As most Philadelphia Flyers fans have been used to lately, the 2025 Stanley Cup Final is here, and once again the Flyers are not represented. It’s been 15 years since the Flyers last made the Cup Final, and 50 years now since they last won one. The Flyers have been in disarray for years now, but Danny Brière is slowly trying to turn this ship around in the right direction.
When it gets to this point of the year, a lot of names fly around as being available as we lead up to the draft and free agency. Fans love to delusionally talk themselves into every single possible available player joining their team, and that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.
This summer is a big one for the Flyers. They have a lot of money coming off the books, seven draft picks in the first two rounds of the draft, and a new head coach who is talked about as a coach players love to play for. If there was ever a time to try to take a major swing, or two, or three, and jump back into playoff contention, it would be this year.
So what would the perfect summer look like for Brière? Obviously not everything we want to happen will happen, but it’s still fun to dream about what the Flyers team could (realistically – and I’m being very loose on the term “realistically”) look like next year if everything went the Flyers’ way.
Here is the Flyers’ Dream Summer.
1) Trade for Jason Robertson
This is a move that should be at the top of every single team’s list. Robertson is a big-bodied perennial 40-goal scorer. He is also a natural first-line left winger, something the Flyers have been missing for a while. There were reports that the Stars were looking to move Robertson to save some cap space to fill in their blue line, and what they were looking for in return would be draft picks.
If there was ever a trade that was tailor-made for the Flyers to go after, it would be this one. With the number of draft picks the Flyers have in the first two rounds, they could realistically put together a package that doesn’t even include pick number 6! If they even want to get deeper into it, since the Stars are doing this trade to improve on the blue line, maybe we could see Rasmus Ristolainen on the way back to Dallas too.
Yes this is all speculative, but I don’t think I’ve seen two trade partners so perfect for each other for what they would be looking for on both sides. If Briere gets this done, starting your future first line with Robertson and Matvei Michkov is a hell of a way of telling the NHL you’re back in business.
2) Keep pick 6 and draft the best player available (likely a center)
Listen, the draft really hasn’t gone too well for the Flyers when they have a top 10 pick. Nolan Patrick got chronically injured and really never played hockey at an NHL level. Cutter Gauthier threw a hissy fit and they had to trade him away. Ivan Provorov turned out to be a guy no one on the team liked and just plateaued as a minute-crunching defenseman whose skill level peaked out at 3rd-pair defenseman. The only real luck they’ve had with top picks recently is Michkov, who as we all know is going to be a superstar for years to come in the league.
Now this draft is one where the Flyers got lucky even after falling from pick 4 to pick 6. There seem to be 6 guys that are in the first two tiers before the prospects fall off a cliff. No matter who the Flyers take at 6, as long as they don’t get cute and overthink it and draft off the board, there is a good chance they get a future high level contributor.
3) Test the waters on Martin Nečas
Another report has recently come out and said that Nečas “wasn’t overly thrilled” with Colorado and wants to explore other options. On top of that it was reported that Colorado will have to make a decision if extension talks go poorly this summer. If the extension talks do go poorly, the Flyers absolutely should swoop in and try to lock up their 1C/2C of the future. Flyers fans were wanting Nečas last year, and for him to be available even after being traded away from Carolina is something you cannot pass up for a second year in a row.
Colorado is a team where I feel a player on the blue line, or even a hockey trade forward-for-forward, would be better than sending over draft picks. I could see Colorado being interested in a package around RFA Cam York if the Flyers don’t end up getting a deal done with him this summer. I could also see Owen Tippett and a player like Egor Zamula being packaged together along with a prospect and/or pick to get Colorado another speedy goal scorer to pair with Nathan MacKinnon, along with a steady 3rd-pair defenseman and some capital to use for future trades or team building.
Nečas might not move at all if he and the Avs get a deal done, but not checking in there would GMing malpractice.
4) Get an actual second pair defenseman
Travis Sanheim at this point in his career seems to be the perfect number two guy on the top defensive pair. Now I can dream that next summer the Flyers get Sanheim his perfect partner in Cale Makar, but that most likely won’t happen. That’s also a whole season away and the Flyers need help on the blue line now.
The Flyers’ team defense last year wasn’t great. Yes, the goaltending was bad, but a better defense in front of the net would easily reduce goalie mistakes by not allowing the puck to even get there. The defense last year was a revolving door of second pairings. Drysdale, Seeler, Zamula, Ristolainen, and York all played on the second pair at times as the Flyers were trying to figure out who is best at what role.
Now this really depends on what happens with Ristolainen and his injury, and what the Flyers decide to do with York. I could see two guys coming in to step into that 2nd pair role in Nicolas Hague or Bowen Byram depending on what both teams want back. Hague would cost less and probably be a Bobby Brink-for-Hague swap straight up. Byram might be a bit more expensive, but would probably still involve Brink and then maybe a pick or B-level prospect. Who knows for sure, but the Flyers do need do patch that hole on D.
5) For the love of God, get a starting goalie
Sam Ersson is not a 1A, but can be a 1B or a solid backup. Ivan Fedotov is a bad backup. Aleksei Kolosov is an AHL-level goalie with an alleged attitude problem. This is not a great group to go into the next season with.
Now there aren’t many options available (and no, Carter Hart is not coming back so don’t even think about him), but one that comes to mind is Thatcher Demko. He’s in his final year of his deal and coming off an injury. The Flyers can probably get him for a reasonable price given the state of the Canucks organization and the fact Demko is a pending UFA coming off said injury.
Please get a starting goalie. We’ve seen Ersson get run into the ground in consecutive years, I can’t watch it happen for a third straight season.
6) Don’t overpay your RFAs
Okay, so Brière is actually doing a great job so far with this. He recently signed Tyson Foerster to a 2x$3.75M contract, and then followed it up by signing Noah Cates to a 4x$4M contract. The only two RFAs left are York and Jakob Pelletier.
Pelletier shouldn’t cost too much as he was a 3rd/4th liner last year. He did put up some promising numbers but I imagine a 2x$2M contract is coming for him.
Now, York is interesting. It’s sounding like York wants a full 8-year deal, but with how he’s played the past couple years, and how volatile he’s been, I’m less inclined to give him the full 8 years. Something closer to a 3-5 year deal would make more sense. If he plays well he can go out and get his payday. If he doesn’t, the Flyers aren’t handcuffed to him for 8 years. I think he’s more likely to get traded than with an 8-year deal but we’ll see.
7) Sign a depth winger, preferably two
Alright yes the Flyers are deep at wing already, but if any of these trades happen they’ll be gutted. I don’t think Alex Bump is ready for the NHL, so he’ll start the year in the AHL. I also don’t know how Nikita Grebenkin will fit in next year. He might be a good player to run with Luchanko on the 1st line in the AHL for one more year but who knows?
There are also unconfirmed reports that KHL star Maxim Shabanov has made his decision and will be playing for the Flyers next season. That’s great, but he’s yet another winger under 5’10” that would be on the Flyers roster. Yes, size isn’t everything when it comes to hockey players, but you can’t keep building your team with guys like that (Shabanov, Grebenkin, Michkov, Brink, Konecny). If Shabanov does end up playing in Philadelphia next year, the need for these veteran wingers doesn’t really go away.
Depth veteran wingers would be helpful. The Flyers did this a couple years ago with Garnet Hathaway and he’s turned out great for the Flyers. A player like Anthony Mantha or Brock McGinn would be super helpful for depth if the Flyers want to let their prospects develop more instead of throwing them into the fire right away. Those guys won’t cost too much, and they’ll be very helpful for depth in the bottom nine.
8) Dump Nic Deslauriers
Look, the Deslauriers contract was a mess when it was first signed. Chuck Fletcher was just doing whatever at that point to save his job. He doesn’t have the NTC anymore, and dumping him and eating half of the contract wouldn’t be the worst thing to open up a roster spot to someone else who could come in and actually contribute, like a Bump, Grebenkin, or Dowart.
The money isn’t the problem here, it’s the roster spot. If the Flyers need to add a late round pick (5-7) to get the contract off the books along with eating half of the salary, they should do it.
Okay, so those are 8 pretty big asks for this offseason. Now obviously all 8 of those things have slim to no chance at all of happening, but what if all of those things did happen? What would the Flyers lines look like? Well…
Projected 2025-2026 Lines (if everything goes perfectly)
Robertson-Nečas-Michkov
Foerster-Cates-Konecny
Shabanov-Couturier-Mantha
Pelletier-Poehling-Hathaway
McGinn/Dorwart
Sanheim-York
Hague-Drysdale
Seeler-Ristolainen
Andrae
Demko
Ersson
That blue line could use some work for sure. It’s pretty much the same group as last year except upgrading Zamula for Hague. These pairs feel like 3 second pairs which isn’t great, but for trying to pivot from rebuilding to contending, this is a great first year pivot from where they were.
With the forward group, they have a legitimate first line now for the first time since 2017-2018 when they had Voarcek-Couturier-Giroux. They will also have a top 6 pick in the system or even on the team (most likely a center), so that group down the middle could be even better. Poehling could become a trade piece for more picks or even a player swap to add to the blue line some more.
Now this is definitely not how the Flyers’ roster will look next year, but it is realistic based on the reports flying around on who’s available and who’s not. If Brière can get even some of these things to happen, it moves the Flyers again into the direction towards contention.
Yes, I know some of you are going to be angry at a speculative piece as we gear up towards the draft and free agency, but in reality we’re talking about 20 guys on knife shoes chasing around a tiny piece of black rubber with sticks on frozen water. It is genuinely not that serious. Don’t read this and give yourself these gaudy expectations as reality. Just sit back and allow yourself to have some fun with it. We still have about a month until the powder keg goes off anyways.
