Flyers Expected To Sign Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale Before Arbitration Hearings

The Philadelphia Flyers are looking forward after the saga that kicked off following their record-setting offer sheet tendered to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson. With an external splash no longer available, the Flyers can now turn their attention toward securing their own key pieces. Philadelphia has plenty of cap space available – $29.57MM in projected cap space per PuckPedia – and two major restricted free agents still to sign. Forward Trevor Zegras and defenseman Jamie Drysdale both filed for arbitration while Philadelphia was awaiting word on Carlsson’s offer sheet. With that situation resolved, Philadelphia is expected to sign both before they reach their arbitration hearing per NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer.

That expectation is easy to understand given how important both players became to the Flyers last season. Zegras embraced a starring role in his first season with the Flyers. He reached new career-highs in scoring with 26 goals and 67 points across 81 games. That scoring was a jolt for center Christian Dvorak, who also reached a career-high 51 points while centering Zegras and one of Travis Konecny or Owen Tippett.

Drysdale matched that emergence from the blue line. He averaged over 21 minutes per night while serving as Philadelphia’s number-three defender behind Travis Sanheim and Cameron York. Drysdale’s reliability grew on both sides of the puck, giving the Flyers a defender they could either lean on to hold down the second-pair next to Rasmus Ristolainen or Emil Andrae; or rotate onto the top pair with York. The ability to rotate two pairs gave Philadelphia added flexibility on the blue line. Drysdale capitalized on that larger role, recording 32 points in 78 games, tying the career-high he set with Anaheim in 2021-22.

The Flyers would need to go on a thorough search for replacements if they lost either RFA. Now with plenty of cap space to bring them back in, it’s no surprise that the Flyers will want to prioritize a signing as soon as possible, rather than awaiting a one-year extension out of arbitration. Zegras is projected to sign a five-year, $41MM extension while Drysdale is projected for a six-year, $43.74MM extension per CapWages and AFP Analytics.

Those deals would only take up $15.5MM in Philadelphia’s projected cap space, leaving the Flyers with plenty of room to pursue another big addition. That may be a challenge in a thin free agent market. Anthony Mantha, Michael Bunting, and Nick Blankenburg stand out as the top available free agents. Philadelphia could also turn back towards the RFA market, with top youngsters Adam Fantilli, Connor Bedard, and Simon Edvinsson all eligible for an offer sheet. While thoughts of adding one more big fish will motivate Philadelphia’s off-season, it seems securing their own RFAs will be the club’s next step.