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What do you think about Fridge’s statement that he thinks McDavid will consider Philly when he hits UFA?
That’s been out there before. I forget the original source, one of the Canadian “insiders” I think. Interesting if true. Werenski is up in 2 years too.
Even with the cap inflation, Zegras got a very good deal for himself. He wasn’t going to get the Aho deal, but he got more than 9 million and will still be in his prime when he’s a UFA. GOod deal for both sides.
Oh yeah, Zegras wants to be here and signed so it’s a good deal for both sides. The Flyers, in no way, overpaid. 7.5% of the cap is what Zegras has already proved to be in my view. I think there should be more debate over what it should take to be a 10% of the cap guy, as just one example. How much is a solid Top 4 Dman worth? More than 5%, that’s for sure. Now a 10% guy can be paired up with an ELC guy and hopefully you’ve got one of your best players and your best young player at maybe 11%. That can look great so long as you don’t have too many guys at 10%. Shorter term deals are clearly the way forward for a while. Not that many top guys were going UFA anyway so what’s the big deal?
I think the Zegras side left some money on the table. He got paid four years out for the player he is right now, not the player with some upside I think he is. I don’t have a problem with a prove it deal based on past performance but the term is a year too long. A lot of guys are getting paid on potential and not results.
Zegras can still improve. I think Cates can play at current level for some years to come. I think Dvorak may produce less.
Still think Zegras has some .9+ PPG seasons in him. He has production upside. Leave Cates with Michkov. Classic late bloomer after 4 years of college. Dvorak might produce more if he stays with Konecny and Martone.
“BREAKING: We have signed forward Trevor Zegras to a four-year contract extension worth an average annual value (AAV) of $9.125 million.”
Nice team and player friendly deal.
we will have to work around the lack of a 1c through depth. The Carlsson situation hammered that home.
No problem. Zegras, Dvorak and Cates are all coming off career years and there’s upside there.
In terms of accelerating the rebuild, they view it as going for that if there’s a specific fit (skill set, age, etc) and otherwise preaching more patience. Whether that’s the right approach or not, we will see. But that’s how Briere views it.
They have been quick about jumping on needs and wants. The Woll trade was done fast, they made a solid offer on the other Carlson and of course the Leo offer. Not much can be done now until next off season except a hockey trade if the opportunity comes up. Reaching has cost them in the past. A couple teams in the East look improved on paper, but others have not or even regressed. Now, they have to work with what they’ve got.
The big issues for the Flyers to me look like:
Improved scoring: I think they can hit 270 goals this year, up 20 from last.
Better record against the East: They were only 22-20-8 last year. That needs to get better.
Maturity/Experience: They played down to weaker opponents too much. They let the wheels fall off the wagon in January after a couple injuries vs. ANA and a home & home pasting from TB. Complete crisis in confidence. Still a young team that lets things get in their heads a bit too much.Next season should be fun.
What does the failed pursuit of Carlsson reveal about the organization’s mindset? Can the Flyers realistically accelerate their rebuild, or is patience still the best path forward?
Briere just took all the cap increase, $10M, all the dead cap that went away this year, $7M and change, rounded up to the next million and threw it at LC to solve the 1C issue for half a decade. Shows they will do that in a unique situation which likely won’t repeat . . . including hopefully ever having $7M+ in dead cap space.
Twenty-two year old defensman David Jiricek has a golden opportunity in front of him come training camp. The big right-shooting defenseman will receive every opportunity to earn an opening-night roster spot.
Reirden/Tocchet have shown their system is pretty simple for most any Dman to plug into and play for at least a while. I like their chances of getting the most out of Jiricek.
There are still on-ice adjustments the Flyers want Michkov to make once he’s back in Voorhees.
Keeping MM with Cates is the way forward short to mid term. With Cates, MM had 18 points and was a plus 11 in his last 16 games. That ain’t broke so don’t fix it.
Zegras is good but shouldn’t get what Aho does even with cap inflation.
Oh no, that’s not the suggestion. Aho is clearly better. The tricky part, as I see it with Zegras, is he’s a solid 7.5% of the cap guy as he is today, but still has an upside. A solid PPG guy is probably a 10+% of the cap guy. He’s somewhere in the middle. I think he tops out as a .9 guy give or take. Which does put him in a pretty elite grouping.
Some PPG averages for 25 YO and on for comparison:
Aho: 0.997
Larkin: 0.944
Konecny: 0.925
Hischier: 0.886For example, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho carries a $9.75 AAV on his current deal (which started in 2024-25).
Aho has been a consistent PPG guy for pretty well his entire career.
AHO
Season Age Team Lg Pos GP G A PTS PPG
2016-17 19 CAR NHL RW 82 24 25 49 0.598
2017-18 20 CAR NHL RW 78 29 36 65 0.833
2018-19 21 CAR NHL C 82 30 53 83 1.012
2019-20 22 CAR NHL F 68 38 28 66 0.971
2020-21 23 CAR NHL F 56 24 33 57 1.018
2021-22 24 CAR NHL F 79 37 44 81 1.025
445 182 219 401 0.9012022-23 25 CAR NHL F 75 36 31 67 0.893
2023-24 26 CAR NHL F 78 36 53 89 1.141
2024-25 27 CAR NHL F 79 29 45 74 0.937
2025-26 28 CAR NHL F 79 27 53 80 1.013
311 128 182 310 0.997Zegras has been a consistent .8 PPG guy for the three years he’s been healthy. He still has a nice upside though, just heading into his 25 YO season when top players tend to find higher levels of production from 25 on.
ZEGRAS
Season Age Team Lg Pos GP G A PTS PPG
2020-21 19 ANA NHL C 24 3 10 13 0.542
2021-22 20 ANA NHL C 75 23 38 61 0.813
2022-23 21 ANA NHL C 81 23 42 65 0.802
2023-24 22 ANA NHL C 31 6 9 15 0.484
2024-25 23 ANA NHL C 57 12 20 32 0.561
2025-26 24 PHI NHL C 81 26 41 67 0.827
349 93 160 253 0.725Do you think 4 teams will shit the bed again down the stretch ?
I know you will. Even a midwit hockey fan could have said, “what about the Caps?” and you’d have hit your quota for being right for the season. They did improve, BUF got worse. Most teams are what you claim the Flyers to be: Unable to commit to a serious rebuild, holes down the middle and on D, shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
