June 23 has come and gone. That’s a date when the Philadelphia Flyers have made headlines in years past — from the shocking trades of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards 15 years ago, to dealing other popular players such as James van Riemsdyk (2012), Scott Hartnell (2014) and Brayden Schenn (2017), to acquiring Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks last year — but the Flyers didn’t do anything of note in 2026.
Is it a cosmic sign that they’re in for an uneventful offseason? Maybe. While there have already been some blockbuster moves around the league, and there’s rampant speculation that more could be on the horizon, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere has indicated he’s only going to get involved in trade discussions if it’s for players he believes are a significant upgrade and who will fit for more than just a year or two. His boss, Dan Hilferty, echoed that approach in our conversation this month.
According to a team source given anonymity to discuss sensitive roster discussions, the Flyers were never going to bid on Brady Tkachuk, who probably only wanted to go to one team anyway: the Florida Panthers. A high-end winger is not on their shopping list.
Ditto with Darren Raddysh, who signed an eight-year, $68 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who acquired his rights from the Tampa Bay Lightning before the defenseman hit free agency. The Flyers figured Raddysh was going to command much more money than they were going to be willing to offer.
Still, the Raddysh deal could affect them anyway. Pending free agent John Carlson reportedly wants to return to the East Coast after he was dealt from the Washington Capitals to the Anaheim Ducks last season. On a short-term, big-money deal, Carlson would have fit nicely into the Flyers’ top six on the blue line. More importantly, he would have been able to quarterback their abysmal power play.
Now, though, the fit in Tampa Bay almost seems too perfect. The Lightning, in a better position to compete for the Stanley Cup than the Flyers next season, are assuredly going to be seeking an offensive-minded defenseman to fill the vacancy left by Raddysh. It might be more surprising if Carlsson doesn’t end up with the Lightning than if he does.
The other names on the free agent board aren’t nearly as appealing. San Jose’s John Klingberg, 33, could be one option after he posted 10 goals (five on the power play) and 27 points in 56 games, but he’s endured some significant hip injuries in recent years that have affected his mobility. After that, the list is pretty barren, unless you’re of the mind that the Flyers should bring back Tony DeAngelo (unlikely).
It would have made sense for the Flyers to kick tires on Bowen Byram, who was traded from Buffalo to Chicago on Tuesday night. Byram would have immediately slotted in on the Flyers’ top power-play unit and, at age 25, he may have been a player they would have been comfortable inking to a long-term extension. But the Flyers didn’t have an asset as valuable as the No. 4 draft pick, so it’s unlikely they were prepared to outbid the Blackhawks anyway.
There are reports that the Flyers are interested in Darnell Nurse, who has requested a trade out of Edmonton. While the Flyers could explore that, there haven’t been any robust discussions within the organization about whether it would make sense, according to multiple sources granted anonymity to discuss team communication. My impression is the Flyers would like to see how the next week or so plays out first before potentially circling back to that.
There’s also the matter of Rasmus Ristolainen, who has been in trade speculation for years. Ristolainen has just one year left on his contract at a reasonable $5.1 million salary cap hit. After he played well coming out of the Olympic break and in the Flyers’ first-round series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the top defense pair, the Flyers are likely receiving calls on him. The Ottawa Senators, in particular, could make sense as a landing spot for Ristolainen. Colleague Julian McKenzie wrote on Monday that Ristolainen’s “profile fits exactly what the Senators could use in their top four D.”
The Flyers’ price for Ristolainen at the trade deadline each of the last two years was a first-round pick and a prospect, according to team sources. No one bit. Perhaps that ask has come down now that Ristolainen’s contract is nearing its end, but it still seems unlikely the Flyers would consider moving him unless a first-rounder is coming back.
Just as importantly, considering the Flyers are hoping to be a better team next season, moving Ristolainen would leave a huge void that would have to be filled. Whether Nurse is a good enough player to do that is debatable.
Ottawa is intriguing for another reason. They have a couple of centers who might be appealing to the Flyers, including Dylan Cozens. They also want to remain competitive post-Tkachuk, so their dealing either Cozens or center Shane Pinto makes little sense, unless they’d be getting back an NHL-ready pivot. That’s something the Flyers can’t offer.
If the summer ends with the Flyers simply improving their depth, they won’t consider it a failure. Nor should they. Christian Dvorak and Noah Cates are still fine depth centers, and Zegras showed in spurts that he can be effective there, too. Even Sean Couturier’s late-season surge offers hope that he can be a more effective center than he was for the first three-quarters of last season. The Flyers can be a playoff team again in 2026-27 with their improving crop of young players (and a potential Calder Trophy candidate in Porter Martone), a strong defensive structure under second-year coach Rick Tocchet and solid goaltending, which already got a boost with the acquisition of Joseph Woll to play in tandem with Dan Vladar.
In other words, the Flyers can remain patient if they prefer, even if there’s a swirl of activity around the league. Perhaps, for example, the Dylan Larkin saga drags on into late August, and he ultimately expands his trade list, which the Flyers weren’t initially on, as we originally reported here. Or maybe Auston Matthews, who seems unlikely to get dealt this week, pushes for a trade in the middle of next season if the Maple Leafs again struggle out of the gate, just as Quinn Hughes did. Heck, maybe even Connor McDavid decides he’s had enough of Mike Babcock and the Edmonton Oilers at some point sooner than later.
This isn’t to say that Briere shouldn’t explore something meaningful. There’s no doubt that he’s doing that now, but the Flyers may be better off waiting for the dust to settle on what could be an eventful week ahead and react accordingly.