The Flyers’ offseason has gotten off to an interesting start, with many fans down on trades for Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun, fine with the free agent signing of Kevin Hayes, and mixed on the team’s Draft weekend haul. The Flyers entered this offseason with five restricted free agents of note including defensemen Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim, as well as forwards Travis Konecny, Ryan Hartman, and Scott Laughton.

The first domino fell today as the team reached an agreement on a two-year extension with Travis Sanheim:

Analysis of the deal after the jump:

There were rumblings of a potential long-term extension being worked on between the team and Sanheim’s agent, but they were clearly far enough apart in those talks to complete what amounts to a bridge deal. The Flyers likely saved themselves around $1.5m or so against the cap had they worked out a longer extension. At $3.25m against the cap for the next two years, Sanheim looks to be a steal. He’s a guy who was arguably the Flyers best and most consistent defenseman last season, worked his way onto PP2, and could see an increase in special teams time this upcoming season. His 35 points in 82 games played during the 2018-19 were good enough for 40th among NHL defenseman, just two points behind teammate Shayne Gostisbehere. In completing this deal, Sanheim is rolling the dice on himself to continue his strong point production and solid defensive play in order to cash in as a restricted free agent in 2021.

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