The Philadelphia Flyers are still doing some business the day after free agency opened. According to reports, the Flyers have locked up young defenseman Jamie Drysdale to a contract extension.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta dropped an important update on the contract negotiations between Drysdale and the Flyers. It surely seems like the team will show their commitment to the player, signing him to a long-term contract extension that will reportedly be around a $6-million AAV.
It could be as high as something like $6.75 million, or as low as exactly $6 million. Maybe the most important factor around the team is that Travis Sanheim’s $6.25-million AAV is currently the highest on the Flyers’ blue line. Could Drysdale come in higher than that or just meet the exact number of the team’s best defenseman.
Drysdale was a restricted free agent as his three-year contract that carried a $2.3-million AAV that he signed when he was still a part of the Anaheim Ducks organization, expired. He was eligible for arbitration and to sign an offer sheet from another team, and all that extra stuff that is associated with a restricted free agent entering his prime years who doesn’t have a contract. But luckily the Flyers are avoiding all of that with a deal that will keep the 24-year-old in Philadelphia through what could be the best years of his career.
He was originally acquired by the Flyers in the trade with the Ducks that sent Cutter Gauthier and his unwavering desire to not sign and play in Philadelphia and now we’re seeing some of that player coming out.
Jamie Drysdale deserved commitment after year of improvement
This past season it was a very big wait-and-see year for Jamie Drysdale. He came to the Flyers at potentially his lowest value. A top draft pick that suffered season-altering injuries, development struggles, and even just a really awful contract negotiation to throw everything around him off the path to becoming an impactful NHL defenseman.
In the first half season, it was more about seeing some of the potential he can have. The defensive mistakes were obvious and the offense wasn’t good enough to warrant throwing him out there all that often, especially under John Tortorella. Then, in the 2024-25 season it was just seeing if he can stay healthy for an entire year and play well enough to stay in the lineup — he certainly did that with 70 games played but he managed to score just 20 points and didn’t really show a whole lot of dynamism.
And now, just last year in his first year under Rick Tocchet, it was growing from there. Would Drysdale be able to take a step further and be a top-four defenseman and have progression on both ends of the puck? And I’d say he absolutely did. He was much better defensively, and while the offense hasn’t popped and he doesn’t really have the chops to be a power play quarterback to juice his numbers, his eight goals and 32 points in 78 games at least showed a step forward production-wise.
The hope is now just that Drysdale can gain that confidence to make more gutsy plays, be as aggressive as his coach will allow him, and be that sort of player the hockey world saw in him when he was playing for the OHL’s Erie Otters and lighting up juniors and drafted sixth overall.
A long-term contract is certainly a way to do that and now he’s got multiple years to keep on growing into the player the Flyers believe he can be and a very good defenseman on what is hopefully a regular contender.
Now, the attention turns to Trevor Zegras
Drysdale was one of two premier restricted free agents for the Flyers. Now that that business appears to be close to done, the other one will keep on having negotiations to really get all the business done early in the summer.
Forward Trevor Zegras is the other restricted free agent and is certainly the one with the higher profile. The 25-year-old center was acquired from the Ducks last summer as some sort of low-risk reclamation project since Anaheim decided to sully his value as much as possible.
So, of course he popped off in his first season in Philadelphia. Zegras scored 26 goals and 67 points in 81 games this past season, finishing second on the team in scoring. And while he started the season on the wing, he certainly cemented himself as a center and while it was potentially a question heading into next season whether or not Tocchet would start him at wing once again, all signs point to him being a top-six center once again.
His defense improved and while he’s not some point per game player, there is certainly potential for him to become one once surrounded by more talent on a more consistent basis — and maybe not being on the worst power play we’ve ever seen in professional hockey would help get him there too.
Zegras will surely come at a price above Drysdale and could very well sign for more years, once we know how many years the defenseman got. He could be a long-term piece for Philadelphia and even if he signs the maximum eight years of an extension, that will take him to being just 33 years old and the Flyers will have him for the best years of his career.
It’s going to be an interesting negotiation for sure.
