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Flyers Notes: Coaching Search, Ristolainen, Ersson

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At the end of March, it was confirmed that the Philadelphia Flyers will be among several teams seeking a new head coach this summer. Considering this, Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia provided various updates regarding the Flyers’ head coaching search as summer approaches.

First, Hall reported that the Flyers are not following a strict timeline for their search, and they will conduct all research internally instead of hiring an external firm for assistance. They’ll start their research at the base level, as Hall indicated that Philadelphia hasn’t begun making a short list yet. Still, General Manager Daniel Brière confirmed Brad Shaw will be interviewed after serving as the team’s interim head coach for the last month of the regular season.

According to Jackie Spiegel of The Philadelphia Inquirer, unfortunately, the hottest name on the coaching market, David Carle of the University of Denver, isn’t considered a serious candidate for the job. Hall shared that Brière would like to start adding to the team rather than subtracting from it, and that change in philosophy should affect their eventual hire. Given the mixture of youth and veterans on the roster, the Flyers will want to find a coach who can blend development with contention.

To hypothesize, Jay Woodcroft is likely the top available option for coaches with considerable experience with development and the playoffs. Woodcroft guided the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors to a Pacific Division Playoff Championship in 2020-21, before coaching the Edmonton Oilers to the Western Conference Finals a year later.

Other notes from Philadelphia:

  • As reported by Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports, Brière commented on the status of defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, whose season prematurely ended due to an upper-body injury. Unfortunately, Ristolainen’s upper-body issue was confirmed as an arm injury, similar to the one that ended his 2023-24 season in February. Ristolainen underwent surgery to repair the injury and may not start the 2025-26 season on time. As a potential trade candidate for the Flyers heading into the offseason, the recent injury history and delayed start to next year may preclude Philadelphia from receiving any worthwhile offers for their Finnish blueliner.
  • In a separate injury update from Hall, netminder Samuel Ersson admitted to a lingering lower-body injury that plagued him most of the season. Unsurprisingly, something was afflicting Ersson, as he had an up-and-down campaign, which, admittedly, is more than the other Flyers netminders can say. After maintaining a .902 SV% through the first two months of the regular season, Ersson’s SV% dropped to an. .874 mark from December through March.

Flyers’ Daniel Briere Breaks Down Trading Joel Farabee, Acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko

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The Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers recently pulled off a lofty trade that sent close friends Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost up North and struggling wingers Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier back South. The deal is still leaving plenty of wake, which Flyers’ general manager Daniel Briere broke down the deal in a press conference on Saturday, captured by Charlie O’Connor of All Phly and the Phly Flyers Podcast.

Briere started by emphasizing how difficult parting with a pair of roster forwards was. He shared that a slow season was enough to push both players down the depth chart and that they were at risk of losing their spot in the top nine to younger players. Frost ranked fourth on the Flyers in scoring with 25 points in 49 games – putting him on pace to match the 41 points he scored last season. Farabee was far less productive, with just 19 points in 50 games – a far cry from the 50 points he scored last year. While neither player were offensive black holes, they weren’t showing signs of improvement on a Flyers offense looking towards the future, which could have led towards players like Bobby Brink or Tyson Foerster getting the preferred minutes.

But it wasn’t easy for Briere to part with Farabee’s lofty $5MM cap hit. Briere shared that many teams were interested, but that they all wanted the Flyers to retain some part of Farabee’s deal. That would be a hard pill to swallow given Farabee still has three more seasons on his deal, and the Flyers already have a retention spot occupied by Kevin Hayes. Calgary was the only team willing to take on Farabee’s full contract, which may have influenced the overall strength of Philadelphia’s return. Briere emphasized that the biggest asset gained by this swap was cap flexibility, so finding a trade partner with cap space was a top priority. The Flyers leave this deal with a projected $24.3MM in available cap space for this summer, though they’ll have four restricted free agents – Foerster, Pelletier, Cameron York, and Noah Cates.

And while the focus on cap space may have earned Philadelphia a lighter return, they’ve still landed a player to watch. Briere shared that the team was planning to negotiate with Kuzmenko when he entered unrestricted free agency this summer. Kuzmenko has a noted connection with star Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov, having played with the Calder Trophy candidate with the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg in the 2021-22 campaign. Having another compatriot in Philadelphia could be a nice spark for Michkov – but the Flyers will first have to hope Kuzmenko gets past his menial 15 points in 37 games this season. He scored 46 points last year, split between Vancouver and Calgary – a number that’d leave far more impact on the Flyers lineup.

Briere closed by noting that this move was made with the future – particularly this summer – in mind. He says that the Flyers’ rebuild is at the point of aggressively adding to the roster, and the team is hoping to take full advantage of their cap flexibility on the open market. In the meantime, they’ll get a chance to test Kuzmenko’s fit before having to extend him beyond this year – and get the boom-or-bust upside of Pelletier to boot.

Flyers Return Jett Luchanko To OHL

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Few expected prospect center Jett Luchanko to make Philadelphia’s roster in training camp but his training camp performance allowed him to do exactly that.  However, the team has decided that returning to junior is the best move for development; the team announced that they’ve assigned him to OHL Guelph.  GM Daniel Briere released the following statement on the move:

The decision to send Jett back is something we strongly believe is the right path for him and his development. His work-ethic, preparedness and play during training camp and preseason was something we were extremely impressed with and felt he earned the right to make our roster and start the season with us. Ultimately, we feel it is more valuable for Jett to be put in the best possible position to prepare himself for an NHL career, and right now that is with his team in Guelph.

The 18-year-old had a strong showing with the Storm last season, notching 20 goals and 54 assists in 68 regular season games along with three assists in four playoff appearances.  That had him rated by many outlets as a first-round pick outside of the lottery.  But the Flyers felt differently about his upside, ultimately selecting him 13th overall, signing him to an entry-level contract less than two weeks later.

Luchanko got into four preseason games with Philadelphia, picking up two assists and playing his way onto the opening roster.  He suited up in four regular season contests as well – making him the youngest player in the league – but was held off the scoresheet while playing just over 14 minutes per game on average.  However, after being scratched for three of their seven games, it seemed likely that he’d eventually return to junior where he can play significant minutes in all situations and push for a spot at the World Juniors in December.

Since Luchanko won’t get into ten or more NHL contests this season, his contract won’t officially begin this season after all and he will still have three years remaining on it with a slightly lower cap hit heading into 2025-26.  The Flyers now have one vacancy on their active roster and can either promote someone from AHL Lehigh Valley to fill it or operate with 22 players for the time being.

Metropolitan Notes: Pesce, Schmid, Foerster, Ristolainen

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Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff writes that Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has returned to team practice after missing the last two games with an illness. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since last Tuesday and is mired in a seven-game point drought in what has been a disappointing offensive season for the pending unrestricted free agent. Pesce has just three goals and four assists in 41 games after posting a career-high 30 points last season in 82 games. His defensive metrics are still fantastic as Pesce remains the Hurricanes’ best option for the difficult defensive matchups against elite competition.

Pesce could suit up tomorrow night when the Hurricanes travel to Dallas to take on the Stars in their first of three games on the road. Carolina currently sits second in the Metropolitan Division with a 30-16-5 record and has begun to pull away from the teams behind them as they are 7-3 in their last ten games.

In other Metropolitan notes:

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled goaltender Akira Schmid from the Utica Comets of the AHL. Schmid dressed in 15 games for the Devils earlier in the season but struggled to hold onto an NHL job with a 5-7-1 record, a 3.26 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage. Schmid will serve as the likely backup to Nico Daws while Vitek Vanecek is sidelined due to a lower-body injury. Schmid was assigned to the AHL a month ago and has struggled in 12 games going 3-5-4 with an .885 save percentage and a 3.58 goals-against average.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are dealing with a couple of minor injuries as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Tyson Foerster will be sidelined until at least the weekend. Ristolainen has an upper-body injury and Flyers GM Daniel Briere is hoping he will be back by the weekend. Foerster has a lower-body injury and Briere is also hoping he can play this weekend as well. Ristolainen has struggled this season and has just a goal and three assists in 31 games while Foerster has posted career highs with 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games. The Flyers take on the Devils in the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Saturday night.

Philadelphia Flyers Willing To Take On Salary

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Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers are prepared to weaponize their cap space to acquire additional assets. The Flyers begin today with less than $1MM in salary cap space, a number that would translate to roughly $3.9MM at the NHL trade deadline. Now that number might not seem significant, but the Flyers can easily free up over $6MM by placing defenseman Ryan Ellis on LTIR, something they’ve been hesitant to do thus far, but are willing to do to make a trade work.

After years of being slammed up against the salary cap, the Flyers have finally created roster and salary cap flexibility after a summer in which they moved on from veterans Kevin Hayes, Tony DeAngelo, and Ivan Provorov. General Manager Daniel Briere seems fully committed to rebuilding the Flyers and appears willing to take on undesirable contracts in exchange for future assets.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported just two weeks ago that the Flyers were open to taking on Ottawa Senators forward Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95MM cap hit in exchange for a high prospect or a first-round pick, something Ottawa appears uninterested in entertaining. However that could change if they start the season slow without their second and third-line centres.

While a Joseph deal hasn’t materialized the Flyers will likely have their pick of suitors as the flat cap has created a financial landscape in which 19 NHL teams are within $1MM of the salary cap ceiling (including Philadelphia). There are a lot of teams that see themselves as Stanley Cup contenders who will be hard-pressed to make in-season improvements unless they can move out some salary, this is where the Flyers cap space could be leveraged to acquire assets.

The Flyers are early in their rebuild and are at least three or four years away from turning the corner. With that in mind, any contract they take on will probably fall into the one to three-year range similar to the contract they acquired with Cal Petersen. Philadelphia has several of their own undesirable contracts as well as over $5MM in dead cap space for the next few seasons in the DeAngelo buyout and the retained salary on Hayes.

Metro Notes: Killorn, Michkov, Konecny, Toffoli

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Following yesterday’s trade of forward Ross Colton, the Tampa Bay Lightning have again turned their attention towards securing a contract extension for pending unrestricted free agent winger Alex Killorn, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic said last night. Things will likely go down to the wire, but this will be one of the tougher negotiations in recent Lightning history. Killorn has reportedly turned down a longer-term extension offer at a low average annual value.

Moving Colton didn’t clear any cap space for Tampa. He was a pending restricted free agent, though, and the team didn’t have the salary cap flexibility to get an extension done. With the contract of retired defenseman Brent Seabrook on their books providing significant cap relief via long-term injured reserve, the team still has just $7.325MM in projected cap space, per CapFriendly – which will be barely enough to re-sign RFA Tanner Jeannot, re-sign or replace their three UFA wingers including Killorn, and re-sign or replace netminder Brian Elliott as Andrei Vasilevskiy’s backup.

With Killorn being one of the top five UFAs available on this year’s market, it’s highly doubtful Tampa can make him a reasonable offer to stay. It would require quite a creative solution from general manager Julien BriseBois, who’s no stranger to cap gymnastics at this stage in his managerial career.

Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division today:

  • Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere was exuding confidence last night after his decision to draft Matvei Michkov with the seventh overall pick, revealing that he didn’t believe the Russian winger would fall and attempted to trade up. He wasn’t the only one – brand-new Nashville Predators GM Barry Trotz was also reportedly trying to leverage assets to move into the top five of last night’s first round. Briere emphasized that the Flyers’ focus on rebuilding allows them to patiently await Michkov’s potential NHL debut, which could come as late as the 2026-27 season after his three-year contract with KHL team SKA St. Petersburg expires.
  • Staying with the Flyers, LeBrun also mentioned in his midnight column they’ve been receptive to trade offers for winger Travis Konecny, but Briere is inclined to retain him for the upcoming season unless an overwhelming offer emerges. Philadelphia has been the most active team on the trade market thus far in the offseason, already moving Kevin Hayes and Ivan Provorov while still aggressively shopping defenseman Travis Sanheim. The 26-year-old winger matched a career-high in 2022-23 with 61 points and provides high-end contract value at $5.5MM per season through 2025.
  • Lastly, per LeBrun, recently acquired right winger Tyler Toffoli has expressed his desire to begin contract extension talks with the New Jersey Devils at the earliest opportunity. Toffoli, seeking stability after playing for four teams in the past four years, sees the Devils as a team poised for long-term success. However, LeBrun predicts Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald will encourage Toffoli to familiarize himself with the team and market before initiating extension discussions – similar to the team’s approaches with Erik Haula and Timo Meier as recent examples.

Daniel Briere To Consider Trading Carter Hart

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The new General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, Daniel Briere, has acknowledged the possibility that goaltender Carter Hart may be on the move this summer. In a post from Philadelphia Hockey Now, Chuck Bausman reports the quote, where Briere said, “Most likely, Carter will be our goalie for the future, but I’m not in a position to turn down anything, I have to listen.”

After becoming the interim General Manager for the Flyers in March, Briere quickly acknowledged that Philadelphia was headed toward a rebuild. Failing to make the playoffs the last three seasons, Briere will be looking to change up his roster starting this summer.

In all likelihood, Hart will remain the Flyers’ goaltender of the future, but putting out the possibility of a trade to the public should raise some eyebrows. At still only 24 years old, and with Hart only becoming a restricted free agent at the conclusion of his current contract, Hart should be considered a building block in Philadelphia’s rebuilding efforts.

Aside from a disastrous 2020-21 season, Hart has shown to be a quality goaltender in the NHL. This past season, Hart started in 54 games, holding a record of 22-23-10, and posting a .907 SV% and a 2.94 GAA. Especially considering that the Flyers finished 23rd in the league in GA/G, Hart’s production added some much-needed stability to a lineup that his wholly lacking in that department.

If Philadelphia does end up moving on from Hart, factoring in his age, his performance, and the flexibility provided in his contract, there should be plenty of suitors for his services. For context, although not holding two above-average goaltenders like the 2012-13 Vancouver Canucks, the Canucks were able to trade Cory Schneider at the 2013 NHL Draft for the ninth overall pick, which would go on to become Bo Horvat.

Schneider did hold a longer string of success compared to Hart, but considering that Hart is three years younger compared to when Schneider was traded, and they hold similar contracts, the Flyers could conceivably receive a large haul for Hart.

Flyers Hire Keith Jones As President Of Hockey Ops

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May 11: The Flyers have made it official, hiring Jones and removing Briere’s interim tag.

May 10: Sportsnet is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers are set to name Keith Jones as President of Hockey Operations. Elliotte Friedman first broke the news this evening that will see the long-time broadcaster Jones move from the studio to the boardroom. Earlier today Frank Seravalli had reported that the Flyers were down to two options: Ed Olczyk and Keith Jones, with the Flyers electing to go with the latter over the former.

The Flyers are expected to make a formal announcement on Thursday at which time they will also drop the interim tag from Daniel Briere’s general manager position. Jones and Briere will take over from Chuck Fletcher who was fired March 10 as the Flyers were on the cusp of missing the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Jones has been in broadcasting booth or between the benches since 2005 and is currently employed by the NHL on TNT as well as local Philadelphia broadcasts on NBC Sports Philadelphia. He is also a former Flyers player having been with the team for parts of three seasons from 1998-2001.

Jones, Briere, and company have a tall task in front of them. As mentioned earlier the Flyers haven’t made the playoffs in three seasons and have won just a single playoff round in the last 11 years. It’ll be interesting to see the path the Flyers go down and whether Jones and his management group elect to embrace the rebuild that the Flyers have desperately needed for the past half decade. The Flyers don’t have a particularly good prospect pool and haven’t been able to cash in on any of their pending free agents at the last two NHL trade deadlines. Their NHL roster is saddled with several bad contracts, and they are lacking in top end talent. If they do go for a rebuild, it will be long and painful and something that the Flyers organization haven’t had the stomach to do for quite some time.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Scott, Potential GMs/Coaches

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The NHL announced its Three Stars of the Week for March 20 through March 26, with Viktor Arvidsson of the Los Angeles Kings earning the top spot. Arvidsson led the league with five goals and two assists, scoring in each of the three games he played. His performance helped the Kings extend their point streak to a franchise-record 12 games as they rocket up the Pacific Division standings.

Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki was named the Second Star after tallying eight points in three games. Suzuki’s four-point effort in an 8-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets was his first career four-point outing. The Third Star went to Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who posted a 2-0-0 record, a 0.96 goals-against average, and a .972 save percentage. Gustavsson’s 47-save performance in a 2-1 win of the New Jersey Devils was a career-high. The Wild have earned points in 12 of Gustavsson’s past 13 starts dating back to February 11. His excellence in goal for the Wild has helped them continue to climb the Central Division standings without the services of Kirill Kaprizov.

More from around the league this morning:

  • Dave Scott, the chairman and former CEO of the Philadelphia Flyers’ ownership group, Comcast-Spectacor, will be retiring from his positive effective April 17th. Comcast-Spectacor announced the news Monday, ending Scott’s 30-year time at the helm of Philadelphia’s ownership. Dan Hilferty, who was recently appointed as CEO of the company, will take over as chairman and assume both of Scott’s former roles, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
  • ESPN’s Emily Kaplan compiled a list of the top candidates for potential coaching and general manager vacancies, with a lot of familiar names near the tops of both lists. Former Florida Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette, Toronto Maple Leafs assistant Spencer Carbery, and Seattle Kraken assistant Jay Leach made Kaplan’s “ready right now” tier for coaching vacancies, while former Sabres general manager Jason Botterill, Flyers interim GM Daniel Briere, and Lightning assistant GM Mathieu Darche made the “ready right now” tier for GM vacancies.

 

Snapshots: Tortorella, Moore, Capitals

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The Philadelphia Flyers have a long offseason ahead of them, figuring out what to do in the front office after firing Chuck Fletcher a few days ago. One of the people that figures to be there—regardless of how the titles shake out—is Daniel Briere, who took over as interim general manager in Fletcher’s absence.

In that case, you can also keep John Tortorella’s name jotted down in pen for next year. Briere spoke with Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports today, and explained that Tortorella was his first choice to coach the Flyers last year and is “the man for the job” still. The veteran coach signed a four-year deal worth $16MM last June.

  • There’s an interesting name among those invited to the 2023 National Team Development Program evaluation camp later this month: William Moore. The Toronto native holds dual citizenship and is nearing a crossroads in his hockey career. He is a potential first-overall selection in the OHL draft if he indicates that is the path he’ll follow. He could also join the NTDP or USHL to maintain his college eligibility. Just 15, he isn’t eligible for the NHL Draft until 2025.
  • With how well Rasmus Sandin has played in the early going for the Washington Capitals, the team may have found an inexpensive option for big minutes on the blueline next year. As Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic writes, that would open up money for the team’s biggest offseason target, a top-six forward (or two). The group currently has Craig Smith, Conor Sheary, Connor Brown, and Carl Hagelin all scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer, opening up plenty of room for a significant addition.

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