May 20, 2026
The Flyers' playoff breakthrough carries straight into an offseason that is expected to keep general manager Danny Brière busy, but not all that stressed.
The team does have several key restricted free agents up for new contracts this summer, along with a scattering of other lower-profile RFAs and fully unrestricted free agents, but for the first time in forever, it feels, the Flyers have plenty of resources – and time.
The organization's rebuild, as evidenced by the playoff run and the current roster's heavy degree of youth, is on track. It's also about to have plenty of cash to spend again after Brière finally worked the team's way out from most of those aging and expensive contracts from several years ago, and all just in time for the NHL's salary cap to bump up to $104 million.
As of Wednesday morning, the Flyers are projected to have just shy of $38.5 million in cap room to work with this summer, per PuckPedia.
Furthermore, the Flyers have gradually re-established a culture that the players who are here now want to stay within – each of the pending RFAs who spoke last week during exit day in Voorhees expressed how much they wanted to remain in Philadelphia – while Brière hinted that maybe others around the league are starting to take notice of where the team is headed, too.
In other words, the Flyers are in a pretty solid situation heading into the summer, which leaves Brière pretty confident that the deals he needs to get done within the next couple of months will get done.
"There's not an order for me," Brière said last week at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. "Negotiating contracts is a process. It takes time. As you know, I don't negotiate in public, but there's not an order. When it can get done, it gets done.
"It all depends sometimes on the synergy, and sometimes you make ground faster with one than the other, and then things change along the way. It depends on the traction. I have nothing, really, that worries me at this point to say, 'We're not gonna see those guys come back.' So I have no worries at this point, in that regard. Hopefully, it keeps going in that direction, and we get them done later this summer."
Here's a rundown of what the Flyers are looking at with their pending RFAs and UFAs, along with an estimation of the chances for each respective name sticking around (spoiler: a lot of them probably will)...
| Player | Age | 2025-26 Cap Hit | 2026-27 Status |
| C Trevor Zegras | 25 | $5,750,000 | RFA* |
| LW Nikita Grebenkin | 23 | $875,000 | RFA |
| D Jamie Drysdale | 24 | $2,300,000 | RFA* |
| D Emil Andrae | 24 | $903,333 | RFA* |
| G Sam Ersson | 26 | $1,450,000 | RFA* |
| D Hunter McDonald | 24 | $950,000 | RFA* |
*Arbitration Eligible
• Zegras and Drysdale aren't going anywhere.
Zegras revitalized his career in Philadelphia after some tumultuous years in Anaheim pushed him out of the Ducks' picture, and down the stretch of the playoff push, he stepped up and thrived as the top-six center the Flyers needed, in a way that points to him sticking around and continuing to develop at the position for the long haul. He brought skill, creativity, and even some understated strength that the Flyers' forward corps hasn't had in years, and will continue to need as they move ahead.
Drysdale, meanwhile, drastically improved as a defenseman this season and, slowly but surely, became a more and more prominent figure in the locker room. His gap control and reads of the ice in the Flyers' own zone were noticeably sharper at the start of this season, and eventually, that carried up to the other end of the rink to match a career-best 32 points. He's a much more complete skater now and established himself as a core part of the Flyers' defensive pairings in the top four.
Zegras' and Drysdale's personalities have also both become heavily ingrained into the identity of the team, which reflected on and off the ice for the better.
They're important to the Flyers, and they said last week they want to stay as Flyers. A nice pay raise and some secure terms are almost inevitably going to make that happen for both.
• Ersson before the Olympic break was having a rough go, but he shored up after it, as a clear backup to Dan Vladar, to help keep the Flyers' playoff push afloat on the nights when they needed to get Vladar a break.
Brière commended that and said there will be a discussion with Ersson about what's next. Ersson said last week that he loves Philadelphia as the only place he's ever known in his North American career, and as a beloved teammate, that he would want to stick around.
Realistically, if he does, it would have to be in a backup role to Vladar. There should be an affordable path to do that for the 26-year-old netminder on a shorter term, which should buy time for Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, and Yegor Zavragin to keep developing in the prospect pipeline.
But if Ersson wants a chance to start as a No. 1, which he could never secure here, that opportunity is going to be elsewhere, which will likely turn him onto the trade market – the Flyers could also not issue him a qualifying offer, but then he would just leave for nothing, so that isn't preferable.
• Grebenkin went out with an injury after the March 21 win over the Sharks and never returned for the playoffs. He was the player return for the Scott Laughton trade with Toronto last year, and when he did play, he skated with a physicality that matched his size at 6'2", 210, and flashes of a bit of skill, too. He does need more refinement and development, but the Flyers should be able to swing that for him on pretty affordable means since Grebenkin is still largely unproven.
• Andrae probably has the slimmest odds of returning, but even so, it's easier to see him back next year than not for right now. He showed more consistent glimpses as a stronger puck-moving defenseman, but he still popped in and out of the lineup, with other defensive prospects in McDonald (who will likely get re-upped with a shot to make the team), Oliver Bonk, and reclamation project David Jiříček each there behind him, knocking on the NHL door.
The Flyers, at some point somehow, have to make room, and Andrae could become a casualty of that scenario.
| Player | Age | 2025-26 Cap Hit | 2026-27 Status |
| LW Carl Grundström | 28 | $1,800,000 | UFA |
| C Rodrigo Ābols | 30 | $800,000 | UFA |
| LW Garrett Wilson | 35 | $775,000 | UFA |
| C Luke Glendening | 37 | $775,000 | UFA |
| D Noah Juulsen | 29 | $900,000 | UFA |
• There are cases for each of Grundström, Ābols, and Glendening to stick around, but all three likely won't at once.
Grundström was a nice surprise out of the deal with San Jose that was just meant to get rid of the infamous Ryan Ellis contract. He brings a bit more speed to the bottom six out of the three, but for faceoffs and steadier checking, Ābols and Glendening are the stronger and more inexpensive bets.
Glendening was the unsung hero of the Flyers' playoff push after getting claimed off waivers post-trade deadline, helping to form the soul of that heavy-hitting and suffocating fourth line made up of himself, a meaner Sean Couturier, and always mean Garnet Hathaway. At age 37, he showed he can play a limited defensive role and still bring value and a good bit of energy to a lineup.
Ābols can do the same, maybe to a quieter degree, but with the catch that he'd be coming back from a gruesome broken leg suffered in January that ended his season on the spot.
Ābols seemed the most uncertain about his future when he spoke among the players last week in Voorhees. It's worth noting, though, that he does fit into the locker room well, and can speak Russian, which is an aid to Matvei Michkov as he continues to find his way in North America.
• Juulsen is a bottom-pairing defenseman, and while he has history with head coach Rick Tocchet, he only brings so much to the table with those aforementioned blue line prospects already on their way up and needing a spot somewhere. It's tough to see him back.
Vladar is already under contract next year for $3.35 million, but the way he took over the Flyers' net in the regular season and into the playoffs, when he was, at minimum, giving them a chance every night, yeah, Brière's going to find a way to keep him around.
The two were openly joking about an extension last week in Voorhees. It's going to happen.
"Yeah, and if you could ask the same question to Danny B, I'm gonna be watching," Vladar cracked last Tuesday when asked if he would pick up the phone to talk about a contract extension.
"I heard his answer," Brière quipped a couple of days later. "He's watching, so maybe we wait. I'll talk to you guys about that."
But more seriously...
"He blew the expectations that we had on him," Brière told the local press. "Going into the season, I know you guys all wrote about that, or spoke about it, how he had never played more than 30 games in a season in the NHL. Obviously, that was a worry for us, and that's why we thought it was going to be a good tandem with Sam, but he really took over and earned more starts."
"Because of the way he played in the playoffs, he didn't slow down, and he was just as good or even better in the playoffs," Brière added. "So that was really exciting to see. Yeah, it makes us believe that he could be the answer here for, hopefully, a few more years."
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