- Bill Meltzer reports the Flyers expect to sign both Zegras and Drysdale before their hearings
- Zegras projects for five years at $41M, Drysdale for six years at $43.74M
- Read below for the cap math and what Philadelphia can still do with the room
The Flyers have no plans to let either of their top restricted free agents sit through an arbitration hearing.
Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale both filed for arbitration earlier this month, but Philadelphia expects to lock up both before it gets that far, per NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer. He heard the same thing from two people inside the organization.
Here’s what Meltzer passed along:
Things opened up once the Leo Carlsson offer sheet saga wrapped. With that record swing at Anaheim’s young center off the table, GM Danny Briere could turn back to his own roster.
Both players filed for arbitration while the Flyers waited on word from that Carlsson bid. The hearings are already on the calendar.
Meltzer laid out the schedule:
Each one earned the payday. Zegras broke out in his first year in Philadelphia, setting career highs with 26 goals and 67 points in 81 games.
Drysdale did the same on the back end. He logged more than 21 minutes a night as the club’s third defenseman behind Travis Sanheim and Cameron York, and he tied his career high with 32 points in 78 games.
CapWages and AFP Analytics project Zegras for a five-year deal worth $41 million and Drysdale for six years at $43.74 million. That pair of contracts would eat roughly $15.5 million of the Flyers’ projected $29.57 million in cap space, per PuckPedia.
That still leaves Philadelphia real money to chase one more addition, even if the market is thin. Anthony Mantha, Michael Bunting, and Nick Blankenburg headline what’s left out there.
