The Philadelphia Flyers sent a message when extending center Christian Dvorak, giving him a five-year, $25.75 million contract. That message: the Flyers are confident in their core group.

Giving Dvorak a five-year extension means that the Flyers view Dvorak as an important part of the team’s current core. Flyers GM Danny Briere said he’s excited that Dvorak bet on himself and still chose the Flyers. “It’s a good sign someone who bet on himself chose us and wants to stay here. It’s very exciting.”

Looking at the basic details of the contract, Dvorak’s extension will carry a $5.15 million cap hit for the five years of his contract. It carries a full no-trade clause for the first two years of the deal, followed by two years of a modified NTC. In the third year of the contract, Dvorak’s M-NTC lets him block 20 teams, followed by a 5-team M-NTC in year four. Year five has no trade protection.

All contract details come from PuckPedia.

As with most extensions, especially of a player who will be 30 by the time the extension kicks in, there have been concerns voiced about the contract. Let’s take a look at some of them.

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Looking at concerns about the Dvorak extension

Now, let’s preface by saying Christian Dvorak is having a great season. Any player who bet on themselves, and it worked out, absolutely deserves a payday. Were the Flyers the right fit?

The first concern I have seen about Dvorak’s extension was his age. While the rebuild in Philadelphia is turning the corner, they are still a younger team. So, is giving a 30-year-old a five-year extension the right plan?

I am going to have to agree with Flyers GM Danny Briere on this one. When asked what made him confident that Dvorak could sustain his level of play, the Flyers’ GM laughed and said, “[Dvorak] is 29.”

Seriously, when did 29-30 become old? I understand that he is older than the preferred player in the timeline. But, you can still play competitive hockey in your mid-to-late 30’s. Age is not as big a deal as it’s been made out to be.

Another concern I have seen is the worry that he’ll block younger prospects. To me, I actually think it could be a benefit to have Dvorak around when these prospects hit the league. Think about the centers the Flyers have in the pipeline: Luchanko, Berglund, Ruohonen – they’re all two-way, defensively responsible, playmaking centermen. Dvorak is a perfect guy to mentor them.

I did not include Nesbitt because I believe he plays a different game, but he could honestly be the farthest of the four away anyway.

My one issue is the term. For me, I would have been perfectly content with an identical deal to the three-year, $18 million deal that Alex Wennberg got in San Jose. That clearly put the pressure on the Flyers, and they did not want to get into that $6 million AAV.

So, that’s the business. You want to go with a lower cap hit than market value, then you have to give more years or protection. Dvorak could have easily gone to the market and got more, so the Flyers had to give more term and trade protection. It certainly was not ideal, but it’s a negotiation. Things like that happen.

Why Dvorak is the right fit for the Flyers

If you have not noticed, the Flyers don’t have a top center. I am in no way saying that Christian Dvorak is the plan as the 1C of the future, but he has certainly proven that he can play alongside anyone and is a more than fine fill-in until they find that 1C.

Let’s not forget that Dvorak has been the best Flyer in the faceoff circle. You can never have a shortage of players who are strong at the dot.

He is also an extremely versatile player. You can play him all over the lineup: up high or down low, at center, or even on the wing. That sort of Swiss-Army knife is important for any good team. Let’s not forget how impactful Dvorak is as a penalty killer. Oh, yeah, and he plugs in to the power play as well.

The trade protection was iffy, but let’s go with that three-year term that felt ideal. Once Dvorak gets through those three seasons, if the Flyers are really bugging to trade him (which I don’t think they will), then they’d only have a 5-team no-trade list to work around for just one season. The Flyers did not extend Dvorak just to trade him in the first two seasons.

At the end of the day, you can never have too many good centers, and Dvorak is one of them.

Let’s not forget one major detail: his impact in the locker room, and specifically, on one Trevor Zegras.

Dvorak has become a universally loved player in the Flyers’ dressing room. He has very clearly become close with Zegras, who, hilariously enough, was Dvorak’s first call when he needed a witness while signing his new extension.

No, I don’t think the Flyers would give someone a five-year extension just for one player, but it will certainly help keep Trevor Zegras happy when it comes time to discuss his extension.

What do you think of Dvorak’s extension?

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