After the draft, after the initial wave of free agency, there was one order of business left for the Flyers in the offseason. Cam York still needed a contract.
The signs were there that an agreement was approaching. York did not file for salary arbitration before the Saturday deadline. The Flyers did not elect for club arbitration at the Sunday deadline.
Less than 24 hours later, York’s new contract was official, a five-year deal with a $5.15 million AAV.
On the surface, it’s a tidy piece of business by Danny Briere. The Flyers re-signed three RFAs, potentially key pieces to the success of the rebuild, to a combined $12.9 million – Tyson Foerster’s $3.75 million for two years, Noah Cates’ $4 million for four years, and now York’s $5.15 million for five years. For all three players, it is controllable and it is calculated.
York’s AAV falling at $5.15 million also solidifies a large part of the defensive picture. The Flyers have four defensemen under contract for the 2026-27 season with York’s deal done, including Travis Sanheim ($6.25M cap hit), Rasmus Ristolainen ($5.1M cap hit), and Nick Seeler ($2.7M cap hit). It results in a combined $19.2 million towards the cap.
At forward, Foerster and Cates’ new deals join a large group of players locked into the future. In addition to Foerster and Cates, the Flyers have Travis Konecny ($8.75M cap hit), Sean Couturier ($7.75M cap hit), Owen Tippett (6.2M cap hit), Garnet Hathaway ($2.4M cap hit), and Matvei Michkov ($950K cap hit), under contract in 2026-27. That is a total of 33.8 million in cap space.
Combined, the Flyers have committed $62.6 million to the 2026-27 season – including Dan Vladar’s second year at $3.35 million and the final season on Ryan Ellis’ deal at $6.25 million. They also have $6.83 million coming off the books from retention on Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton and a buyout of Cam Atkinson. The salary cap is also expected to go up by another $8.5 million to $104 million.
It all adds up to approximately $41.4 million in cap space for next offseason. It’s the potential culmination point on the rebuild, the place where the Flyers go fishing for the big signing, the top-line center, the cornerstone defenseman, to complete the roster and return to contention.
This was always the first part of the rebuild: be patient and wait out the dead money. The Flyers have done that. Briere’s combination of in-house value and external short-term stopgaps has opened the door for the 2026 offseason to be financially viable and impactful. But will it?
Free agency in 2025 largely lost its luster with several of the top free agents in the class never making it to noon on July 1. Teams made their push and re-signed their top players, using the increase in cap space to make it happen.
Certainly there are visions of Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel and RFAs like Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli dancing in the heads of Flyers fans. It may all be a pipe dream. But if any of them does manage to become available, or the door opens to a trade that involves a high-paid player, the Flyers can feel comfortable doing business. That is half of the battle.
The other half? That’s the groundwork Briere has laid in previous offseasons and this offseason. The Flyers can make their pitch, make their move, and potentially land the final pieces of high-end talent that they need to enter back into an era of contention.