It’s becoming the worst kept secret that the Philadelphia Flyers are eyeing up free agent defenseman John Carlson. Unfortunately, there’s a new potential hiccup into them landing the offensive blueliner.
With July 1 fast approaching, the rumor mill is churning and media around the NHL are starting to connect some dots of players to teams that just make sense. While general manager Danny Briere can’t quite yet say outright which players he is interested in acquiring via free agency, there is a need for more offense from the Flyers’ blue line. Travis Sanheim, Cam York, and Jamie Drysdale are defensemen who make your team better, but there is a lack of a true and traditional offensive defenseman that can blast some shots from the point and, most importantly, help the power play not be complete garbage.
Carlson is exactly that and the situation in Philadelphia is almost too perfect for him. It makes too much sense and that’s why a whole lot of fans and even some media, are assuming that this is going to happen.
The 36-year-old defenseman does not need long-term commitment, and that’s great news for the Flyers as they don’t need to go and sign Carlson to a Darren Raddysh-esque eight-year deal. All reports are saying that he wants something like a two-year, $20-million contract, and the dollars also work for the Flyers since outside of Trevor Zegras and Drysdale, they won’t be having a whole lot of new money coming in and they have ample cap space available. And that’s not even mentioning Rasmus Ristolainen and his $5.1-million AAV potentially being moved, as well.
With such a team need for exactly who Carlson is and can be, and for the desired contract to be perfectly fine for the Flyers — and the fact that he can return closer to home in the Northeast, and Philadelphia is also close to his long-time home in Washington — there are just so many puzzle pieces that click together and create a picture of Carlson and Briere shaking hands to agree on a fresh new contract on July 1.
But, now there’s a new hurdle.
Could Flyers face major competition for John Carlson’s signature?
In the biggest move of the offseason so far, the Toronto Maple Leafs swooped in before anyone could even ask top free agent defenseman Darren Raddysh if he was interested in signing with their team, traded a fifth-round pick to the Lightning for his signing rights, and locked him up to an eight-year, $68-million contract.
Raddysh is something that that team needs desperately, and they need to turn it around fairly quickly to not hand over very good draft picks to the Flyers and Bruins for the next two seasons. So, it makes perfect sense. But, that sign-and-trade has now opened up a big hole on the Lightning blue line.
It wouldn’t be crazy to think that now with the departure of Raddysh, that Tampa turns around and brings in Carlson on the contract that he wants.
The Lightning have approximately $13.1 million in cap space with no actual holes on their roster. They have enough players signed that can play in the NHL to fill a complete 23-man roster right now and just have that money open. So, would they just simply shrug about the loss of Raddysh and go out and get Carlson to replace him as their top power-play quarterback and someone capable of munching some minutes in the top four?
Theoretically, it would be an easy decision to make. The Lightning have a window and want to win every single year, so getting the old-but-still-good defenseman that can replace some of what you just lost. It would be at a higher cap hit, but a shorter commitment. The only roadblock for Tampa to do this is the fact that Nikita Kucherov is entering his final year of his contract. So, if Carlson were to sign for two years at a big number, that second year would overlap with what Kucherov’s eventual huge contract is going to be.
But, the salary cap is supposed to go up another $9 million to $113 million for the 2027-28 season and that is basically what the Lightning need. Unless Conor Geekie has an insane year and deserves something more than just a little bridge deal, or Emil Lilleberg demands several million dollars, there’s no one else they would spend the money on who is on their team right now.
What other teams could be interested in Carlson?
So, yeah. While the Flyers are bound to already face competition for Carlson, potentially adding in the Lightning and the immediate interest they generate from any player who could join that championship-ready team, immediately makes it more difficult.
But, what other teams could be involved?
All reports are that Carlson wants to come back to the East Coast. So, could that mean the Penguins, who also have so much cap space? Could the Bruins see him as someone to add during their retool? What if the Blue Jackets have some space after re-signing their young guys and want someone else than Zach Werenski to add some offense from the back?
There are other options. Maybe none as perfect as Philadelphia, but there should be several suitors of Carlson and he will have his choice of some either up-and-coming teams or he can go to a team in an attempt to get another ring. Because now, if the Lightning are interesting in replacing Raddysh with a similar enough player, they can be a team that can actually promise much more team success to Carlson compared to a team like the Flyers.
Let’s just hope that Carlson is content with his one single Stanley Cup ring from the Capitals and that he wants to close out his career scoring 20 goals on the power play for the Flyers.
