The eight-year, $62MM contract extension that the Flyers and center Sean Couturier agreed on last week appeared to be a bit of a bargain considering what top pivots have been getting and the scarcity of impact centers hitting the open market. Speaking with reporters, including Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Couturier suggested that he left some money on the table, saying that he didn’t want to “break the bank”, calling it “another way to try to help the team”. Speculatively speaking, given that GM Chuck Fletcher called the 28-year-old their best player right now, it will be worth monitoring to see if they try to make Couturier’s contract the ceiling in terms of their contract hierarchy.
Flyers Rumors
Prospect Notes: Tuomaala, Mercuri, St. Louis
Philadelphia Flyers fans could get a closer look at recent second-round pick Samu Tuomaala much sooner than expected. Speaking at the team’s development camp today, Tuomaala told the media including The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor that he will be playing in North America this season. The Finnish forward actually hopes to play in the AHL (or NHL), but if not will suit up for the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, his CHL right holder. O’Connor speculates that a decision could be made shortly, with it being more likely he plays junior rather than pro as an 18-year-old, but Tuomaala could have the opportunity to change minds in training camp as well. The No. 46 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, Tuomaala was a first-round caliber talent. A gifted shooter with speed and aggression, the only knocks on Tuomaala are his size and hockey IQ both of which could hinder him in the AHL and hurt his development. Sometime pure talent comes out on top though. Keep an eye on Tuomaala this fall.
- Do the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs know something that no one else does? Or are they simply enamored with a 2020 Carolina draft pick? The Sea Dogs have announced that they have acquired Hurricanes prospect Lucas Mercuri as well as fellow forward Olivier Picard and a 2024 seventh-round pick from the Val-d’Or Foreurs in exchange for a 2022 second-round pick and 2024 fifth-round pick. This trade would be more than fair given Mercuri’s ability (36 points in 45 USHL games last year) if not for one crucial detail: Mercuri is committed to UMass and is expected to play in the NCAA this season. There has been no word to the contrary, as by all accounts Mercuri is enrolling in Amherst and playing for the Minutemen this year. After spending the past three years in U.S. playing prep school hockey in Connecticut and then suiting up for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers last season, it certainly seems that the Montreal native is committed to an NCAA development path. So then why give up a top pick? The answer is not Picard, who has 15 points in 77 career QMJHL games, so Saint John either sees enough in the upside of Mercuri to take a shot or they have inside information about a potential unexpected move to the major junior ranks.
- A new Boston collegiate rivalry is brewing. Lucas St. Louis, son of Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis, has committed to play his college hockey at Harvard. St. Louis’ USHL team, the Dubuque Fighting Saints, announced that their incoming recruit has made his commitment to the Crimson, though the 16-year-old will very likely play at least two USHL seasons before joining Harvard in 2023-24. However, older brother Ryan St. Louis will still be in town, as he is joining Northeastern this season. A graduate of the USNTDP and a surprise absence from the 2021 NHL Draft, St. Louis is a major recruit for the Huskies and could be drafted in 2022 but will very likely play all four years at Northeastern. That will provide some crossover for the brothers as they compete for cross-town rivals. Though Harvard and Northeastern do not share a conference, they do compete in the Beanpot Tournament each year and could easily have scheduled non-conference matchups or NCAA Tournament regional clashes. The sons of an electrifying NHLer, the St. Louis brothers bear watching over the next several years, both as college contributors and potential future pros.
Flyers Will Wait To Negotiate Extension With Claude Giroux
The Philadelphia Flyers locked up Sean Couturier today a year before he reached free agency, but they won’t be doing the same for captain Claude Giroux. When GM Chuck Fletcher spoke with the media about the contract, he indicated that he would be waiting until after the season to speak about a new deal with Giroux. He didn’t mince words when explaining why the Couturier deal happened so early:
Fletcher did suggest that the relationship between the Flyers and Giroux could continue beyond this season, but both sides are happy to wait and see how the year plays out before making any decisions. The 33-year-old Giroux has played his entire career to this point in Philadelphia and had 43 points in 54 games this season. His eight-year, $66.2MM contract that was signed in 2013 will expire at the end of 2021-22, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Philadelphia Flyers Extend Sean Couturier
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed star center Sean Couturier to an eight-year contract extension that will start in the 2022-23 season. Couturier has one more season on his current deal and would have been an unrestricted free agent next summer. The new extension will carry an average annual value of $7.75MM and runs through 2029-30. Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press reports that it will include a full no-movement clause in the first seven years, and a Couturier will be required to submit a 10-team trade list in the final season. Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher released a statement on the deal:
We are excited to announce Sean’s long term extension with the Flyers today. As one of the premier two-way centers in the NHL, Sean has the rare talent to shut down opposing team’s top players while also contributing at a high offensive level. Throughout his 10 year career with the Flyers, he has proven to be the ultimate teammate. He carries an enormous presence inside our dressing room due to his preparation, determination and drive to win.
CapFriendly provides the full contract breakdown:
- 2022-23: $1.75MM salary + $6.0MM signing bonus
- 2023-24: $4.0MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus
- 2024-25: $4.0MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus
- 2025-26: $4.0MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus
- 2026-27: $1.75MM salary + $6.0MM signing bonus
- 2027-28: $1.5MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus
- 2028-29: $1.5MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus
- 2029-30: $1.5MM salary + $5.0MM signing bonus
There’s absolutely no doubt that Couturier is one of the Flyers’ most important (if not the most important) players, and every day that passed was getting him closer to unrestricted free agency. Still, this is a huge commitment for the Philadelphia front office, given that he’ll turn 30 just a few months into the first year of the extension.
Currently 28, Couturier is one of the most effective two-way centers in the entire league and took home the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive player in 2020. He has received votes for the award in nine of ten seasons and has been a finalist in the past. When his offense took a huge step forward in 2017 it turned him from a strong checking forward to a true top-line center, capable of near point-per-game production. He has hit the 30+ goal mark twice, posted a career-high of 76 points in two seasons, and registered 41 points in 45 games this year. There are only a handful of players in the league who can impact the game as much as Couturier, given how effective he is in all three zones.
Still, while this deal may be a bargain in the next few years, it’s hard to expect Couturier to keep up his level of play throughout. He’s now signed for the entire decade and already has more than 700 NHL games under his belt playing a relatively physical style of hockey. There’s no telling what his decline phase will look like, but a deal of this length could become an issue if his offensive production falters even a little bit.
That’s a problem for the future though, as the Flyers try to capitalize on this core and compete for the Stanley Cup. The team went out and revamped the defensive group, bringing in Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen and Keith Yandle this offseason, and swapped a pair of veteran forwards by sending Jakub Voracek to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Cam Atkinson. With Claude Giroux signed for just one more season, James Van Riemsdyk under contract for just two, the time is now for the Flyers to strike.
The $7.75MM cap hit ties him with young Andrei Svechnikov, who signed a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes earlier today, for the 49th highest in the league for 2022-23. He will likely be knocked a few spots down by other extensions and contracts, but that’s likely a number that Couturier could have eclipsed on the open market, had he waited. That obviously wouldn’t have come with the eight-year term though, something that likely gives him security through the end of his career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Derick Brassard Signs With Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have found another depth forward to add to the mix, signing Derick Brassard to a one-year deal. It will cost the team just $825K at the NHL level, meaning Brassard is making barely more than the league minimum this season as he looks to continue his career.
Brassard, 33, is certainly well known to the Philadelphia coaching staff, having played several years for Alain Vigneault with the New York Rangers. In fact, those years in New York were the best of his career, posting highs of 60 points and 27 goals. Those are numbers Brassard hasn’t come close to in recent years, including 2020-21 when he had just eight goals and 20 points in 53 games for the Arizona Coyotes.
Still, you do worse than a veteran of 905 regular season games for $825K. Brassard has more than 500 career points, has experience at both center and wing, and has suited up 117 times in the postseason. For a Flyers team hoping young players like Morgan Frost can take a step forward this season, Brassard represents a nice insurance policy.
The overall makeup of the Philadelphia roster is a lot different than a year ago. Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen, Keith Yandle, Cam Atkinson, and now Brassard have all been added, giving the team a huge boost of experience. Whether they are actually better than a year ago remains to be seen, but GM Chuck Fletcher is certainly not sitting on his hands after a disappointing year.
For Brassard, it’s been a steady downhill ride in terms of salary since he finished his five-year, $25MM contract in 2019. He signed a one-year, $1.2MM contract in 2019-20, a $1.0MM deal in 2020-21, and now an $825K contract this season. If he has anything left, he actually could provide a nice little bit of excess value on this cheap deal. If not, there’s not much risk for the Flyers.
More Moves Forthcoming For The Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers find themselves at the top of the news cycle today after signing defenseman Travis Sanheim to a new deal prior to arbitration. It’s an important deal for the team, as they’ve assured one of their best young players is under contract for the next two seasons.
But with his $4.675MM cap hit come some financial consequences for the Eastern Conference squad. The signing puts them roughly $650,000 over the salary cap Upper Limit of $81.5MM. While perfectly legal during the offseason, Philadelphia won’t be able to carry a full 23-man roster into the season as it stands. The good news is that the team and general manager Chuck Fletcher have two main options to become cap-compliant, but each of those carries some consequences of its own.
The easiest option would be to purely not carry the full 23-man roster with three healthy scratches. Philadelphia has three fringe players, all forwards, currently listed on the 23-man roster who aren’t waiver-eligible: Tanner Laczynski, Jackson Cates, and Morgan Frost. It’s easy enough to send one or two of these younger players down to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, creating a cap-compliant opening night roster for Philadelphia. But there’s a certain risk that comes with the convenience of the situation, most notably demonstrated last season by a similar salary cap dance performed by the Vegas Golden Knights. Since having a 22-man roster with just one of these players sent down still only leaves them with $200,000 to $300,000 in cap space, a barrage of short-term injuries could easily force Philadelphia to ice a shorthanded game roster of fewer than 18 skaters. However, if Fletcher feels as though it’s a risk he’s willing to take in order to maintain the strength of his current healthy roster, it’s still a very viable course of action for the Flyers.
The more complex and unlikely option is an additional trade. The Flyers already made one large cap-clearing transaction this summer, dealing Jakub Voracek to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Cam Atkinson. But as additional relief is needed after Sanheim’s contract, both James van Riemsdyk and/or Travis Konecny could find their way back onto the trade block. Konecny was rumored heavily to be on the move over the past few seasons after falling out of favor at times with head coach Alain Vigneault. His younger age and lower cap hit as compared to van Riemsdyk would likely make him the more attractive option in a trade for teams looking to deal. van Riemsdyk carries significant upside of his own, though, despite his age. He’s still an extremely competent scorer, potting 43 points in 56 games this season. His $7MM cap hit could be tough to swallow for some teams, though, unless it’s more of a true hockey trade like the Voracek deal.
What’s for certain is that Philadelphia will need to make a few changes before they’re ready to go for opening night. While the scale of these are unknown, Philadelphia will look to enter the 2021-22 season with a much-needed refresh to the team’s roster.
All salary cap figures come from CapFriendly.com.
Flyers Agree To Terms With Travis Sanheim
There won’t be an arbitration hearing this year after all. Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim was the last arbitration-bound player without a contract but that has changed as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the blueliner has agreed to a two-year deal with a $4.675MM AAV. PuckPedia reports that the structure of the deal is as follows:
2021-22: $4MM salary
2022-23: $5.35MM salary
The 25-year-old inked a two-year bridge contract two summers ago coming off a career-best 35-point season and at the time, it was expected that he’d continue his ascent and ideally become a top-pairing-caliber blueliner for Philadelphia. That didn’t exactly happen, however. In particular, Sanheim struggled last season, notching just 15 points in 55 games despite logging 21:53 per game (also a career-high) with some struggles in his own end. There is no doubt that Sanheim is still a big part of their future but the exact role isn’t as certain as it appeared to be.
That’s where this deal comes in. The two-year term basically amounts to a second bridge deal, allowing both the Flyers and Sanheim more time to assess his long-term value and role. Notably, it also walks him to unrestricted free agency in 2023. That’s hardly an ideal scenario for Philadelphia but when they elected to take him to arbitration earlier this month, it created the situation for this to happen as Sanheim simply could have elected the two-year term and taken his chances with the arbitrator. They get to avoid the hearing with this contract but he’ll still be able to hit the open market in his first eligible year.
Sanheim should remain behind Ivan Provorov on the left side of a new-look Philadelphia back end that now features Ryan Ellis who was brought in from Nashville plus veteran Keith Yandle to replace the offense that Shayne Gostisbehere provided as he was moved in a cap-clearing move to Arizona.
There won’t be any more shakeups coming for the Flyers, however, at least not without matching money. This move basically eats up all of their remaining cap space and will likely see them carrying less than the maximum of 23 skaters to start the season. But with the changes on the back end and the addition of Cam Atkinson up front, GM Chuck Fletcher got the core shakeup he wanted and with Sanheim signing, has his full roster under contract. Will it be enough to get back to the playoffs in what projects to be a tight Metropolitan Division? We’ll find out soon enough once the season gets underway.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Philadelphia Flyers Sign Connor Bunnaman
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed one of their restricted free agents, inking Connor Bunnaman to a two-year contract. The deal will be one-way, but carries just a $750K average annual value.
Bunnaman, 23, has played 39 games for the Flyers to this point, but has just one goal and three assists. The fourth-round pick posted plenty of offense in his first year in the AHL, but even that has disappeared in recent seasons. If he’s to ever be an impact player for Philadelphia, it’ll have to come on the defensive side of the puck as a bottom-six checking center. A full-time position even in that role seems unlikely this season, but he’ll still probably play a good number of games as an injury replacement or rotating into the fourth line on occasion.
The fact that Bunnaman is waiver-eligible now doesn’t really make much of a difference, since he will likely clear if sent to the minor leagues. Perhaps the Flyers will use him in a similar role as last season, bouncing up and down between the AHL and NHL whenever needed. In fact, signing for the minimum actually could help his case when it comes to NHL playing time. Many of the other Flyers’ depth forwards are carrying slightly higher cap hits, meaning if they get into a crunch, the difference between $925K and $750K could be very important. At the very worst, he has secured a good paycheck for the next two years even if he’s in the AHL.
Philadelphia has just one restricted free agent left to sign–Travis Sanheim, who is scheduled for an arbitration hearing later this month.
Olle Lycksell Loaned To Sweden
It’s back to Sweden for young forward Olle Lycksell, who has been loaned back to Vaxjo of the SHL for the 2021-22 campaign. Lycksell signed his two-year entry-level contract with the Flyers in May and will burn the first year regardless of where he plays.
Now 21, Lycksell was actually a sixth-round pick of the Flyers back in 2017 and would have seen his exclusive draft rights expire if he didn’t sign before June this year. The undersized forward has done well enough in his three-plus years at the SHL level that he was worth a contract slot though, especially after a promising 2020-21 campaign with Farjestad BK. He matched his goal and point totals–nine and 21 respectively–from the year prior, but did it in just 46 games this time. That progression is encouraging, though he’s obviously not ready for the NHL at this point.
This is a flier by the Flyers, hoping that Lycksell finds a way to overcome his size weakness and show he can put up big numbers in his fifth professional season. Though there could potentially be a place for him in Philadelphia’s bottom-six because of his positional versatility, the scoring ability will have to be there if he’s not bringing any size or physicality. With excellent hands and puck skills, perhaps he breaks out this year and really shows he can be a dominant offensive player in the SHL, but until that happens, an NHL roster spot is still a distant thought.
Philadelphia Flyers Extend ECHL Affiliation
The Reading Royals and Philadelphia Flyers have announced an extension to their affiliation agreement, continuing a partnership that began in 2014. Along with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, Reading and Philadelphia form the “closest geographical chain of affiliates in professional hockey,” giving the organizations some obvious benefits. The agreement, which covers just 2021-22 also includes an option for the 2022-23 season.