list will be back next season. They have a solid chance of retaining most of their expiring talent, but whether they want to pay market value for someone like Lindholm or look for a more undervalued replacement on the open market remains to be seen. Expect General Manager of the Year Award finalist Patrik Allvin to be one of the busier GMs this offseason as he navigates what could be a fair amount of roster turnover for the defending Pacific Division champions.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Blackhawks Agree To Entry-Level Deal With Martin Misiak
The Blackhawks have signed forward Martin Misiak to a three-year entry-level contract, per a team announcement. His deal will count as $878.3K against the cap and keep him in the Hawks’ system through at least 2027.
Misiak, still just 19, was the last of three second-round selections Chicago made in last year’s draft at 55th overall. The stocky Slovak winger spent this season south of the border with the OHL’s Erie Otters, finishing sixth on the team in scoring with 47 points (23 goals, 24 assists) in 60 games with a -14 rating.
He wasn’t drafted out of the OHL, though, meaning the NHL-CHL transfer agreement doesn’t apply to him, and he can be assigned to AHL Rockford full-time next season without issue. He split his draft year between HC Nove Zamky in the Slovak Extraliga and the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, leaving his home country midseason to make his North American junior debut.
It was somewhat of a rocky post-draft year for Misiak, who many viewed as a third- or fourth-round pick instead of a second-round selection. He did make his professional debut on a tryout contract with Rockford to end the season, posting a shot on goal in a 3-2 overtime win on April 21. He also represented his country at the 2024 World Juniors, posting three assists and a -4 rating in five games.
The 6’1″ sniper will attempt to fit in as one of the younger players in the Rockford lineup next season, turning 20 during training camp. He becomes the 30th player under contract for Chicago next season and will be a restricted free agent when his deal expires.
Oilers’ Troy Stecher Out For Season With Ankle Injury, Requires Surgery
While Oilers defenseman Troy Stecher hasn’t played in the postseason, it was widely assumed he’s been a healthy scratch. That isn’t the case, as Jason Gregor of Sports 1440 reports he’s out with an ankle injury and will require offseason surgery.
Stecher, 30, has sparingly practiced with the team since last dressing in their regular-season finale against the Avalanche over a month ago. The Oilers downgraded from a fourth-round pick to a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft to acquire him from the Coyotes at the trade deadline for added injury insurance on the blue line.
Unfortunately, he won’t get a chance to play in his first playoff contest since 2022 with the Kings. The Vancouver-area native had two assists and a +4 rating in seven games with Edmonton after the trade while averaging 16 minutes per game, proving he would have been a reliable option to insert into the playoff lineup if necessary.
It’s not good timing for offseason surgery for Stecher, who’s a pending unrestricted free agent after completing the $1.1MM deal he signed last summer. If he’s able to land another NHL deal and build on his 494-game career, he likely won’t sign until closer to training camps after rehabbing from his procedure – unless the Oilers opt to bring him back next season and re-sign him before July 1.
Stecher’s absence leaves 22-year-old Philip Broberg as the top option to enter the lineup if Edmonton loses a defenseman to injury or suspension. The 6’3″, 200-lb Swede was the eighth overall pick in 2019 and spent most of the season on assignment to AHL Bakersfield, where he excelled with 38 points and a +11 rating in 49 contests. He’s made 10 postseason appearances for the Oilers across their 2022 and 2023 runs but averaged just 6:31 per game.
Teams Interested In Acquiring Jet Greaves From Blue Jackets
AHL All-Star netminder Jet Greaves is heading toward restricted free agency this summer without a contract in hand, leading some teams to express interest in acquiring his signing rights from the Blue Jackets, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
Greaves’ 2023-24 season was a breakout campaign for the third-year pro, who Columbus signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He excelled in the starting role for AHL Cleveland, posting a .910 SV% and 30-12-4 record in 46 games to guide the Monsters to their first playoff appearance in five years.
That showing earned the 23-year-old a bit of an extended NHL run when injured affected either Elvis Merzļikins or Daniil Tarasov. He made eight starts this season and one relief appearance, compiling an above-average .908 SV% with a 3.49 GAA. Despite his limited action, his 3.9 goals saved above expected led all CBJ netminders, per MoneyPuck.
He’s been even more lights-out with Cleveland during their Calder Cup Playoffs run, putting up a .951 SV%, 1.39 GAA and one shutout in six playoff contests thus far. The Monsters are 6-1 through their two best-of-five series wins, and Greaves is now gearing up for a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final against the regular-season champion Hershey Bears beginning Thursday.
It makes sense that there’s a fair amount of optimism that he could be ready for a full-time backup role as soon as next season. As of now, though, there’s not a clear path toward consistent playing time in Columbus, with Merzļikins and Tarasov both under contract. Merzļikins will be on the trade block this summer, but with three years remaining on his contract at a $5.4MM cap hit, it may be a challenge for incoming front-office hire Don Waddell to move him.
The Blue Jackets are at no risk of losing him for nothing – he’s an RFA, after all, and they’ll retain his signing rights with a qualifying offer next month. But if his trade market rises with a month to go until QOs are due, they’ll likely be able to fetch a decent trade return for his signing rights if he doesn’t want to stay in the Blue Jackets organization.
Kraken Promote Dan Bylsma To Head Coach
May 28: Bylsma was officially announced as the Kraken’s head coaching hire in a release on Tuesday. General manager Ron Francis issued the following statement on his hiring:
Dan is a winner with a proven track record of developing both young and veteran talent, and his leadership will help our team as we move forward. He has had success at every level, winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, earning a Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in 2011, and he led the Firebirds to Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals last year in the team’s first season. He knows our franchise and has worked with several of our NHL players. We are excited to have him behind the bench and guiding our team next season.
May 27: The Kraken are expected to promote Dan Bylsma from their minor-league affiliate to fill their head coaching vacancy, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.
Bylsma, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in his first season behind an NHL bench in 2008-09, has been with the Kraken organization since its inception. He served as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, whom they shared as their affiliate with the Panthers in their inaugural season, before being named the head coach of their current affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.
After winning in Pittsburgh, he stayed on as their head coach until being fired after the 2013-14 season. He took one year off before landing his second NHL head coaching gig with the Sabres, a post he held for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.
The 53-year-old has a career regular-season record of 320-190-55 (.615 winning percentage), including a pair of sub-.500 seasons with the Sabres in the early days of their attempted Jack Eichel-led rebuild. He also had a strong 43-35 (.551) playoff record in his six seasons with the Pens, advancing past the first round four times.
Friedman indicated on Monday’s episode of “32 Thoughts: The Podcast” that things were trending toward Bylsma landing the gig. Kraken assistant Jay Leach was also reportedly being considered for an internal promotion, advancing along with Bylsma to the second round of interviews. Former Wild coach Dean Evason and ex-Kings bench boss Todd McLellan, who were both fired midseason, were also connected to the job as late as last week.
Bylsma takes over as the second head coach in franchise history. The Kraken relieved Dave Hakstol, who led them to one postseason appearance through their first three seasons, of his duties last month.
Unlike his days in Pittsburgh or Buffalo, Bylsma takes control over a roster without a star number-one center. Matthew Beniers may be on his way there after winning the Calder Trophy in 2023, but a difficult season production-wise (15 goals, 37 points in 77 games) this year has tempered expectations.
Perhaps no one will be more affected by Bylsma’s hiring than 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright. After a rocky draft year and a tumultuous 2022-23 campaign, the 20-year-old has excelled in Coachella Valley under Bylsma in his first professional season. The Ontario-born pivot had 47 points in 59 regular-season games and has added five points in six playoff games thus far.
Blues Sign Aleksanteri Kaskimaki To Entry-Level Deal
11:49 a.m.: Kaskimäki’s deal carries a cap hit of $870K, PuckPedia reports. It will be paid out via a base salary of $775K, a signing bonus of $95K, a potential games played bonus of $80K, and a minors salary of $82.5K each season.
The Blues announced Tuesday that they’ve signed forward Aleksanteri Kaskimäki to a three-year entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Kaskimäki, 20, was the 73rd overall selection in the 2022 draft by St. Louis and has spent the two years since developing in his native Finland. All of the 6-foot, 192-lb center’s professional experience has come with the Liiga’s HIFK, scoring 14 goals and 26 points in 93 games dating back to his debut in the 2021-22 campaign.
2023-24 was a solid campaign for Kaskimäki, who managed to hit the 10-goal mark in 48 games despite being limited to bottom-six minutes, receiving customarily low usage for developing prospects in European pro leagues. The Espoo native is good at using his speed to carry the puck through the neutral zone and has an accurate shot, something the Blues hope leads to good possession play and decent depth scoring in a bottom-six role down the line.
Kaskimäki was on Finland’s roster for the past two World Junior Championships. He had two goals and two assists in seven games at the 2024 event after going pointless in five games the year prior, although the Finns failed to medal in back-to-back years for the first time since 2017 and 2018.
He’s still likely a ways away from cracking an NHL roster. Since he was under contract with HIFK next season, he could very well spend 2024-25 on loan to his Finnish club. His ELC will run out after the 2026-27 campaign, and he’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry.
Latest On The Coaching Market
The Sharks have the lone remaining head coaching vacancy in the league, as the Kraken are expected to officially name Dan Bylsma their next bench boss on Tuesday. It’ll soon be zero, though, as The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports San Jose is entering the final stages of their search. AHL Ontario bench boss Marco Sturm is among the finalists for the position, Pagnotta said, also confirming a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman yesterday that assistant Ryan Warsofsky also advanced to the second stage of interviews.
There’s also been some smoke around former Red Wings coach and current Lightning assistant Jeff Blashill for the role, with Friedman also saying yesterday that he had a second interview with the club in the past few days. But for the three remaining coaches on the market who were fired from their posts during this season – Dean Evason, Todd McLellan and Jay Woodcroft – it looks like there aren’t enough seats left for them on the coaching carousel.
That could change soon, though. With the Blue Jackets expected to appoint former Hurricanes GM Don Waddell as their top hockey operations executive early this week, there’s a chance the team may look to overhaul their staff further by parting ways with head coach Pascal Vincent, who has one season left on his contract. Columbus struggled to just 66 points under Vincent this season after he took over early in training camp with Mike Babcock resigning, and the first-year bench boss often drew criticism for the lack of playing time awarded to top prospects like David Jiříček and Kent Johnson.
As Pagnotta points out, there are also assistant coach openings with the Ducks, Flames, Jets, Kings, Kraken, Maple Leafs, Penguins and Senators, who have yet to resolve some minor bench changes they made earlier this offseason. There are also AHL head coaching jobs available with the Kraken’s, Penguins’, Rangers’ and Sabres’ affiliates.
Another name that could join Evason et al. in contention for those minor bench openings is current Sharks assistant Brian Wiseman, who Pagnotta says is drawing interest from other clubs. The 52-year-old was on David Quinn‘s staff for the past two seasons in San Jose and served as an assistant for the Oilers for three years prior. Of course, that would leave the Sharks with an additional assistant vacancy – something they may end up with anyway if Warsofsky is their head coaching choice.
Trade Interest Rising In Tanner Jeannot
Before last year’s deadline, the Lightning pulled off one of the most controversial trades in recent memory by unloading five draft picks and defense prospect Callan Foote to acquire middle-six winger Tanner Jeannot from the Predators. Now, after an extremely underwhelming tenure in Tampa, he appears to be on the block again, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on “32 Thoughts: The Podcast” on Monday.
Friedman called him “a name to watch” in the coming weeks as the Lightning aim to up their available cap space in an effort to keep captain Steven Stamkos from reaching unrestricted free agency. He didn’t firmly name any clubs as being connected to Jeannot thus far. However, he did report that multiple interested parties believe his 24-goal campaign in Nashville two years ago is more representative of his long-term ceiling than his fourth-line caliber play in Tampa. He and “32 Thoughts” cohost Jeff Marek named the Flames as a speculative trade destination but stopped short of saying they have an interest in Jeannot.
The 6’2″, 207-lb power forward never seemed to gel with the Bolts, only scoring a goal and three assists in 20 games down the stretch after his acquisition in 2022-23. He struggled with injuries in their first-round loss to the Maple Leafs, too, only making three appearances with no points and a -2 rating.
That limited his value when he was up for a new contract last summer – a bit of a blessing for the Lightning, who have been strapped for salary cap space throughout most of their recent championship contention window. A restricted free agent at the time, he inked a two-year, $5.33MM deal. He has a 16-team no-trade list that kicks in on July 1, something that will ramp up their efforts to move him by the 2024 NHL Draft at the end of next month if general manager Julien BriseBois places him on the block in earnest.
Trading Jeannot without taking any NHL roster players back would open up an additional $2.665MM in cap space for Tampa, bringing their total projected cap space next season up to $7.7MM. That’s likely enough space to re-sign Stamkos if he takes a realistic discount. Expecting him to take closer to $4MM per season extension, a necessity with their current cap situation, undercuts his market value by roughly 50 percent.
Even if teams are optimistic about Jeannot rebounding back to 20-goal, 40-point form, his trade value won’t be high. He posted just seven goals and 14 points with a -10 rating in 55 games this season and is entering the final season of his contract while being a UFA upon expiry. That won’t be a major concern for BriseBois, though, who’s moving him as a pure cap dump. The club was in a similar situation two offseasons ago with defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who they re-acquired last week, dealing him to the Preds for a pair of minor-league players.
Jeannot turns 27 on Wednesday. An undrafted free agent signing by Nashville in 2018, he has 42 goals, 38 assists, 80 points, a -9 rating, and 314 PIMs in 227 career games since making his debut in 2021.
Offseason Checklist: Philadelphia Flyers
The offseason has arrived for all but a handful of teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Philadelphia.
It was a season of extremes for the Flyers. Expected to be a bottom-five team in the league at the beginning of the year, they were well above .500 and in solid playoff position come mid-January. A 13-14-5 stretch after the All-Star break ultimately cost them their first postseason berth since 2020, though. It was still a step forward overall under head coach John Tortorella, who ended up getting some outside consideration for the Jack Adams Award and helped the Flyers to an over-.500 season after two seasons below the demarcation line. They played good defensive hockey for most of the season, helping support overmatched and overworked rookie Samuel Ersson between the pipes after he was forced into starting action in January with Carter Hart facing sexual assault charges. Now, they need to figure out how to keep the forward momentum in the rebuild going.
Make A Call On Konecny
Travis Konecny currently projects to be one of the better right wings available on the unrestricted free-agent market in 2025 after leading the Flyers in scoring for three straight seasons. He didn’t hit the point-per-game mark in 2023-24 like he did last season, but he did up his scoring with a career-high 33 goals. The 2015 24th overall pick has now spent eight seasons in a Philly jersey, giving them 400 points in 564 appearances.
He becomes eligible to sign an extension on July 1, but it hasn’t always been the smoothest ride for Konecny with the Flyers. While he’s largely remained in Tortorella’s good graces, he was pushed down the lineup at times earlier in his career despite being one of their better producers. Has two seasons of roughly 20 minutes per game of ice time erased those memories?
Philly isn’t a bonafide playoff team next season, but they’re expected to be in the conversation again. General manager Daniel Brière needs to make a call on whether to begin extension talks with Konecny this summer or if he wants to wait until further into the 2024-25 season to handle it. If things go off the rails early, Konecny could net them quite a favorable trade haul, even as a rental.
Entering his age-27 season, Konecny likely is what he is at this point. Evolving Hockey projects him to receive an eight-year deal at roughly $8.75MM per season if he signs an extension upon becoming eligible this summer. It would make him their highest-paid player and seems to be fair dollar value for his recent point production, but if he feels he may be able to land more on the open market with the salary cap set to increase again in 2025, he may bet on himself and wait until further into the season to sign or reject an extension offer.
Add Defensive Depth
The Flyers got some of their offseason work done closer to the trade deadline, inking serviceable shutdown man Nick Seeler to a four-year, $10.8MM extension. But elder statesmen Erik Johnson and Marc Staal are both set to be UFAs and unlikely to be back.
Even with RFA Yegor Zamula penciled in for a spot next year, that leaves a couple of openings on the Flyers’ roster for defensive adds. One of them could be filled internally – both Emil Andrae and Ronald Attard had strong seasons with AHL Lehigh Valley and will be in consideration for spots on next year’s opening night list.
A big UFA splash is unlikely, given where they’re at in their rebuild, but a decent second or third-pairing depth add should be expected. They have their puck-moving core set up well for the present with Jamie Drysdale, Travis Sanheim and Cameron York, but a defensive depth name like Calvin de Haan, Jani Hakanpää or Ilya Lyubushkin could make sense to help round out their D-corps.
Get Johansen Clarity
Brière was likely planning on buying out the final season of Ryan Johansen‘s albatross contract when he took it off the hands of the Avalanche in the Sean Walker trade at the deadline, but that likely won’t be possible. Medical testing after the trade (which wasn’t made contingent on Johansen passing a physical) confirmed he was dealing with a hip injury, and he didn’t play for the Flyers or their AHL affiliate after the trade while rehabbing.
There’s no indication he’s recovered from the ailment, and he can’t be bought out if he’s not cleared to play. Expect them to maintain contact with Johansen and have him undergo testing in the coming weeks so they can attempt to buy him out during the first available window, which opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Final ends (or June 15, whichever is later).
Otherwise, they’ll be on the hook for half of his $8MM cap hit – the Predators retained $4MM when trading him to Colorado last summer. Ideally, if he can’t be bought out, he won’t be cleared to play in the fall either and can be placed on long-term injured reserve to begin the season. After the acquisition, Brière confirmed he didn’t envision Johansen ever suiting up for the squad. The 13-year vet had just 23 points in 63 games for the Avs prior to the trade, not missing any time with his proclaimed hip injury.
Don’t Backslide
After exceeding expectations last year, 2024-25 will be key in proving the Brière/Tortorella rebuild doesn’t involve a “one step forward, two steps back” path back to contention.
Continued playoff contention next season could be made much easier by the arrival of 2023 seventh-overall pick Matvei Michkov. Underdrafted largely due to concerns about his contract in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League – he was signed through the 2025-26 season with SKA St. Petersburg – there’s now talk of him buying out the remainder of his contract and joining the Flyers this summer.
Michkov, 19, is likely NHL-ready. He had 41 points in 47 games last season while loaned out to KHL bottom-feeder HK Sochi, finishing second on the team in scoring despite only playing about two-thirds of the season.
A season with a record similar to this year is likely acceptable, given where most of the Flyers’ prospects are in their development, but steps forward from hopeful long-term ancillary pieces like Drysdale on defense and Ivan Fedotov in the crease will be major boxes to check off.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.