Flyers Re-Sign Nikita Grebenkin To Two-Year Deal

Fresh off an agent change, it didn’t take long for Nikita Grebenkin to get a contract done.  The Flyers announced that they’ve signed the winger to a two-year contract that carries a $1.1MM cap charge.

The 23-year-old played in a career-high 55 games with Philadelphia last season, picking up four goals and ten assists along with 86 hits while averaging 11:17 of playing time per night.  His season ended prematurely, however, as an upper-body injury sidelined him in mid-March.  After their playoff run ended, GM Daniel Briere suggested that he wasn’t sure if Grebenkin would be able to return by the start of training camp.  However, he noted last month that the winger should be “fully ready” when training camps get underway in September.

Grebenkin’s only other NHL experience before last season came in the 2024-25 campaign when he was with Toronto.  He was held off the scoresheet in seven games with them but showed enough there and in the minors to be included in the trade deadline deal that saw the Maple Leafs pick up Scott Laughton.  Laughton, of course, was flipped to Los Angeles at this year’s deadline.

With Philadelphia’s forward group almost entirely intact from last season, Grebenkin should be in a similar spot on the depth chart heading into training camp.  He could be a candidate to land a spot on the fourth line but it’s also possible that he’s pushed into more of a reserve role.  He is waiver-eligible, so sending him to AHL Lehigh Valley isn’t an option unless they run him through waivers first.

This contract buys out a pair of RFA years for Grebenkin but he will still be an RFA when the deal expires.  At that time, he’ll also be eligible for salary arbitration for the first time.

With this contract, all of the Flyers’ NHL players are under contract for the upcoming season.  Barring further changes, they will head into the season with just shy of $14MM in cap room, per PuckPedia, leaving all sorts of flexibility for in-season movement.  Meanwhile, Briere still has one restricted free agent left to re-sign in defenseman Hunter McDonald, who made his NHL debut in the final game of the regular season but is expected to be back with the Phantoms in the fall.