While it isn’t always the most fruitful path, signing undrafted players out of college is certainly one way for NHL teams to inject some talent for absolutely free, into their organization. Sometimes they become Martin St. Louis — or for more modern examples, high-end role players like Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinski or San Jose Sharks forward Collin Graf — and sometimes turn into just everyday professionals who get to start playing hockey for money instead of an education.
For the Philadelphia Flyers, this is a path that they have walked down many times and most recently it was to nab one of the top available undrafted college players, in center Karsen Dorwart at the end of last season. Now, could they do that again with this current crop of college free agents?
While it feels less likely, since they are encroaching on the 50-contract limit, with 47 currently on their books and prospects like Porter Martone and Jack Berglund potentially signing their contracts at the end of their seasons, it could get very close. But on the other hand, there are not many current Phantoms players who are signed into next season and they could use some more organizational depth and this is a good way to get it.
So, let’s take a look at five undrafted college free agents who the Flyers could target to really supplement some of that organizational talent that might be leaving after this year. And, well, it just so happens that we came up with one player in each position — we swear it was unintentional.
Hank Cleaves, C
There are plenty of centers available in college free agency this year, for some reason. But none of them really have a mix of size and skill like Dartmouth College’s Hank Cleaves.
Aside from a name that you just want to keep saying to yourself and keep it locked in your brain, the 22-year-old from Riverside, Conn. should really be a hot commodity among several, if not dozens, of NHL teams looking to get someone to potentially be a very solid option down the middle. While his 6-foot-4 frame would make some instantly think that he’s a physical threat, it’s his offense, playmaking, and speed that are really the calling cards to Cleave’s game.
Hank Cleaves makes it rain……tennis balls!
— Dartmouth Men's Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) March 1, 2026
Gameday Central ➡️ https://t.co/PHYk2P0tiW#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/fXQflUqQXR
For most of what is potentially his last collegiate season — because he could return to school if he’s not getting the right interest — Cleave has been one of the better undrafted playmakers available. He ranked in the top three in both primary assists and even-strength assists in the entire country. It’s the dangerous combination of awareness and his reach that really makes him an attractive option as a get.
This season, Cleaves scored 14 goals and 35 points in 30 games for Dartmouth.
As Elite Prospects’ Sebastian High wrote in a scouting report from his Feb. 28 game against Princeton:
“With his blend of range, power, and playmaking, Cleaves was a danger whenever he stopped on the ice against Princeton, scoring both goals in a 3-2 defeat. What he lacks in explosiveness, he makes up for in timing and anticipation. A consistent defensive scanner who ties up sticks and blocks passing lanes well for a forward at this level, Cleaves has a pretty deep bag of tricks. He’s at his best when picking up the puck at speed in the neutral zone, as he’s comfortable with anything from lofting a backhand saucer pass into the trail of a teammate driving the backpost to powerfully lowering the shoulder and cutting inside and across the blue paint to deposit the puck in the back of the net, as he did on the 1-2 goal. Those are NHL skills; he’s clearly among the most dynamic undrafted players in the whole of college hockey.”
Cleaves is one of the best options in this pool, so the Flyers will face stiff competition. But, there is certainly not a whole lot of teams out there that can offer an opportunity to really take the next step with the lack of centers the team currently has. Even if Cleaves is destined to start in the AHL next season, the only other players that could give him competition for the top six with the Phantoms right now are Jett Luchanko and Karsen Dorwart. That’s a big opportunity to show off.
Lawton Zacher, G
The Flyers could always use more goaltending depth. Even with both Aleksei Kolosov and Carson Bjarnason in the AHL right now, bringing in a third netminder to give them some heavy competition isn’t a bad idea and Northeastern University’s Lawton Zacher could be a good option.
The 22-year-old goalie from Buffalo, New York has posted an outstanding .932 save percentage despite his team being extremely mediocre overall with a 14-15-1 record with him in between the pipes. Zacher is getting some recognition since he is one of three finalists for the Mike Richter award as the best goalie in college with top NHL prospects Trey Augustine and Michael Hrabel.
Zacher won’t be a ready-made option for the Flyers’ backup position or anything, but could have his performance translate into being a very solid AHL option as soon as next season and he’ll develop further from there. He probably is the top goalie available, after posting a very solid season with Northeastern and it might as well be the Flyers who show him that he could have a big opportunity to rocket up the depth chart in Philadelphia.
Tyler Dunbar, LD
Tyler Dunbar feels like he has all the tools to end up being one of those modern two-way defenders, or at the very least a solid enough bottom-pairing defenseman in the NHL if he fine-tunes some of his game. He’s a 6-foot-1, left-handed blueliner who, by all accounts, is so much more physical than a defenseman with that frame typically is.
Add in some above-average physicality to being able to skate among the top blueliners in his age group, and then toss in an actual scoring touch in the zone, and there’s a defenseman cooking here.
G.A.S. from Tyler Dunbar!
— Union College Men's Hockey (@Unionmhockey) January 11, 2026
(Go-ahead snipe)#UBeforeMe x #NCAAHockey x @ecachockey pic.twitter.com/2y47gLfqsI
Dunbar’s development is really all because he’s been a late-bloomer, or rather, not given the right opportunities to truly blossom. During his draft year, he was in his second year with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks, having just the year prior split his time between the Lumberjacks and playing Junior-A in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. He was clearly not at the top of the crop.
But time passed and after a couple more years in juniors, Dunbar committed to Colorado College. He played just a combined 31 games through two seasons there due to just being so low on the depth chart. It wasn’t until last summer’s transfer to Union College where he truly got to shine and explode offensively with 12 goals and 33 points in 35 games.
For the Flyers, Dunbar feels like someone who would be able to bring the physicality on the same level of the other young AHL defensemen they have (who weren’t drafted in the first round), but also the offensive tools to have a ceiling much higher than those players. He’d be an overall very solid add to the depth chart and pipeline.
Joshua Eernisse, RW
If we’re talking physicality in college free agency, just look at winger Joshua Eernisse out of the University of Michigan. He has the speed and power and physical tools — with a 6-foot-3, 216-pound frame — to run over most defenders and bully his way into scoring goals. This guy can just forecheck with the best of them and while he isn’t the most skilled player — he scored nine goals and 16 points in 32 games — he feels like the type of professional hockey player that is an easy plug-and-play winger on the fourth line.
Josh Eernisse is unleashed! pic.twitter.com/fATkKly3wB
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) October 12, 2025
If he were to be signed by the Flyers, it wouldn’t inspire some uncontrollable excitement from us or the rest of the fan base, but Eernisse would be a very solid farm hand and join the likes of Devin Kaplan as players who might not have produced a whole lot of points in college, but played roles on very good teams in good programs and are now taking their next step in their hockey career.
It just feels like John Snowden and the Flyers development staff can craft something out of Eernisse that resembles a very solid fourth-line grinder who will work harder than everyone else on the ice.
Isaiah Norlan, RD
The Flyers want more size on their blue line? Well, here’s 6-foot-6, right-handed defenseman Isaiah Norlin coming out of Colgate University to maybe add to the pipe line.
In a very similar story to most of these players, Norlin is maybe the most exceptional late-bloomer. During his draft year, he was still playing in high school in Minnesota and even after, he was working on his craft for three years out in the BCHL for the West Kelowna Warriors. After scoring a whole lot of points in his third year, he committed to the University of Nebraska-Omaha and laced up for a total of 16 games last season, earning one assist.
But for whatever reason, in his Draft+5 season, he truly broke out. The gargantuan blueliner who can skate better than he should at that size and actually has some soft skill, which is not expected, scored eight goals and 26 points in 35 games during his first year at Colgate. And now at 22 years old, is getting noticed by some NHL teams as someone who might have just completely flown under the radar until now.
For the Flyers, it would be adding another right-handed defenseman, where suddenly the depth chart is full of young and capable blueliners, but as David Jiricek and Oliver Bonk may jump into the NHL, Norlin could be that next wave — or at least be an offensive contributor from the back for the Phantoms next season, who isn’t the much-smaller Christian Kyrou.
If anything, Norlin is incredibly interesting as a prospect and a player and we’re probably going to keep tabs on his development over the next few years. So, it might as well be with the Flyers.
