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The Philadelphia Flyers took care of a major piece of potential offseason business as they announced the signing of center Christian Dvorak to a five year, $25.75 million contract. The deal carries a $5.15 million per season cap hit, as the club announced on Monday evening.
The contract was first reported as near completion on Monday by Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco.
In addition, the contract carries a series of no-trade clauses. Dvorak has a full NTC for the first two seasons, a limited one for the third and fourth seasons, and no-trade protection for the final year.
“We’re very happy to have Christian be a part of the Philadelphia Flyers for the foreseeable future,” Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said in a statement. “He has played a pivotal part in our team’s success this season and proven to be a reliable two-way center who can be trusted in all situations.”
“More importantly, he plays a big role in our locker room and has fit in seamlessly to our group and what we are building.”
Road To A Long Term Commitment.
Dvorak debuted with the Arizona Coyotes in the 2016-17 season and spent his first five NHL seasons there, helping the team reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020. In the 2021 offseason, the Coyotes traded Dvorak to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2022 first-round pick and a 2024 second-round pick.
Unfortunately, he never quite met expectations in Montreal, especially following the loss of Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the Carolina Hurricanes. In the 2024-25 season, Dvorak had his first truly healthy season and played a role in helping the Canadiens make the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, he wasn’t in the Habs’ long term plans and he entered unrestricted free agency.
Why Sign Dvorak Now?
Previously, Dvorak signed a one year, $5.4 million contract in July with the Flyers. The deal reunited him with Rick Tocchet, his head coach at the start of his career with the Coyotes. At the time, his deal seemed to be a overpayment based on his checking line role with the Montreal Canadiens, his previous team.
However, with the Flyers, he has become their defacto first line center, working between the team’s top scorers in Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny. He is the team’s fourth leading scorer with nine goals and 25 points in 39 games played, to go with a plus-eight rating.
In addition, he is one of the team’s most reliable face-off weapons. He’s won 54 percent of his draws this season, trailing only team captain Sean Couturier.
At the same time, the Flyers moved quickly to secure the Palos, Illinois native, especially after the San Jose Sharks agreed to a three year contract with center Alex Wennberg at a $6 million AAV. The 31 year old Wennberg was a comparable player to Dvorak, who will turn 30 in February.
Short Term Positive Impact
By signing Dvorak to a long term extension, which he became eligible for on January 1, the Flyers are sending a clear signal. To their locker room and throughout the league, the message is now clear. They intend to push for the playoffs this season and will not be sellers at the trade deadline.
In addition, they secure a player who is seen as one of the reasons why they’ve been as surprisingly competitive as they’ve been. It projects confidence that the current club can achieve their goal of making the playoffs, which they haven’t done since the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season.
Of note, this is a contract that is projected for a rising salary cap situation over the next few seasons. However, that doesn’t alleviate some of the long term concerns about the deal.
Potential Long Term Concerns.
The initial concerns surround the length of Dvorak’s contract. Committing five years to a player who is turning 30 next month and who hasn’t produced at the scoring line pace throughout his career is a hefty bit of risk on the Flyers part. But there is little question, the Wennberg contract had impact on the Dvorak negotiations.
While Dvorak is scoring at a career best rate, there is no guarantee that he will play at this level throughout the length of the contract. It is possible that the no trade clauses could hamper the Flyers in the future. That’s the danger they’ve now taken on if Dvorak isn’t able to maintain his current pace over the next two and a half seasons, while he has full trade veto power.
Consequently, the reality of the Flyers roster construction over the next few seasons is that they are a wing-heavy team. However, they aren’t particularly deep at center. Instead, the center group is a workmanlike unit with Couturier, Dvorak, Noah Cates, and Rodrigo Abols. It’s a fact that they have a dearth of ready made offensive talent ready to take over.
That’s a key part of the equation in Dvorak’s favor. He was their best option for the moment and possibly this offseason.
Late Bloomer?
One can look at how Dvorak is currently playing as what people thought he would be earlier in his career. Is it possible that he will be a late bloomer as a reliable top six pivot? Based on the contract the Flyers have signed him to, it’s expected that he will play a key role in guiding players like Zegras, Matvei Michkov, and potentially Porter Martone in reaching their potential.
The top center prospects, such as Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt, Jack Berglund, and Heiki Ruohonen, still need time to develop into pros. Whether one of them will make a quantum leap forward into scoring line talents is a complete unknown at this point.
But for now, Dvorak certainly fits the Flyers immediate needs in making a playoff push this season, while banking on having him as a bridge towards their future.
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