Another day, another Flyers transaction.

All right, this one was an early report as free agency doesn’t officially begin until Wednesday, but the reality is, all the negotiating has been happening for days now.

And so, finding out a day early that the Flyers are adding a third veteran defenseman to the roster – this time Keith Yandle, for what will be just one year at a veteran minimum salary of $900,000 should come as no surprise.

Well, maybe a little surprise since everyone thought they were done on defense other than maybe adding a depth piece, and would switch their focus in free agency to the goalie position and adding a depth forward – but the reality is, this move also makes a lot of sense.

First, it should be noted that Keith Yandle at 35 is not Keith Yandle at 26. Once considered one of the best offensive defenseman in hockey, Yandle is no longer in that upper echelon. That said, he’s still pretty productive considering all the wear and tear on his tires.


He had 27 point in 56 games for Florida last season, and 18 of those 27 points came on the power play. He is still very dangerous quarterbacking a power play, as he has been his entire career.

In his 15-year career, Yandle has 311 points, 143 of which have come on the power play.

In a lot of ways, Yandle is an older version of Shayne Gostisbehere, just $3.6 million cheaper this season and $9 million cheaper over the next two years.

If the Flyers could have magically waved a magic wand and cut $12.6 million in salary and two years of term off of Gostisbehere’ contract, they would have gladly kept him.

And don’t be surprised if Yandle is at the point on the top power play pairing. He had 17 power play assists in those 56 games a season ago. He had 19 in just 69 games in 2019-20. In the last full NHL season of 82 games, Yandle had 32 power play assists.

That’s another thing, Yandle doesn’t miss any games. Seriously – none.

He has played in 921 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in NHL history. He is 43 behind Doug Jarvis for the NHL record of 964.

If Yandle is to become the Cal Ripken of hockey, he will do it as a Flyer, and he would break the record on Jan. 20, which ironically would be Jake Voracek’s first game back at the Wells Fargo Center with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

There’ll be a lot of video tributes that night!

Now, there’s no guarantee Yandle will make it those 44 games without being injured, or without his play forcing coach Alain Vigneault’s hand to sit him on the bench, but reports are Yandle had better offers in other cities and chose to come to the Flyers instead.

There have to be a couple reasons there – one being he played for Vigneault for parts of two seasons in New York, including the season the Rangers went to the Stanley Cup Final. So, he knows what he’s getting from a coaching perspective.

The second being Kevin Hayes and another new Flyer, Cam Atkinson, are all good friends as Boston College alums.

Considering those two factors, it’s likely the only thing that would knock Yandle out of the lineup would be an injury.

And this is good for the Flyers too, as it prevents them from rushing young defensemen like Cam York or Yegor Zamula along.

York looked the part of NHL defensemen in his cup of coffee with the Flyers last season, but those were three meaningless games at the end of a season where the team was playing out the string.

Adding Yandle and inserting him onto the third pair and resigning Sam Morin as a depth defenseman allows York and Zamula to get some more seasoning in the AHL before being asked to log more important minutes with the big club.

Considering GM Chuck Fletcher told Russ and I on Snow the Goalie that one of the biggest problems last year was putting young players into situations that maybe they weren’t ready for, giving guys like York and Zamula a little longer in the AHL might not be a bad thing.

I can see a situation where Yandle plays those 44 games to break the record and then, if he’s playing well, stays in the lineup. If not, he slides down to the No. 7 defenseman, Morin drops to No. 8 and York comes in late January and gives the team a good look leading up to the trade deadline if they can get by with the depth they have, or not.

This was another sharp signing by Fletcher in what has amounted to, so far, a superb off season.

What’s next for the Flyers?

Well, there are still a couple holes to fill.

Fletcher absolutely has to add a backup goaltender – and I use the word “backup” loosely – and probably a depth forward as well to really round out the bottom six in the lineup.

The goaltender is going to be the most intriguing. From what I’m hearing, the Flyer don’t just want a goalie to come in and play backup to Carter Hart. Instead, they want to push their young netminder and, in fact, save him a bit as well.

I hear the Flyers want to limit his games in 2021-22 and are looking for a goalie to basically share time with Hart next season.

Think more of a 50/50 split. It might not be exactly that, but close.

And if you are wondering why, I think the Flyers mentality going into the season is they don’t want to put too much pressure on Hart coming off the debacle that was last season.

Now, is it possible that Hart plays out of his mind and forces the Flyers to play him more? Sure. And if that’s the case, the Flyers will most certainly adjust their game plan.

But, whoever the Flyers sign tomorrow is going to be expected to play a lot of games in goal – and likely will be signed beyond just this next season.

The question is, who will it be?

I know they have checked in on a lot of goalies. They’ve been linked to a bunch. But the one that makes the most sense to me and fits the mold of what they are looking for is Jonathan Bernier.

The Flyers have been interested in him for a couple years now, and this seems to be the perfect time and perfect fit for the 32-year-old goalie to come in and serve in an important role for a couple of seasons.

The other names to consider are Braden Holtby, but he hasn’t been good for a while now. James Reimer, who is more a backup-type than a 1B at this point in his career and a wild card could be Darcy Kuemper. Fletcher and Assistant GM Brent Flahr know Kuemper well from their time together in Minnesota. Flahr was sent out last year to Arizona to catch some Coyotes action, and while the reports at the time were that he was looking into defenseman Alex Gologoski, he could have also checked in on Kuemper. Kuemper had a couple really nice seasons for Arizona prior to 2020-21.

Last season he wasn’t terrible, but was more in the mediocre range, which is why I still think Bernier is their top choice, but Kuemper could be their No. 2 option.

As for forward depth, I haven’t heard many names coming out of the organization. One that I got from outside the team today for the first time was Derek Stepan. That would be an intriguing depth signing. He missed almost all of last season in Ottawa with an injury and wasn’t much before that for a couple seasons in Arizona.

But, he played his best for AV in New York a few seasons back. Does adding a vet like that bolster the bottom six? That would be interesting – and likely wouldn’t cost much at all considering his recent history.

Anyway, Expect more from the Flyers as the offseason facelift continues.