One more fine detail about what the Philadelphia Flyers could do this summer to improve their team, has been released.
The NHL has officially unveiled the updated draft pick compensation for any offer sheets sent to restricted free agents this summer. With such a large bump in the salary cap, the thresholds for the compensation had to be updated as well and it looks just about where we would all expect.
| Offer sheet AAV | Compensation |
| $1,544,424 or less | None |
| $1,544,425 to $2,340,037 | Third-round pick |
| $2,340,038 to $4,680,076 | Second-round pick |
| $4,680,077 to $7,020,113 | First- and third-round picks |
| $7,020,114 to $9,360,153 | First-, second-, and third-round picks |
| $9,360,154 to $11,700,192 | Two firsts, one second, and one third |
| Over $11,700,192 | Four first-round picks |
Lots of millions and lots of draft picks potentially switching teams. It is important to note that the draft picks sent as compensation must be the team’s own draft pick.
Any offer sheet being sent out this summer is not a certainty, but there are some reasons why it could be more likely in the next few months than previous offseasons. Obviously, the elephant in the room is the entire hockey world witnessing St. Louis Blues general manager sending two over to Edmonton to snatch away two very good young players in defenseman Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. Both players, in increased roles compared to their time with the Oilers, excelled and were just a couple of the several reasons why the Blues were a playoff team.
Some teams might want to just do the same to other unfortunately cap-strapped teams and take their promising young players because they can’t adequately pay them. Essentially, what the entire system is built to do.
Another reason is with the expected substantial consecutive jumps in the salary cap — before teams and players get used to the increased salary numbers, to try and pry a player away because their team doesn’t value them in this new financial environment. It’s more of an abstract reason, but with the dollars around the league changing so much, we can possibly see some more offer sheets being thrown around.
And one of those teams in the middle of it all could be the Flyers.
Philadelphia has already been named as a team who could utilize an offer sheet this summer and it certainly makes sense. General manager Danny Briere can see this roster full of young talent — lots of players that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon — and don’t want to waste another year because of a couple missing pieces. This is supposed to be a summer of transition and actually trying to turn a corner and attempt to be better.
Could they use an offer sheet for a young top-six center? Almost certainly. Is restricted free agent Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, a possible answer in between the pipes and all it would take is a very solid offer sheet sent his way? Possibly.
The Flyers are in a group of teams that want to be better and are kind of already done with drafting in the top 10. An offer sheet is just another avenue they could trot their way down to improve the roster.
Now that we know the dollar figures and the compensation, it provides a little bit of a clearer picture. The only thing is the massive risk that the Flyers could run into by sending their unprotected 2026 first-round pick. As we all know, all it takes is a season of a bad power play and poor goaltending to suddenly have that be a very good selection. And next year’s class is shaping up to be a very, very, very good crop of young players in the first half of the first round. The Flyers could be missing out on a significant player if the player they target with this hypothetical offer sheet is not a team-changing player; or they make additional changes to prevent them sinking towards the bottom of the league.
This summer is certainly going to be interesting no matter what in Philadelphia.
