Although they still have some business to attend to with the contracts of Hunter McDonald and Nikita Grebenkin, the last piece of negotiation for the Philadelphia Flyers this summer was with defenseman Jamie Drysdale. On Friday evening the 24-year-old blueliner inked a four-year, $26 million extension ($6.5 million average annual value), days after forward Trevor Zegras was locked up for the same amount of years but with another $10.5 million in his pocket more than Drysdale. And on Monday afternoon, Drysdale met with the media, stating that he’s looking forward to continuing where the Flyers left off with a relatively surprising playoff run.
“Yeah, I mean it’s definitely a relief,” Drysdale said. “You know contract years and summers getting it done is an interesting thing. But honestly it went kind of smooth for the most part and I’m definitely relieved, thrilled, and excited to play somewhere I want to play for another four years and as long as I can. I’m just super excited I got another four more years.”
The new contract places Drysdale atop all Philadelphia defensemen in terms of their respective cap hits, with his $6.5 million surpassing Travis Sanheim’s $6.25 million. Drysdale said the length of the deal was something both he and the club were close on from the start of negotiations.
“It was kind of in and around that ballpark to be honest with you from the start,” he said. “So I think it was something that both sides were comfortable with. Philly’s a place where I love to play, there’s no secret there. I continuously say it. I’m happy with four years and I’d want to continue that after the fact obviously. Just really excited to show what I can do and keep it going.”
Heading into last summer, most people were happy that Drysdale primarily stayed in one piece after previous years where he was a bit injury prone. But both the team and the player knew he was still a work in progress and needed to put in that work to succeed. However, the defenseman said he felt he needed to take the initiative on the ice and improve, looking more and more like he was making a difference in a good way, and not being a defensive liability.
“One, just the recognition that I needed to step up, I did not have a good year the year before,” Drysdale said regarding his play at even strength. “So that was part one going into last season with a different mindset. Part two was just the staff, coaches, and teammates across the board. Just so many people played a part in it and just the encouragement and the belief from all aspects. It was a good year, but I think there’s still a lot more in the tank though.”
Part of the game that both the Flyers and Drysdale would love to see some improvement (or any semblance of life) would be the power play. Drysdale had nine power play points last year, his highest total since registering 12 assists with Anaheim back in 2021-22. But it’s something he and the club would love to see move up in the rankings.
“I think that’s an area that I can improve on a lot and be successful in the league,” he said. “It’s definitely important as a team to get making that better and getting that moving a little bit to allow us success overall. In terms of aspects for me, I think a lot of things, I think there are a lot of little things that I can work on just when I get the puck — head fakes, looking off — things like that, a little bit more deceptiveness. And obviously the main kicker is just shooting more. I’ve been pretty much continuously been working on my shot the last year and throughout this summer. It’s something that I’m getting confident with and use it as a weapon and take it from there.”
Working with power skating coach Bryan Marshall for now close to a decade, Drysdale says the summer training and skating regimen is going well. He says he’s benefitting from replaying certain game situations and how to best react, whether it’s skating with his defensive partner or skating up with the forwards. And, of course, working on his skating from a defensive perspective to nix plays from the start, something he was quite successful on from the eye test most of last season. Rarely did he make a bad pinch. But he also says that improvement was a result of having essentially the same defensive sextet that greeted him when he arrived from Anaheim back in January 2024.
“This league there are always moving parts across the board but yeah I’ve been fortunate,” he said. “I’ve played with the group here most of the last three or four years so like everyone I keep repeating it’s an unbelievable group. It’s also one which a lot of guys including myself are ready to take steps year in and year out. It’s just exciting for us. Everybody knows we’re going to work our butts off in the offseason and come back with higher expectations in September.”
Motivated to return to “electric” playoff atmosphere
Although he only had four points in the 10 playoff games Philadelphia played this past spring, Drysdale says both he and the team are ready to put in the work to return to the post-season next spring. He felt getting a taste of the playoffs only made the team hungrier to return, not simply happy to get there.
“I mean it was electric this year,” Drysdale said. “First of all, making it into the playoffs and then winning the first round, and getting into the second round. It’s a good stepping stone for us. I don’t think anyone is content. You can’t be at all and, I think with where our group’s at, I think everyone is in a position where you can improve. Everyone is going to come in hungry and excited. We were all really excited to get there once and we’ll all be really hungry to reach it and surpass it as well.”
Drysdale didn’t live under a rock the last few weeks. Most likely his contract negotiations and also those of Trevor Zegras were put on the backburner temporarily as Flyers general manager Danny Briere extended an offer sheet to Anaheim center Leo Carlsson. But once that subsided, Drysdale and Zegras were locked up. He feels that despite Philadelphia not making a huge splash in terms of free agency or the offer sheet route, the team can go further this coming season.
“I think it’s something that you’ve seen and heard around the room and talking to the guys is there’s a lot of belief within the guys,” he said. “We don’t want to think about last year too much, it’s over. I think few people expected us to be the team that made it in at the end of the day as well as winning the first round. Within the locker room we’ve got a lot of belief and I think we’ve got a great lineup to be honest. I think we’re only going to get better.”
Finally, Drysdale’s name will be linked forever to the forward Philadelphia dealt to Anaheim after some acrimony between the former Flyer draft pick and the organization. Drysdale probably won’t score 40-plus goals like the guy Philadelphia shipped out, however he’s motivated to prove the Flyers made the right call in acquiring him roughly 30 months ago.
“I think the only thing that it does and will continue to do moving forward is just to motivate me,” he said. “I want to be the best player that I can for the city and for the team, for the fans and everything. And I know I still have a lot more to give. And that’s exciting for me on my end. I don’t try and think too much about that. It is what it is. I didn’t have much of a part in it but I think I consider myself lucky. I think I lucked out with the city, the team, my teammates, the organization, the city itself. I love it. I think it motivates me to just be as absolutely good as I can be moving forward.”
