Salary cap rising could be a bonanza to Flyers’ rebuild

There was big news Friday in Philadelphia after trade with Calgary, seeing Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee moving on while Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, and draft picks coming back. But that probably wasn\'t the biggest news of the day as word got out that the 2025-26 salary cap was increasing beyond the expected $92.4 million ceiling, to $95.5 million, and then increasing significantly the following two seasons.

The NHL and NHLPA are forecasting significant salary cap bumps on the current $88M ceiling in the coming years. It's a great time to be hitting free agency.

2025-26: $95.5M 2026-27: $104M 2027-28: $113.5M

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) January 31, 2025

The news is welcomed by everybody except possibly the owners who had years of a rather stagnant cap due to the pandemic and the economic fallout from that. Agents will love it as free agents should get a bump in pay across the board. Superstars will also see their percentage of the team cap possibly stay the same but with a bigger cap means more money for them also. Most importantly, from a Flyers point of view, this can only help the team in terms of rebuilding.

The Flyers\' biggest contract going into next year (barring a signing or a blockbuster than lands them an elite star) will be Travis Konecny\'s $8.75 million cap hit for eight seasons. To some, it seemed like a steep price to pay to get the forward locked for eight seasons. But looking down the road to 2027-28, with a $113.5 million cap, Konecny\'s percentage of goes from 9.16 per cent of the team\'s cap space in 2025-26 down to 7.7 per cent when 2027-28 roles around, which would mean his cap hit is suddenly the equivalent of a $6.77-million AAV under this season\'s ceiling -- a bargain, some would say. A key piece of the team for years to come taking up under eight per cent of your cap space? Yes please!

Further to that, if Konecny, Sanheim and Tippett live up to or exceed their expectations, those contracts could closely resemble the extremely team-friendly deals the Flyers landed in 2012 when they signed Scott Hartnell to a six-year, $28.5 million contract back in 2012 (a $4.75 million AAV) and Wayne Simmonds to a six-year, $23.85 million (a $3.98 million AAV). Those contracts for Hartnell (7.39 per cent of the team\'s cap at the beginning of the contract) and Simmonds (6.18 per cent) were almost criminally good for the Flyers given what both players gave the Flyers over their tenures. Using the salary cap number for 2027-28 season, Tippett\'s cap hit of $6.2 million will be just 5.46 per cent of the Flyers\' cap. For Sanheim that number will be at 5.5 per cent. So with those cap percentages, the deals for Sanheim and Tippett could be bigger steals down the road than the Simmonds and Hartnell contracts were.

Of course, that doesn\'t mean Konecny\'s cap hit will be the ceiling for the Flyers, especially when they know Matvei Michkov is probably going to command a substantial bump from his rookie contract. A cap hit at or north of $10 million a year for the Mad Russian shouldn\'t be a huge shock to people provided he isn\'t riddled with injuries or falls off a cliff concerning his production. If the Flyers want to land a top-line center, they are going to have to fork over Konecny\'s cap hit and then some. Other younger prospects or possible free agent signings could also be in that elite economic echeleon. What that could mean for the Flyers is taking a swing at some of the bigger free agents available without being in the cap hell they have found themselves in the last few seasons.

It also seems advantageous because the Flyers are owned by a company that aren\'t scrimping for coins in couches. By being able to spend to the max, particularly north of $110 million a season, the Flyers should be able to set themselves apart from some other teams by being able to hit the ceiling without much of a struggle. Of course, both the league and the NHL Players Association are probably going to ensure the small market clubs are not put at an economic disadvantage and become the have nots. The days of the rich teams getting richer using blank cheques to acquire talent are gone. But knowing Comcast won\'t (or shouldn\'t) nickel and dime the Flyers\' plan to build a Cup contender is good news. Of course the upcoming ticket price increases will be a bit more agreeable or easier to swallow if the Flyers are putting together a winning product.

The increase will also make mistakes a bit more forgiveable. That doesn\'t mean Briere should look at the cap increases as a means to atone for complete screw ups with possible signings or extensions. Flyers fans now look at Sean Couturier\'s contract and are already cringing at how that cap hit and term could be an albatross. It\'s far easier to look at the $7.75 million the next five years when you have more money in the till to play with. \"Like I said, I want to make sure that I\'m clear here: we\'re not going to just start spending money just for the fun of it,\" Briere said in his Saturday press conference. \"We want to make sure we that we get the right players when we decide to open up the cheque books.\"

If Briere is smart with the decisions and the signings, look for the Flyers to be one of the places UFAs might consider putting down roots for. And that hasn\'t happened in a while.

Talking Points