The Flyers signed Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates to contract extensions within a week of one another to ensure that two key parts of their future remain in Philadelphia for the time being, and to check a couple of names off their restricted free agent list this summer.
Including the two-year, two-way/one-way extension also given to Helge Grans down with the Phantoms, the Flyers have three of their seven RFAs this offseason, across the NHL and AHL levels, taken care of.
Here's a look at their current RFA situation, between the players who have already been signed and who's still on the board, with the latter carrying one notable name (NOTE: All contract terms and player statuses are credit to PuckPedia)…
Signed
Roster
• F Tyson Foerster – 2 years, $7.5 million ($3.75 million per)
• F Noah Cates – 4 years, $16 million ($4 million per)
Non-roster
• D Helge Grans – 2 years, 2-way/1-way, $1.575 million (787,500 per)
Unsigned
Roster
• D Cam York*
• F Jakob Pelletier*
Non-roster
• F Zayde Wisdom
• F Elliot Desnoyers
*Arbitration-eligible
A few notes…
• Obviously, York is the standout name there still needing to be signed. The 24-year-old took a major stride in the 2023-24 season as a top-pairing defenseman alongside Travis Sanheim, but struggled to follow it up last year, especially as former coach John Tortorella was on his way out late into the schedule – which also coincided with York sitting an entire game due to a disciplinary issue that he publicly took ownership of.
There still seems to be belief in York within the organization, it's just a matter of on what terms. His last contract was a two-year bridge deal, and the salary cap is increasing over the next few years, but has he earned his way to something long-term and at a salary that many from the outside might initially view as too pricey?
• Pelletier came over as part of the Morgan Frost-Joel Farabee trade with Calgary. He didn't really find any footing in Philly until the last couple of weeks of the season, so a short-term, cost-efficient deal should be enough to create a window for him to find a role while the Flyers see what they have in him.
• Grans, as detailed HERE, is a big right-handed defenseman who is on the bubble of the NHL. He was solid for the Phantoms this past season, and with Rasmus Ristolainen out to start the next one, that could be his opening to break through.
• Generally speaking, the Phantoms contracts shouldn't take too many headaches, or dollars, to figure out, so Wisdom and Desnoyers are likely to remain around Allentown. That being said, they're trending in different directions. Wisdom surged to a career revival in the AHL this past season, while Desnoyers' past couple of years have been going backwards.
There might be a lot to learn about the two from the Flyers' dev and training camps later in the summer.
On the horizon
Here are all the Flyers RFAs due up for contracts in the next two summers, working down by their position and respecive offseason of eligibility.
Roster
• F Bobby Brink, 2026*
• D Jamie Drysdale, 2026*
• D Egor Zamula, 2026*
• D Emil Andrae, 2026
• G Sam Ersson, 2026*
• F Tyson Foerster, 2027
• F Matvei Michkov, 2027
Non-roster
• F Karsen Dorwart, 2026
• F Massimo Rizzo, 2026
• F Nikita Grebenkin, 2026
• F Jacob Gaucher, 2026*
• F Alexis Gendron, 2026
• F Samu Tuomaala, 2026
• F J.R. Avon, 2026
• D Hunter McDonald, 2026*
• D Ethan Samson, 2026
• G Aleksei Kolosov, 2026
• F Devin Kaplan, 2027
• D Ty Murchison, 2027
• D Helge Grans, 2027
*Again, arbitration-eligible
• Michkov had a great rookie year, despite some serious road bumps, and won't be going anywhere so long as he keeps doing what he's doing.
• Brink really clicked on the line with Cates and Foerster, and has come a long way as a pro over the past two seasons. This coming one could dictate whether he goes on another 2-3 year bridge deal or something more long-term.
• There's a lot of patience from the organization when it comes to Drysdale's development. He's shown flashes of excellent skating and good playmaking prowess, but overall consistency will be his big point of emphasis this coming season.
Andrae still has work to do himself, but did find a better comfort level in the NHL, and should have a similar degree of patience as Drysdale.
Zamula, however, appears to be heading toward a make-or-break year based on what general manager Danny Brière said during the Flyers' locker cleanout a couple of months ago.
"He's an NHL defenseman," Brière said of Zamula. "He has to decide now if he's content with where he is, but he's a player that has the skill level and the size to move up. It's really all up to him, how he dedicates himself to taking that next step."
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• Ersson will be an interesting one to keep an eye on in goal. He can have some amazing stretches where he'll look like a clear No. 1, but then have that counterebalanced with streaks where he looks gassed or can't get anything to go right. Short-term, the Flyers probably want to go find a solid backup to put behind him. Long-term, well, in a year or two, they could be having that conversation about how to bridge to netminding prospects like Carson Bjarnason or Yegor Zavragin.
• Of the Phantoms pool coming up, Grebenkin and McDonald feel like the immediate the definites to stay around.
Grebenkin was part of the return in the Scott Laughton deadline trade with Toronto, and a winger who the Flyers expect to be in the NHL soon. McDonald is also another big defenseman developing in Lehigh Valley who the organization has been vocally high on for a while now.
• Kolosov can go a few ways, and really, just always seems to be a mystery. Getting him over from Belarus last summer was an adventure. He was carried on the NHL roster but sat for long stretches, and when he did play, he wasn't particularly great.
There appeared to be an apprehensiveness for him to go to the AHL, whether that was from him or the Flyers or both, and even though he's still young at 23, the Flyers have Ersson and Ivan Fedotov under contract for next year, and Bjarnason did join the Phantoms out of juniors before the end of the season, so he's not considreably far off either.
Kolosov has to prove to the Flyers that he's worth their time, because right now, they don't have any particular reason to wait on him.
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