The heat appears to be turning up on at least one of the Flyers’ restricted free agent saga fronts.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the king of NHL breaking news, fired off a tweet that the Flyers and Ivan Provorov are “working hard” towards finalizing a contract by the end of the day. When McKenzie is on the case, there’s a pretty good chance that his intel is solid.
PHI and RFA D Ivan Provorov working hard today to try to finalize a contract. Three and six year deals both still on the table. Talks continue.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) September 12, 2019
As Bobby Margarita notes, both a three-year and a six-year deal appear to be on the table for the two sides. Remember that Zach Werenski —another RFA defenseman— just inked a three-year, $15 million deal with the Blue Jackets just a few days ago. Reports have been that Provorov’s camp have been looking for north of the $5 million average on Werenski’s eventual deal, but where that number lands could at least start at a million or so higher on a short term deal and escalate as years are tacked on. Not thinking that Provorov is going to get that rumored $10 million, though.
With the Rookie Game out of the way, the Flyers are just days away from opening their preseason slate and the regular season is peaking its head around the corner so getting their top pair defenseman signed is the biggest piece on GM Chuck Fletcher’s plate and it looks like things are at least inching closer and closer.
Still unsigned is fellow RFA Travis Konecny, who the Flyers dearly need to get signed as well, given his status as a productive top six winger for a club desperate to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs this season. Even so, it appears that getting the Flyers’ top defenseman done first is either the priority for Fletcher or just so happens to be the easier deal to get done at this time.
More to come, obviously.
