September 18, 2026
Nick Tricome/PhillyVoice
Flyers general manager Danny Brière speaks during a pre-camp press conference on Tuesday at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.
The Flyers took the big swing after Leo Carlsson this summer, and though they didn't end up with the star Anaheim center in the offer sheet bid, they did seem to at least trigger a domino effect.
The Ducks matched the record five-year, $90 million contract, and not long after, other teams got mega deals with their young stars done, perhaps at the fear of a restricted free agent offer sheet suddenly posing a viable threat. The Blackhawks got Connor Bedard signed for $15 million a year; the Sharks gave their generational center Macklin Celebrini $18.8 million a season; Colorado re-upped elite defenseman Cale Makar for $20.4 million annually; and the Ducks just came back to the infamous Cutter Gauthier for a $13.5 million a year payday in the fallout of the Carlsson offer sheet disrupting their salary cap.
The market reset. The Flyers seemed to be the catalyst for it, and while they didn't sneak up and pry the No. 1 center they were looking for away, teams, fans, and maybe most important, other star players still saw the bravery, on top of what general manager Danny Brière was fully willing to offer.
And that all carries the expectation that the Flyers can, and eventually will, try to take a big swing after a star again.
Brière, though, continues to insist that, no matter what, the attempt has to be for the right guy – not just the nearest one available.
The GM, along with the rest of the Flyers' current front office, worked too hard for too long to clean up the salary cap, to get the roster younger, and to get the team competitive again.
They're not about to blow it all on one rushed decision.
"It's there. We know," Brière said Tuesday of the expectation, as he spoke to the press in Voorhees ahead of the start of Flyers training camp. "We've positioned ourselves, and we took a while and took some licks, and we had to miss the playoffs and be a bad team for way too long in my mind to just, you know, throw away the cap space that we've built and the freedom that we were able to have.
"We thought, at the time, with the [Carlsson offer sheet], that the player in that moment and the cap space that we had was the time to do it.
"But we're not gonna be reckless about it. It was so tough to get there, to have that freedom, that we want to try to get the right guy and spend our money properly."
So even though the Flyers have progressed into the next phase of their long-term vision, from a steady rebuilder into a playoff-competitive club, patience is still the overarching M.O.
Trevor Zegras, at $9.125 million per season over the next four years, walked away with the biggest payday from the Flyers this summer.
Aside from the bet on Carlsson, most of the Flyers' major dealings in the offseason were internal.
Goalie Dan Vladar, winger Tyson Foerster, center Trevor Zegras, and defenseman Jamie Drysdale all signed multi-year extensions in the summer after establishing themselves as part of the Flyers' core.
And ultimately, any progress the Flyers make with this coming season, after breaking through into the playoffs last year, will come down to the strength of that core and its ability to keep growing together – with other key notable young pieces like Porter Martone, Alex Bump, Denver Barkey, and a sleeker and faster looking Matvei Michkov in tow.
The 2026-27 roster isn't expected to be a dramatically different one from the 2025-26 version, but that's far from a bad spot to be in.
After all, the current group did just prove that it's good enough to get to the playoffs now, and to do some damage once they're there.
Plus, missing out on Carlsson in the end did end up leaving Brière and the Flyers with a lot of freed up money still to work with, even after handing out the extensions to Vladar, Foerster, Zegras, and Drysdale.
As of this week, the Flyers have a projected $13.78 million in cap space remaining, per PuckPedia, which is slated to increase to $27.38 million next summer – though keeping in mind that they will need to work out a new deal for Michkov, and then Martone, Bump, and Barkey the summer after if everyone stays on track.
Still, it's more than enough room to keep tabs on what else could be out there. The disconnect between the Columbus Blue Jackets and top defenseman Zach Werenski quieted down for now, but didn't necessarily get put to bed; the Dallas Stars essentially put a one-year, $12 million Band-Aid on high-scoring winger Jason Robertson's situation; and in the urgent reality of the Edmonton Oilers' situation, they're essentially on a two-year timer now with superstar Connor McDavid.
Brière and the Flyers' turn to try and make a major splash might be coming again. The general expectation is that they will try to.
But right now, they're sitting and waiting for that right turn. They won't settle for less.
"That's the way I see it, Brière said. "If something comes up that makes sense, yes, definitely, we won't be afraid to swing it."
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