An offseason checklist for the Philadelphia Flyers

The obvious candidate on that front is James van Riemsdyk. The 33-year-old has provided the Flyers with some decent secondary scoring in his second stint with the franchise, scoring at least 17 goals in each of his four years since returning. However, his effectiveness has waned as he ages and $7M is an expensive price tag for someone who is best utilized as a middle-six winger. It’s unlikely he’s going to turn things around next season and get back to the 30-goal mark. 

The question will be how much of an offset will be needed (either by retention or by taking a player back) or how much of an incentive they’ll need to provide to get a team to take the contract without sending any money back. What happens with van Riemsdyk will go a long way towards determining what they can or can’t do this summer.

While they didn’t really get a chance to evaluate their full back end due to Ellis missing 78 games, it also seems likely that they will move a defender as part of their aggressive retool. It won’t be Ellis as his value is down after missing almost the entire year and they just committed five years at $5.1M per to Ristolainen; clearly, he’s not moving either.  That leaves Ivan Provorov ($6.75M through 2024-25) and Travis Sanheim ($4.67M in 2022-23, then becomes a UFA). Provorov is coming off an underwhelming year so while moving him would save money, his trade value certainly isn’t at its best. Sanheim is easier to move but yields less in cap savings. But if they want to shake up the back end again, one of those two may need to be on the move as a result.

Hire A New Head Coach

After the decision to fire Alain Vigneault early in the season didn’t yield the results Fletcher was hoping for, the Flyers decided not to continue with Mike Yeo as their head coach for next season. That puts finding a new bench boss very high on the priority list over the coming weeks.

With Philadelphia committed to trying to retool instead of rebuild, that could push them in the direction of a veteran coach over a first-timer in that role. While long-time Flyer Rick Tocchet is viewed as a popular option, someone like Barry Trotz could stand out. Paul Maurice is also a possible fit if he wanted to get back behind a bench so quickly after stepping away from Winnipeg.

Among the first-time head coaching options, Lane Lambert has long been speculated as a candidate but he could be promoted to the top spot for the Islanders after Trotz’s departure. Nate Leaman is always an option to make the jump from the college ranks while Rikard Gronborg and Roger Ronnberg are international coaches that always come up at this time of year. But again, a first-time NHL bench boss would be a bit surprising given their win-now intentions.