The Philadelphia Flyers have avoided arbitration and have come to terms with restricted free agent defenseman Jamie Drysdale on a 4-year contract extension worth $6.5 million per season.
Just like their post-ELC contracts back when they were members of the Anaheim Ducks, Drysdale signed his extension just a couple days after Trevor Zegras, who came to terms on a 4-year, $36.5 million contract on Wednesday night.
The Flyers have had a relatively busy offseason that started with extensions to Tyson Foerster, Carl Grundström, and Dan Vladař, while also signing Cam Dineen, Danila Klimovich, Jack Studnicka, and Zach Aston-Reese to two-way contracts to address depth.
However, things completely changed a few days later when they sent an offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks centre Leo Carlsson. The $18 million AAV would’ve left the Flyers with just a shade over $11 million remaining to extend Drysdale, Zegras and Nikita Grebenkin, thus putting their conversations on hold for at least a week.
After the Ducks matched the offer sheet, it was time for the Flyers to get back to business, especially after the arbitration dates were revealed with Drysdale’s hearing set for the 20th of July.
Unlike with Zegras, there were rumours about an extension with Drysdale before the draft that came from Andy Strickland and David Pagnotta. However, that’s where the buck stopped, most likely due to the front office exploring an offer sheet.
Nevertheless, the Flyers now have both of their marquee RFAs signed and in the fold for years to come, leaving Grebenkin and Hunter McDonald as the remaining unsigned players with $13.94 million in cap space remaining.
As for Drysdale, this deal cements his position on the Flyers’ blue-line. The 24-year-old completed his second full season with the club and recorded a career-high 8 goals and 32 points in 78 games, He also finished the season with a -3 rating, averaged 21:33 TOI, and helped out on the power play with 9 points. Additionally, he added 4 points in 10 playoff games.
It was a successful season in contrast to his 2024-25 campaign, when he scored 7 goals and 20 points in 70 contests, but was also a -32 in the process while averaging 19:55 TOI. Drysdale also cut his giveaways down by nearly 20 and improved his defensive game, which should excite the Flyers moving forward.
The Toronto native has yet to reach the offensive stature that was expected from him after being selected with the 6th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. He scored 9 goals and 47 points in 49 games during the COVID-shortened season for the OHL’s Erie Otters and immediately made the jump to the pro ranks the following year.
His offensive game took a bit of a hit coming out of the Olympic break with just 3 goals and 9 points in the final 25 games, but he was a +3 and averaged 22:36 TOI as the Flyers went 17-7-1 en route to clinching a playoff spot.
Overall, Drysdale has 25 goals and 102 points in 295 career NHL games. which are numbers that should improve if the Flyers power play can ever get going. 70 of those points, including 39 of them in the Orange and Black, have come at even-strength, which is a good indicator that he can be trusted in all situations.
Now in the fold until 2030, look for Drysdale to continue to improve and make his mark on the back-end. Health-permitting, double digit goals and a 40-point season should be doable especially if the power play clicks.
