Free Agent Focus: Philadelphia Flyers

Free agency is under a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. Even with the UFA crop being thinned out in recent months, there will be some quality veterans set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Flyers.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Trevor Zegras – Often the heartbeat of the Flyers’ offense during the 2025-26 season, the 25-year-old found a resurgence in his game after being traded to the Flyers from the Anaheim Ducks last offseason. After fighting to stay healthy throughout his last two seasons in Anaheim, Zegras came to Philadelphia and quickly made his presence known with 12 points in his first 10 games, a great way to become a fan favorite in the city. Even with the Flyers’ power play struggles, Zegras managed to post career highs in goals (26) and points (67). While a lot will ride on the term of the deal, Zegras will likely command north of $8MM, which would be comparable to the current AAV of the Flyers’ leading scorer, Travis Konecny ($8.75MM).

F Nikita Grebenkin – After coming to the Flyers from the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2024-25 season as a part of the Scott Laughton trade, Grebenkin finished the year with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. However, a solid training camp performance saw the 23-year-old Russian make the Flyers for the 2025-26 campaign. While the young winger still has a lot of learning and growing to do before fully hitting his stride, there was a lot to look forward to in Grebenkin’s 55 games played. Grebenkin saw himself almost solely in a bottom-six or fourth-line spot but still managed to put up 14 points during the season. Aside from his production, though, it was his effort and compete level that has Philadelphia fans excited for what lies ahead. Unfortunately, Grebenkin’s season was cut short due to an upper-body injury, and Flyers GM Daniel Briere recently provided an update that Grebenkin’s injury may linger into the start of next season. With lots of unknowns surrounding Grebenkin, he will likely command somewhere around the $1.25MM mark on a shorter-term deal.

D Jamie Drysdale – In his second full season with the Flyers since coming over as part of the Cutter Gauthier trade during the 2023-24 season, Drysdale really started to find his game this past year. While his skating ability was never in question, Drysdale’s defensive play and situational awareness were areas the Flyers were hoping to see development. The former sixth overall pick back in 2020 had a solid season offensively, posting a career high in goals (eight) and tying his career high in points (32). But it was the development on the back end that the Flyers were really hoping for, and this season, they got it. Playing a bigger role under Rick Tocchet, including the third-most power-play minutes of any Flyer: Drysdale cut his giveaways from 73 to 54 despite appearing in more games (78), nearly doubled his shot total, and improved his underlying numbers across the board while pulling his plus-minus well off the prior year’s team-worst minus-32. He carried that momentum into the spring, too, scoring his first career playoff goal in Game 1 against the Penguins and adding four points in 10 games during a hard-fought first-round run. With arbitration rights and the most complete season of his career behind him, Drysdale has earned a real raise on his $2.3MM qualifying number, and re-signing him should be a clear priority for Briere, who confirmed at his end-of-season availability that the team plans to bring him back. He’s finally rounding into the top-four puck-mover the Flyers had hoped for. 

G Samuel Ersson – The presumed starter entering the year, Ersson instead watched Dan Vladar seize the crease with a breakout campaign, leaving the 26-year-old Swede in a backup role he never fully climbed out of. Across roughly 32 appearances, he went 13-11-5 with a 3.15 GAA and a save percentage that again finished below .900, the fourth straight NHL season he’s landed under that mark. With that being said, Ersson was stellar in net for the Flyers in the unprecedented post-Olympic run that got them into the postseason. Briere was pointedly noncommittal when asked about Ersson’s future at his end-of-season availability, a notable contrast to the praise he heaped on Vladar, whom he called the team’s MVP. As an RFA coming off a modest number, Ersson would be an inexpensive re-sign and a known commodity behind Vladar, but for the first time, his place in Philadelphia feels genuinely uncertain.

Other RFAs: F Karsen Dorwart, D Hunter McDonald

Key Unrestricted Free Agents 

F Luke Glendening – One of the more unlikely sparks of Philadelphia’s playoff push, the veteran center was claimed off waivers on March 6, and almost immediately the Flyers started winning, going 12-5-1 with him in the lineup. In 18 regular-season games, he chipped in two goals and three assists while doing his real damage in the margins, taking the right-handed faceoffs Sean Couturier couldn’t and averaging around two minutes a night on the penalty kill alongside Couturier and Garnet Hathaway on a hard-nosed fourth line. He managed just a single point in 10 playoff games, but his value was never about the scoresheet. Glendening is a UFA and has said he’s open to returning, though with the Flyers’ forward group already crowded when healthy, a reunion feels unlikely.

F Carl Grundstrom – Acquired from San Jose ahead of the 2024-25 season, Grundstrom spent most of this year as a tweener, bouncing between Lehigh Valley and a rotating bottom-six role in Philadelphia. When he was up, he provided exactly what you’d want from a depth wing: physicality, energy, and a few timely goals during a hot stretch, and he punished the minors when sent down, posting 15 points in 19 AHL games. Coming off an expiring $1.8MM AAV, the 28-year-old is a UFA who provided useful, replaceable depth; a cheap re-sign isn’t out of the question, but he’s the kind of piece the Flyers can easily find elsewhere if they’d rather open a roster spot for a younger option.

D Noah Juulsen – Signed to a one-year, $900K deal in July, Juulsen gave the Flyers steady bottom-pairing depth and a heavy physical presence, settling in as the sixth or seventh defenseman. He quietly set a career high with nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 45 games while leaning on the hits and shot-blocking that define his game, though his season was interrupted by a lower-body procedure that cost him roughly three months. As a UFA, the 28-year-old is a logical cheap re-sign for depth purposes, but Philadelphia’s young, crowded blue line could just as easily push him out.

Other UFAs: F Garrett Wilson, F Anthony Richard, D Adam Ginning (Group-6)

Projected Cap Space

The Flyers head into the summer in a solid spot. According to PuckPedia, they project to have roughly $37.5MM in space, with the salary cap climbing from $95.5MM to $104MM for 2026-27. After exceeding expectations and reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20, powered by a breakout, MVP-caliber season from Vladar, the priority is clear: get new deals done for Zegras and Drysdale, both of whom Briere has publicly committed to bringing back. Once their inevitable raises are factored in, the Flyers should still have plenty of cap leftover to round out the roster. That leaves ample room to qualify their remaining restricted free agents (Andrae and Ersson register as coin flips rather than certainties) while still chasing some complementary pieces Philadelphia prefers, or even taking a swing at some top-end talent.

Contract information courtesy of Puckpedia