Philadelphia Flyers general manager Danny Briere, like a lot of his fellow brethren, hasn’t really dealt with a lot of hard decisions when it comes to the team’s salary cap and committing to certain players, but that is all going to change this summer.
The stagnant cap over the last few seasons resulted in each team having the same ceiling and floor thanks to the global pandemic and the revenue lost as a result. After all, there were not many bums in seats for a few years. What this meant was Briere was content with simply making very short-term, rather low-risk signings to players or making the obvious decision to fit with his plan.
Going back to March of 2024, Briere’s second biggest move in his first year without the interim tag was signing defenseman Nick Seeler to a four-year, $10.8 million deal. His biggest was the eight-year, $49.6 million signing which secured winger Owen Tippett for the long haul back on Jan. 26, 2024. Going maximum term on a player with those tools and that young (Tippett’s contract expires when he’s 33 years old) and now looks like a bargain if he is able to just score 25 or so goals. It was a fairly easy decision to go that route rather than the other short bridge deals like he had signed with Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster, and Bobby Brink. Again, easy decisions.
Since March, 2024, Briere has opened up the purse strings, but not a heck of a lot. Travis Konecny’s eight-year, $70 million contract thus far has been the richest he’s negotiated ($8.75 million AAV)). Other than that, Briere has signed center Christian Dvorak and defenseman Cam York to identical contracts (five-year, $25.75 million). Thus far, of the 61 signings Briere has done as the Flyers general manager, only four of those have had cap hits at $5 million or more for multiple seasons. Although the jury will be out for years, there hasn’t been one yet that should be a huge anchor to the club moving forward, especially given how dramatic the National Hockey League’s salary cap is increasing. With the ceiling set for $104 million next season and $113.5 million the following, there will be a lot more money at Briere’s disposal. But how he navigates through these new financial waters will be as crucial as Philadelphia’s drafting and development.
Can’t get stuck in the past
With the acquisition of Trevor Zegras last year, the Flyers took a test run on a forward who looks like he could be a key piece moving forward. But while everyone enjoyed what Zegras had to offer, he’s now coming to the end of his contract. He’s one of the five restricted free agents the Flyers have to deal with this off-season, joining Jamie Drysdale, Emil Andrae, Nikita Grebenkin, and Sam Ersson. It’s doubtful Ersson will be retained, and both Grebenkin and Andrae seem to be leaning more towards short-term, frugal deals that shouldn’t be tough negotiations.
That leaves both Zegras and Drysdale as probably the two biggest things on Briere’s “to-do” list. And with the changing cap landscape, it’s imperative he doesn’t get stuck in the rigid model some teams fashioned for years. Looking at the Flyers current cap situation, they have one player with an annual cap hit over the $8 million (Konecny), one over $7 million (Sean Couturier), and two at over $6 million (Tippett and Travis Sanheim). Some general managers would adhere to the idea your best player is compensated the most, with everyone else falling in line or not being paid a penny more. It was a format the likes of Boston during the Patrice Bergeron days (pre-David Pastrnak) and Tampa Bay (to this day) stuck to. Yet it’s a model that is going to become a relic in the coming years as the cap inflates. With more money available to players, they are going to be looking more towards a percentage of the cap, and not a comparable to what their defensive partner, linemate, or teammate signed for two or three seasons ago — some contracts are going to be considered from the era before the cap ballooned.
With speculation about what both Zegras and Drysdale might be looking for, and what Briere is willing to pay, it’s important for Philadelphia to adjust and adapt. Drysdale took a huge step in his development this season, but to suggest he is going to be happy making roughly the same money (or slightly less) than fellow Flyer defenseman Cam York ($5.15 million AAV) for a number of years seems ridiculous.
York’s contract, signed last July, seems now a bit of a steal for Briere. Currently York takes up 5.4 per cent of the team’s cap. That will be reduced to 4.5 per cent during 2027-28. And as the cap rises, that percentage will continually shrink. If Drysdale’s agent was to use the same percentage as York’s (4.5 per cent) in his upcoming negotiation, then Drysdale would be earning $5.85 million in 2027-28, or just $750,000 more per year than York when the cap is on a steep incline. It’s doubtful even York would coax Drysdale into signing that deal.
Briere could play hardball, and squeeze out deals with Drysdale and Zegras that aren’t in the ballpark of Konecny’s or Sanheim’s. However, given the nature of recent deals around the league, Philadelphia needs to recognize that how the cap worked the last four to five years is out the window. It’s not going up in drips and drabs. It’s going up substantially. Year over year. And with that change, salaries across the board are more likely than not going to rise (Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby being the exceptions). That’s not to say Briere should give blank cheques to both Zegras and Drysdale this spring or summer and dramatically overpay for both of their services. Yet it’s vital the general manager realizes salaries for stars, role players and third-pairing defensemen are probably going to rise. Not drastically in some respects, but they’re going to go up.
Has to keep making sense (and cents)
One thing Briere has repeated is the idea of each moving needing to make sense. And with the cap rising, a lot of the thought processes behind contracts and their frameworks might need to be reviewed somewhat. For example, would you bridge the likes of Matvei Michkov or Porter Martone when you could pay more now and keep them under contract for nearly all of their prime years as a player? Or wait two seasons where they both shine and need to pony up far more money down the road? It didn’t seem too logical a few seasons ago considering how Buffalo and Ottawa were handing out long-term deals like candy with substantial cap hits to relative newcomers. However, with both teams looking like they might have turned a corner, seeing those same rosters together for several more seasons is a plus. With that talent locked up at a fixed cap hit, both teams can look for additional help and have the cap space to realistically help themselves. Or, on the other hand, be able to keep their younger stable of high-end prospects around to help hunt for a Stanley Cup or two.
Hindsight being what it is, nobody can truly gauge if signing both Zegras and Drysdale to long-term deals this summer would be disastrous or brilliant. What Danny Briere has to do is toss out some of the rather ancient ideas about the salary cap and adjust. Zegras might get paid more than Konecny despite not ending up the team’s leading point-getter. That might ruffle some feathers. But it shouldn’t. And Drysdale could end up in the region of Sanheim’s cap hit (or slightly higher) and play slightly fewer minutes per game. That also might piss some people off. It shouldn’t.
Briere said last summer that the Flyers would be willing to sign any high-end talent in the class of 2026. It didn’t seem like price was a hinderance. Whatever it would take to bring McDavid, Jack Eichel or anyone else to Philadelphia was going to be considered. That’s now ancient history. Not happening. But that same consideration should be used towards their own roster, particularly with parts that they feel will be part of the Flyers’ contending phase. Not comparing McDavid and Eichel to Zegras or Drysdale, but the Flyers are going to need to spend to compete. Whether it’s to keep pieces now that can help down the road, or to get other parts that puts them closer to contention, they need to spend. Spend wisely, but spend. It’s up to Briere to do exactly that.
