Philadelphia Flyers News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Apr 12, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Jakob Pelletier (22) watches the puck against the New York Islanders in the second period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Flyers Don’t Qualify Jakob Pelletier Amid Winger Overload

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Andrew McGuinness | Last updated Jul 1, 2025 8:25 AM ET

Through just over two years as general manager (GM) of the Philadelphia Flyers, Daniel Brière’s most surprising move was the trade of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. The two forwards were drafted with picks acquired in the same deal, a 2017 Draft-day move with the St. Louis Blues, and they departed together on a late-night trade to the Calgary Flames just after a game ended on the last day of January. In exchange for the two (at least once) promising forwards, the Flyers acquired three assets from Flames GM Craig Conroy.

All three of those assets are now gone.

The 2025 second-round pick the Flyers obtained was sent back out west to the Anaheim Ducks in the Trevor Zegras trade. The most established player in the deal, winger Andrei Kuzmenko, lasted seven productive games in Philadelphia before he was flipped to the Los Angeles Kings at the deadline for a 2027 third-round pick. Now, the other player the Flyers brought in, winger Jakob Pelletier, is on his way out. Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco reported the Flyers won’t issue the pending restricted free agent a qualifying offer, which would have been no more than $1 million. Instead, the 24-year-old will be one of the youngest players hitting the market on Tuesday afternoon.

Pelletier’s Brief Time in Philadelphia

Pelletier didn’t make his Flyers debut until over three weeks after he was acquired due to visa issues and the 4-Nations Face-Off break. He didn’t take long to get on the board, recording an assist in his second game, but it wasn’t a harbinger of consistent production. In fact, after averaging 11:29 in his first three games with the Flyers, clearing 10 minutes each game, Pelletier’s usage plummeted. He cleared double-digit minutes just once from March 1-20 (at just 10:08 on March 4 against his old team), averaging just eight minutes of ice-time in that span.

Not surprisingly, he didn’t produce much in such a limited role, adding just one assist across those 10 games. However, he started to see more minutes just before John Tortorella was fired on March 27, and interim head coach Brad Shaw continued that trend. Pelletier was up over 12 minutes in his final 12 games of the 2024-25 season, and this time, the points started to come. Pelletier tallied three goals and six points over that stretch, a very respectable output for a third-liner.

Odd-Man Out

Unfortunately for Pelletier, two significant factors are working against his fit in Philadelphia. The first is the team’s glut of wingers, which has already improved this offseason after the Flyers drafted Porter Martone sixth overall on Friday night. Brière didn’t rule out Martone potentially making the team right away, and he would fill a top-nine spot if he did. The other Flyers wingers immediately ahead of Pelletier are Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink, none of whom are expected to be moved.

Additionally, several other young forwards such as Nikita Grebenkin and Alex Bump will be battling for roster spots in the fall after finishing this season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Grebenkin joined Lehigh Valley after being acquired at the deadline in the Scott Laughton trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs, with whom he made his NHL debut last November. Bump was a key piece of Western Michigan’s NCAA championship-winning team and is also regarded as close to pro-ready. There’s also Russian winger Maxim Shabanov, who has been periodically linked to the Flyers through the offseason. There is no guarantee the Flyers will sign him, but he’s another potential option.

Jonsey on Shabanov https://t.co/m21C4ML5yg pic.twitter.com/3wlg5fh5pv
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) June 27, 2025

Another thing that almost all of those players have over Pelletier is a size advantage. Only Brink is smaller and weighs less than Pelletier, who stands at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. Brink was able to dissuade concerns about his size by improving his checking throughout the 2024-25 campaign, his second season of consistent NHL work. Pelletier, to this point, hasn’t done the same, nor has he shown the same offensive potential as Brink, who was drafted eight picks after him in the 2019 Draft. Shabanov is even smaller, listed at 5-foot-8, 157 pounds, which puts him five pounds lighter than any NHLer at the start of this season.

Of course, that player was Lane Hutson, so size isn’t everything. Considering the Flyers just finished a draft where Philadelphia took a player listed at 6-foot-1 or taller (according to Elite Prospects), it’s clear that it matters to them. Right now, Pelletier seems like a tweener — not quite good enough to be in a top-nine and not the right type of player for a fourth line.

So You’re Saying There’s a Chance…

Now, just because Pelletier wasn’t qualified doesn’t mean that he can’t return as an unrestricted free agent (UFA). PHLY’s Charlie O’Connor indeed reported that the Flyers haven’t closed the door on signing him. Pelletier should have some interest in free agency, but he is an undersized winger with a limited NHL track record. That’s not the type of player most teams have at the top of their wish lists.

However, it would at least be a bit underwhelming to see a first-round pick completely discarded, especially after a nice run to end the season. But if some of those young wingers come to training camp firing on all cylinders, it may not be an absence that lingers particularly long.