The Philadelphia Flyers are going to have a boatload of cap space to play with in free agency this offseason, even after they re-sign many of their own players, such as Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale.
As the club's power play continued to helplessly flounder on the big stage in the Stanley Cup playoffs, one free agent began to gain some plaudits in an otherwise barren free agent class.
That's none other than 30-year-old Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh, who exploded for 22 goals, 48 assists, and 70 points in 73 games this season while taking over as the team's top point player on the first power play unit.
In the previous two seasons, Raddysh had scored no more than 37 points while playing second unit power play minutes behind Victor Hedman.
Now, on paper, the formerly undrafted defenseman would actually be a good addition to the Flyers, but it's the future risk that brings about many questions.
Injured Flyers Duo Never Came Close to Return for NHL Playoffs
Injured Flyers Duo Never Came Close to Return for NHL Playoffs The Philadelphia Flyers would have needed to make an impossible run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to get two of their injured forwards back.
Age, obviously, is one of them, and with the Flyers looking to integrate Oliver Bonk and/or David Jiricek at the expense of Rasmus Ristolainen and Noah Juulsen, adding another veteran wouldn't make too much sense.
Jiricek, in particular, has the ability to emerge as a top power play quarterback.
With unrestricted free agents, like Raddysh, you're always paying them for what they were, not necessarily what they are or will be with your team. With younger unrestricted free agents, it's a cheaper bet largely hedged on potential.
Behind Rasmus Andersson, Raddysh is the clear-cut second-best defenseman out there on the free agent market this year, and he should command a significant raise on his $975k cap hit (as in, nearly 10x) while getting quite a few years of term to match.
So, by the basic math, the Flyers would be paying between $7- and $9 million a year on the cap to a 30-year-old defenseman coming off a career year with a Cup contender, featuring on a power play with the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, and Brandon Hagel.
Flyers’ Power Play Philosophy Needs to Change
Flyers' Power Play Philosophy Needs to Change The Philadelphia Flyers power play is doomed to fail until the minds behind it stop playing scared.
And the Flyers, of course, do not have even one player of that caliber at the moment. Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone will probably get there, but now isn't that time.
Heading into the offseason, the Flyers absolutely need to find a power play quarterback better than Ristolainen and Jamie Drysdale and fix the units altogether, but there are better ways to do it than throwing a very risky $50 million contract at a player coming off a career year.
Don’t go shopping hungry, you know?
If the Flyers want to preach youth and development, they must go that route and find their own guys, just like Tampa Bay did with Raddysh over the last few seasons.
