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The Flyers Did Not Get Kirill Kaprizov, But They Did Get a Resetting of the Free Agent Market
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When Kirill Kaprizov reportedly turned down a record offer from the Minnesota Wild three weeks ago, we threw a Flyers shitpost on the site that 10,000 people clicked on. So we thank you for that.
At the time, there was maybe a 0.000000000000001% chance of Kaprizov entering free agency and even entertaining a phone call from the rebuilding Flyers, but that is now 0% because:
That’s a lot of money!
So what’s the Flyers angle here? Well they’re going to be a player in free agency, hopefully this summer after one more rebuilding year. About $6.5 million owed to Scott Laughton, Cam Atkinson, and Kevin Hayes will come off the books, giving the Flyers a clean cap for the first time in at least a million years. They’re going to have money to spend, so it’s just a matter of adjusting the approach based on the market movement from the cap increase. Between now and 2028, the cap will go up by a little less than $20 million, cresting at $113.5 million.
Going by AAV, Kaprizov passes Leon Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year extension at $14 million per. Auston Matthews has three more years at $13.25 million and then you’ve got Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, and Mikko Rantanen as the other guys earning $12 million or more AAV. McDavid is a free agent after this season, but also turning 30, so it’ll be really interesting to see what the Oilers offer him. As it turns out, Kaprizov may be the market re-setter, and not McDavid.
Not surprisingly, the highest-paid Flyer isn’t even in the top 30. Travis Konecny is tied for 35th in AAV at $8.75 million, so that was a good contract offer considering the cap increase. Coots is next at $7.75 million, which is tied for 71st, but he’s got 5 more years on that contract and is already 33. That’s the one contract that isn’t looking great on the Philly cap sheet, but everything else is optimized for making a big splash.
Either way, the Kaprizov deal sets the market for superstar talent moving forward. If the Flyers want to be a player in free agency, the picture is more clear.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com