The Flyers in Franchise Hockey Manager – Part 6 – Putting pen to paper

Previous entries in the series

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Welcome back to the Flyers in FHM, part six! As I mentioned at the end of last episode, today we are going to take a look at expiring contracts, play through the draft, and sim through free agency up until the start of the 2020-21 season.

So, without further ado, let’s get started…

Contract SZN

There are five expiring contracts set to come off the books after June 30th, pictured below with our roster organized from length of contract:

Brian Elliott, Phil Myers, Oskar Lindblom, Derek Grant, and Nolan Patrick all need to be re-signed or they’ll become RFAs or UFAs.

Here are the deals I made:

Phil Myers, 3 years, $1.1 million AAV

Nolan Patrick, 3 years $3.38 million AAV

Oskar Lindblom, 4 years, $1.08 million AAV

I’ve decided to let Brian Elliott and Derek Grant enter free agency, because I want to make room for potential additions to the squad and to free up cap space (though I am also keeping in mind the increase in cap space).

Drafting

So predictably, Alexis Lafreniere went #1 overall, but to Montreal who won the lottery being the second worst team in the NHL.

In the end, with the 27th overall pick, we selected, from the Shawinigan Cataractes, Mavrik Bourque. Bourque is regarded as a two-way center, though at 5’10”, 169 lbs, he has some weight training to do before being anywhere close to NHL ready. Here is his real life Elite Prospects profile, and below is his FHM page:

He has 4 star potential, and could be our future 1C or 2C to couple with a veteran Sean Couturier.

In the second round, we took Russian C/RW Vasili Ponomaryov, from the same QMJHL club as Bourque funny enough.

Another 4 star talent, Vasili is a big lad who can also play as a two-way center. I like that he is fairly durable, along with Bourque.

We didn’t pick again until the 5th round, but our choice was Andrei Kuznetsov, who, believe it or not, is another center! However, Kuznetsov is more regarded as a playmaker.

In round six, we took Yegor Sokolov, a relatively unknown winger from the ‘Q’. He’s an over-ager, so it’s a bit of a project, but he is essentially ready now to play in the AHL, so that’s where he’ll go. He also had a pretty decent World Juniors in real life, scoring four points in seven games.

Our last pick was spent on Yu Sato, a winger from Quebec Ramparts.

He can play on either wing, and profiles as an energy forward to be used on the third or fourth line, yet has a decent scoring touch. He only has two star potential according to consensus, but I like the season he had so I’m taking a chance.

The last thing I did before June 30th hit was that I signed Wade Allison and Yegor Sokolov to entry level contracts, with the aim of them playing in the AHL.

Free agency

Come July, both Brian Elliott and Nate Thompson decided to retire, with one leaving somewhat of a legacy with the Flyers and the other fading away into being mentioned eventually on a Flyperbole segment.

Additionally, I am fortunate that I don’t have to worry about another expansion draft until next offseason, as Seattle are set to enter the league in 2021-22.

But, anyways, let’s break down what I decided to do:

I first attempted to sign Taylor Hall, as he hit free agency after failing to re-up with Arizona. However, he ended up taking a six year $10.0 million AAV contract to play in Ottawa (which is stupid).

I ended up early on signing Bruins defenseman Torey Krug, to a three year deal, at $6.6 million AAV.

I’m a bit worried about his vulnerably injury history with his lower body, but other than that I like getting Krug for such a reasonable cap hit to be on our top pair. I think I can pull other moves to change things up at forward, but I was less confident about trading for a defenseman (I realized quite quickly given the abundance of forwards on the trade block).

To wrap things up on the market, I made two trades.

Firstly, I traded James van Riemsdyk, and the rights to Tanner Laczynski and Ronnie Attard, for the rights to Quinton Byfield from the Devils, and then signed him to an entry level deal.

Byfield has a ton of potential, and can become a real stud for this team. He’ll likely play either 3rd or 4th line minutes to start out with, but I’m very excited for his future. I also clear cap space by trading van Riemsdyk, so I can make this next trade…

I moved a first round pick in 2023 and Connor Bunnaman for Tomas Hertl of the San Jose Sharks.

I like Hertl a lot as a second line forward, and he brings a more physical, power forward play style that we lack at the moment.

I also, due to the logjam at forward, traded Scott Laughton to Minnesota for the rights to prospect Adam Beckman, who has a decent 3.5 star potential.

So, finally, barring injuries, this will be our opening day line-up:

Of course, this is subject to change, and I’m monitoring the progress of prospects. The next closest prospect up is Isaac Ratcliffe in the AHL, as he’s currently rated at two stars and can come up when needed.

He looks like a fantastic power forward, even now actually.

Anyways, that will do it for today’s episode. Next time up, we’ll start the NHL regular season, and go about a quarter of the way through. I’ll also leave you with a poll, asking about where you think we’ll finish this year. As per usual, it ends in two days.

Where will the Flyers finish in 2020-21?