The Flyers got the contract extensions for Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale done pretty much as expected.

Zegras, a 25-year-old center who rebounded to a career-best season following his trade to Philadelphia last summer, signed on for four more years at an annual cap hit of $9.125 million on Wednesday night.

Drysdale, a 24-year-old defenseman who put together his most efficient year yet as a top-four blueliner, then put pen to paper for four years himself at an annual hit of $6.5 million on Friday afternoon.

And the Flyers, meanwhile, locked in two of their core pieces for the next several seasons, and by pretty reasonable means as they proceed forward, all things considered.

It took several years, sure, but general manager Danny Brière finally worked the Flyers into a healthy cap situation, and with a relatively young and still developing team that just broke through into the playoffs to show for it.

Granted, Brière ultimately whiffed on the big-time Leo Carlsson offer sheet, which would've changed everything about the Flyers overnight had it succeeded in prying the star center away from Anaheim, but even so, the Flyers are in a good spot that can stand to get better.

An immediate breakdown of their cap following the Zegras and Drysdale extensions show why, so here it is...

Reasonable cap hits

To start, the Flyers aren't currently paying anyone a cap hit that goes above $10 million.

Zegras' deal this week made him the highest-paid Flyer annually, and while that $9.125 million might've been shocking even just a couple of years ago, now, under a rising NHL salary cap that will be at $123 million by 2028, it's pretty agreeable. Not cheap, certainly, but agreeable, and the same goes for Drysdale relative to his position and situation.

Here's the list of the Flyers' 10 most expensive contracts right now, with the numbers via PuckPedia:

*Extensions for Foerster and Vladar begin with the 2027-28 season

Aside from the youngest key players – Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Alex Bump, and Denver Barkey – that's the main makeup of the Flyers' roster under contract for at least several more years and all under the aforementioned $10 million annual threshold.

That will obviously change soon because the Flyers were, after all, prepared to pay Carlsson a record $18 million per year. But in a fluctuating league landscape where the Chicago Blackhawks just made Bo Byram the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL and where the Ducks did ultimately match the offer sheet to make the 21-year-old Carlsson the highest-paid player ever (and now knowing that they're going to have to pay Cutter Gauthier so much more because of it, too), the Flyers are getting some considerable value on the players they expect to be their main contributors.

It's going to leave them with a lot of breathing room to work with, as well.

Projected money

Here are the NHL salary caps for the next several seasons, along with the Flyers' projected spending and cap space, again via PuckPedia:

Martone, Michkov, Barkey, Bump, and perhaps defensive prospect Oliver Bonk will present the Flyers' key re-signings through the next couple years, with Martone likely to break that $10 million plateau and take up a significant chunk if he stays on track to be a clear-cut star.

With that in mind, though, and especially when the cap rises to $123 million in 2028, Brière should have plenty of space to operate to try and improve the team, whether that'd be through attempting to lure another star center or defenseman (the clock is ticking on Auston Matthews in Toronto and Connor McDavid in Edmonton, while the Zach Werenski buzz in Columbus may not be totally put to bed) or more measured improvements at the margins aimed at pushing the younger core that's already there further forward.

Relative to the rest of the league, here's how the Flyers' current cap room ranks among other clubs, also via PuckPedia:

So the Flyers are in the top 10 of cap space heading toward the 2026-27 season, and looking at the above list, are maybe the most comfortable of the bunch.

Chicago has a ton of money to spend, but the Blackhawks also haven't gone anywhere in years, and have to sign Connor Bedard to his next contract as an RFA after the Carlsson offer sheet just set a new bar for the next wave of young star centers.

• MORE FLYERS
• Flyers get Jamie Drysdale's extension done, for four years at $6.5 million per
  
• Flyers get Trevor Zegras extension done, at four years and $36.5 million
  
• The Flyers didn't get Leo Carlsson, but they might've grabbed the NHL's attention
  

Columbus is in the same boat with its RFA center Adam Fantilli, albeit to a lesser degree, and also with questions surrounding the Blue Jackets'long-term viability after last season's burnout down the stretch and knowing they have limited time left on Werenski's current contract.

Detroit crumbled for the second year in a row, has its captain Dylan Larkin wanting out but with a no-trade clause that severely limits where he can be traded, and just had GM Steve Yzerman "promoted" out of the role. The Red Wings have been out of the playoffs for a decade and are now staring down a failed rebuild.

Then in quick succession:

• Vancouver just entered a full rebuild and will probably need several years to get somewhere.
• Calgary seems to think it can still be competitive, but has missed the playoffs for four straight years and has only ever been OK at best during each of those seasons.
• Pittsburgh is trying to line itself up for a future post-Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson, but Crosby, Malkin, and Karlsson were three of their top-five leading scorers last year. The Penguins are taking that old guard to the very end and are going to have to deal with the fallout of it after no matter what.
• San Jose is probably lining up to give Macklin Celebrini $20 million a year for when his payday comes.
• Dallas is caught in a bind trying to figure out how to pay Jason Robertson, which has brought on the question of whether they can even keep him. It's a cap crunch for the Stars.

As for the Flyers, right now, they just have to be prepared for Martone in a couple years and see if Michkov will fully bounce back in a way that warrants a long-term contract.

There's a good chance Brière is the GM with the least amount of headaches in the league right now.

On the horizon

Brière can keep it that way, too.

Here's the full scope of internal contracts that will be on the Flyers' docket within the next couple of years, one more time via PuckPedia:

Now, the above list comes with a caveat as a result of the Carlsson offer sheet.

The rest of the league did see that, and given that the offer sheet has historically been a very polarizing tool among NHL execs, the Flyers are in a spot where they could be at risk of being on the other side of it next time if they're not careful – with the exception of Martone, since he doesn't have the service time requirement to get an offer sheet when his entry-level contract runs out.

And that's on top of Martone and, the Flyers hope, Michkov warranting millions of dollars by the time it's time to sit down with them to discuss a new contract.

"It was noticed," Brière said this past week of the Carlsson offer sheet after Zegras' extension got done. "It was noticed around the league. But what I hope, too, is that it was noticed by our fans and by our players, that we're serious. The players did their part last year, and we're trying to do ours. We're gonna keep trying to improve the team to give them the best chance to be a contender for years to come."

But now Brière and the Philadelphia front office are starting to arrive at the tricky part of their jobs. 

They're not so much in a spot where they can get by on sitting and waiting for money to free up while letting younger players develop.

The team just set a new standard, with playoff expectations now, and a number of guys who have just taken a massive step and can probably take one or two more, which will ultimately drive up their future price.

So the Flyers do have money now, but say, purely hypothetically, that Martone becomes enough of a star to ask for $15 million by the time he's due up and Michkov proves good enough for $11-12 million. That cash can get taken up quick, and suddenly handcuff you, while other teams are out there looking to pounce on you, too.

It all incentivizes the Flyers to stay ahead of pending restricted free agency for Martone, Michkov, Barkey, Bump, and so on, much like how they eliminated the RFA status for Foerste entirely earlier this month by signing him a year earlier. 

It's likely more cost effective, as well, and would ensure that the Flyers don't get caught by an offer sheet like they did with the Ducks.

And it maybe could leave them with the future room to still nab that true star center or blueliner somehow.

So it's in Brière and the Flyers' best interest to stay a step ahead of everything – the Carlsson offer sheet might've even forced them to.

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