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Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp wrapped up Monday at the Class of 1923 Arena in Philadelphia. Congratulations go out to Team River Rock Academy. Coached by Mark Howe, Tim Kerr and Joe Watson, the team sported yellow and red carbon copies of Philadelphia Blazers (WHA) uniforms.
River Rock(5-1-0) defeated Team Payroll Service Solutions (PSS) in a 3-0 championship game shutout. Mark Recchi and Robert Esche coached Team PSS, who wore Philadelphia Firebirds (NAHL/AHL) uniforms. Team PSS finished with a 4-2-0 record.
Team Toyota (0-4-0) wore uniforms reflecting the Philadelphia Ramblers (EHL). Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp shared coaching duties for the red-clad team.
Flyers Daily
In this week’s Monday with Meltzer edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus and I discussed the following topics and exchanged our opinions back and forth:
- Who is the best choice to center Matvei Michkov at the start of the season?
- Assuming a solid training camp is David Jiricek a good bet to play at least 74 games?
- Could Hunter McDonald wind up in the NHL top six (or seven) this season? Conversely, did Ty Murchison surpass McDonald on the depth chart before his season-ending injury last year?
- Jason thinks Denver Barkey eclipses 52 pts in 2026-27. I think that’s a stretch but I do expect Barkey to be a valuable Swiss army knife type of player in the NHL linep.
- The Flyers gave up the 9th fewest goals per game against in the NHL llast season despite their January woes. The odd part is they were only 4th in the Metro in GAA. Can the Flyers better these in 2026-27?
- Scoring first: To make the playoffs again, the Flyers likely to score first with much more frequency than last season. It will be very hard to dodge that same bullet two seasons in a row. Will the Flyers score first with significantly greater frequency?
NHL Network Ranks Vladar 8th
Take it for what it’s worth, because each and every hockey outlet (including ours) needs content to fill the off-season months. Rankings articles are good for generating some extra viewership and debate. Beyond that, it’s filler content; subjective by its very nature.
Nevertheless, it’s interesting — and deserved in my opinion — that Flyers netminder Dan Vladar received a top one-third spot in the NHL Network rankings of goaltenders in the league. Vladar placed eighth.
The team’s Bobby Clarke Trophy winner, the Czech netminder finished with 2.42 goals against average; third among goaltenders who appeared in at least 30 games. Meanwhile, his 12.94 “goals saved above expected” metric ran (12.94) placed him 10th overall in the league. He ranked fourth (21.02) at even strength.
Vladar also stepped up in the playoffs,. He ranked second at even strength with a 5.81 GSAA and first overall with a 5.50 GSAA. Meanwhile, His 2.18 GAA and two shutouts were second in the league among qualifying goalies.
Team Toyota Top 20 Prospect Countdown: Hunter McDonald (#13)
Selected: 2022 6th Round, 165th overall
Listed Height: 6-foot-4
Listed Weight: 205 pounds
Shoots: Left
2025-26 team: Lehigh Valley Phantoms
2025-26 AHL stats: 65 GP, 0 G, 6 A, 6 PTS, 92 PIM, E
2025-26 NHL Stats: 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PTS, 4 PIM, +3
The skinny: The 2026-27 season is a make-or-break campaign for the 24-year-old blueliner. He’s spent two-plus seasons in the NHL and made his NHL debut in a one-game callup to the Flyers. This coming season will tell whether McDonald could push to be more than a depth recall option.
McDonald’s game is not a mystery to anyone. He hits, blocks shots, kills penalties and serves in the team leadership group at the AHL level. The question is whether can break through to push for an NHL role similar to the one Nick Seeler plays. Additionally, he’s battling Ty Murchison for a “Seeler-like” role on the organizational depth chart.
Earlier today (Aug. 18), the Flyers re-signed restricted free agent McDonald to a two-year contract. The first year is a two-way NHL/AHL structure. The latter year is an NHL deal that pays the same $912,500 at both the NHL and AHL levels.
Opinion: Gauthier stalemate in Anaheim was predictable
During the week-long drama over the Flyers’ offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, Philly banked their hopes on the sheer value of the contract ($18 million AAV) convincing the Ducks not to match. The Ducks still needed to re-sign restricted free agents Cutter Gauthier and Pavel Mintukov. The also needed to plan ahead for when Beckett Sennecke become eligible for a contact extension in the summer of 2027.
We also know what happened. The Ducks matched the Flyers offer sheet, retaining Carlsson for five seasons. They got Mintyukov signed a five-year contract ($7.2 million AAV). However, the team has struggled to come to terms with Gauthier’s hard-pushing agent Kurt Overhardt.
Reports surfaced today that Overhardt/ Gauthier rejected a four-year, $13 million AAV offer from the Ducks. That should surprise no one.
Gauthier is not eligible this summer for an offer sheet. As such, he may not be able to get an immediate deal matching or exceeding the Carlsson contract. However, there was zero chance that Overhardt would advise Gauthier to take $5 million less than Carlsson in AAV. The only way that could be a possibility would be on a short bridge deal with offer sheet (or abitration) eligibility waiting on the other side.
Overhardt was not — and is not — about to cut the Ducks (or any NHL club) a break for the sake of their salary cap structure. He works for his clients, not the team. Moreover, he’s serially aggressive in pushing for absolute top dollar his clients can get.
Meanwhile, the Ducks do not have to extend Sennecke right now. He’s not a restricted free agent until 2027. However, the longer Pat Verbeek and Anaheim wait — the mistake they’ve made repeatedly with Carlsson and others — the more an eventual contract will cost. Agent Ian Pulver is not going to cut Anaheim a break, either.
All of these factors were known at the time Anaheim refused any Carlsson trade ideas and dared other other teams to go the offer sheet route. Philadelphia called their bluff. For face-saving and hockey reasons, the Ducks were compelled to match the offer sheet and sort out the other headaches later.
“Later” has become now in regard to Gauthier. The Ducks will also have to eat awful trades to become cap compliant once the Gauthier deal is done.
However, all of this is meaningless from the Flyers’ standpoint. Their goal was to land Leo Carlsson, not to mess up the Anaheim Ducks’ cap planning.
Guffaw cigars
Brian Propp
Brian Propp’s Guffaw cigars
Five-time NHL All-Star and Flyers Hall of Fame inductee Brian Propp introduced his own line of top-quality hand-crafted Dominican cigars . The Guffaw Cigar collection is highly rated for its balanced boldness, sophistication and premium-aged tobacco. Brian himself is a longtime cigar aficionado. He wanted his signature line to reflect the qualities he values in a cigar.
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