Everyone under the sun is painfully aware that the Philadelphia Flyers desperately need a top flight centre for the present and future.
However, while still in the midst of a rebuild, it sounds like that might happen sooner than later, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
The NHL’s top insider took to his ‘32 Thoughts’ podcast on Saturday to talk about everything going on in the NHL including the Flyers and their pursuit for a centre this summer.
Similarly to its fanbase, the Flyers are getting to a point where they’re not happy with their on-ice production. GM Daniel Brière mentioned during his end of season presser that it might be time for the Flyers to start adding a little bit with most of their subtractions having already come to fruition.
That works hand in hand with Friedman who talked about how people within the NHL believe the Flyers are going to be extremely active this summer, primarily in the offer sheet market.
“I think the Flyers are like the Ducks. They’ve kind of said, okay, it’s been enough of this. It’s time to go for it a little bit. They need a centre. Centres are hard to find. Where do they find that centre?
“I will say this. If there’s going to be offer sheets, teams talk about Philly. That’s one of the teams definitely that people look at and say, if this is going to be an offer sheet summer, Philly is going to be one of those teams. And if you look at 2026, they have all their picks in the first four rounds.
“They’re going to, they’re at the point where they’re going to try something. They’ve had enough of being mid.”
Once seen as a taboo, offer sheets have slowly become the norm with the St. Louis Blues being the most recent successors after they signed Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg last summer from the Edmonton Oilers.
The Flyers have the draft capital to make it work in 2026 with picks in the first four rounds on top of picks in all of the future drafts as they are eligible for every possible offer sheet, according to PuckPedia.
The offer sheet compensation is as follows:
– Anything below $1,511,701 requires no draft compensation
– Between $1,511,702 – $2,290,457 requires a 2026 third round pick
– Between $2,290,458 – $4,580,917 requires a 2026 second round pick
– Between $4,580,918 – $6,871,374 requires a 2026 first and third round pick
– Between $6,871,375 – $9,161,834 requires a 2026 first, second, and third round pick
– Between $9,161,835 – $11,452,294 requires 2 firsts in the next 3 drafts as well as a 2026 second and third round pick
– Above $11,452,295 requires 4 first round picks in the next 5 drafts.
Some very solid centres or hybrid centres that are offer sheet eligible this summer include: JJ Peterka from Buffalo, Gabriel Vilardi from Winnipeg, Marco Rossi from Minnesota, Morgan Geekie from Boston, Mason McTavish from Anaheim, and Mavrik Bourque from Dallas.
The whole list can be seen here from PuckPedia.
Minnesota has $20.59 million in cap space this summer but have UFAs like Marcus Johansson and Gustav Nyquist coming off the books, so extending Rossi won’t necessarily be a problem.
Teams like Anaheim and Buffalo have a lot of cap space to work with as the former carries $38.63 million to play with and McTavish being their main and primary focus.
As for Buffalo, they will be carrying $21.43 million with Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn, and Bowen Byram joining Peterka as pending RFAs, so there could be some wiggle room for the Flyers.
The Jets will carry over $25 million in cap space with Nikolaj Ehlers, Brandon Tanev, and Mason Appleton needing new contracts alongside Vilardi.
However, the other contending team to focus on is Dallas as they carry just under $6 million in cap space despite Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, and Mikael Granlund coming off the books; making Bourque a tantalizing option.
Acquiring Peterka, McTavish, and Vilardi will be difficult with how integral they all are to their current teams as well as their cap situation not being as stringent as teams like Dallas.
Bourque is an interesting prospect as he just finished his rookie season with 11 goals and 25 points in 73 games on a very loaded Dallas Stars team. He averaged 12:41 TOI, fired 80 shots, won 46.3% of his draws, and added 37 blocked shots to 46 hits.
He was drafted 30th overall in 2020 coming out of Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL. He tallied 29 goals and 71 points in 49 games before COVID-19 shut things down and then added 19 goals and 43 points in just 28 games the following year. He finished his distinguished junior career with 68 points in 31 games in 2021-22 before joining the Texas Stars of the AHL.
Bourque burst onto the scene with 20 goals and 47 points in 70 games during the 2022-23 season before a 77-point season in just 71 contests in 2023-24. The Plessisville, Québec native is certainly an intriguing offensive piece and one the Flyers could assuredly use in their top-6.
Prying him out of Dallas might require a compensatory 2nd round pick but the 23-year-old has shown he can contribute at every level in his young career. The Stars have bigger fish to fry as well, making them a prime candidate to target.
The Flyers have $24.72 million to play with for themselves with Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Jakob Pelletier, and Cam York all entering the summer as pending RFAs.
It had been rumoured that Cates is looking for a one-year deal – though he did say on break up day he’d like to be a Flyer long-term – and York could be brought back on a bridge deal, leaving the Flyers with a little more wiggle room this summer specifically.
It will be tough to pry some of these youngsters from their respective teams but the Flyers need to be aggressive and willing to gamble on young top-flight prospects, which by all accounts is what they’re planning on doing this summer.
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