Flyers qualify Cam York, don’t extend offers to three other players

On the eve of free agency and with the NHL world having flipped upside down in the last couple hours or so, the Philadelphia Flyers have officially announced their qualifying offers.

With Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates having been extended earlier in the spring, the list of pending RFAs was going to be light, but as expected the Flyers extended a qualifying offer to defenseman Cam York. However, the buck stopped there as they did not qualify forwards Jakob Pelletier, Elliot Desnoyers, and Zayde Wisdom.

The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz tweeted out yesterday that the Flyers and York were working on an extension and weren’t “far off” from getting a deal done. There have been several questions being posed after a bit of a down season from the former first round pick. However, the Flyers have been working on getting something done.

With Foerster’s and Cates’ extensions coming through with flying colours, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what York’s next contract could look like. There were several reports that York’s camp was hoping for a long-term deal, whereas the Flyers were looking at a bridge deal. However, as long as the money makes sense for both sides, it’s hard not to see a compromised middle-ground being reached after the latest report coming from Kurz.

The somewhat surprising bit from this piece of news is Pelletier not getting a qualifying offer. At first glance, it comes as a surprise when you factor in his age and the potential he carries, however, he was placed on waivers as a member of the Calgary Flames and the Flyers believe they didn’t see enough from him during his stint at the end of the season to warrant a deal.

There is quite a bit of a logjam on the wings as is and if he wasn’t seen as a centre, it was hard to really find a spot for him in the lineup. The trade might look a little empty considering they don’t have either player on their roster heading into 2025-26, however it was purely a cap-dump to relinquish Joel Farabee’s contract off the books and to get a fresh start.

Pelletier finished the season with 7 goals and 19 points in 49 games, where he earned 11 of those points in 24 games for the Flames and 8 points in 25 games for the Flyers. He was sparingly used by John Tortorella, as evidenced by his 10:31 TOI and lack of a true role in the final weeks of the season.

As for Wisdom, the former 4th round pick from the 2020 draft won’t be returning after spending the last 4 years in the Flyers’ system. He started off very well with 18 points in 28 games during his first season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms but hasn’t been able to replicate that same level of success since. He finished the 2024-25 season with 32 points in 68 games, while adding 4 points in 7 postseason contests.

The same goes for Desnoyers, who shined with the Halifax Mooseheads after being drafted by the Flyers in the 5th round in 2020. He scored 88 points in 61 games in his final year with the Mooseheads before adding 23 goals and 44 points in 65 games for the Phantoms as a rookie. Since then, he added 11 goals and 41 points in 122 games across the last 2 seasons and quickly fell out of favour. Desnoyers appeared in 4 games for the Flyers during the 2022-23 season as well.