Quick Hits: June 15, 2023
1) Yesterday, the Flyers issued qualifying offers to the following pending restricted free agents: Morgan Frost, Noah Cates, Cam York, Ronnie Attard, and Olle Lycksell. Cates, Attard and Lycksell hold the right to file for arbitration this offseason. Frost and York do not have arbitration rights.
2) The Flyers did not tender a qualifying offer to Kieffer Bellows, opting instead to turn him loose as an unrestricted free agent. This was not a surprise, as the Flyers waived Bellows twice this past season and head coach John Tortorella played him sparingly.
3) The Flyers tolled the contract of Russian goaltender Ivan Fedotov. Because Fedotov was unable to fulfill his 2022-23 contract with the Flyers after he was arrested and conscripted into the Russian military last summer, the Flyers had the option of either carrying over ("tolling") his contract into the 2023-24 season or letting him become a restricted free agent. Fedotov's active military service concludes the first week of July.
The tolling of Fedotov's contract is by no means a guarantee that Fedotov will come to North America for the 2023-24 season. It does suggest the Flyers will at least attempt to do so. There would still be a lot of hoops to jump through to make that happen. CSKA Moscow's general manager was quoted in the Russian media about six weeks ago saying that Fedotov would be returning to CSKA. No contract has been announced, however, at least as of yet.
4) The Flyers elected not to tender qualifying offers to Wyatte Wylie or Evan Barratt. Both are now unrestricted free agents for NHL purposes.
Wylie, 23, has spent the last three seasons in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He has not received any NHL recalls, and primarily played on the Phantoms' third pairing. Wylie appeared to fall out favor with head coach Ian Laperriere. He was scratched in several key regular season games in 2022-23. Although he dressed in all three playoff games the Phantoms played, Wylie played sparingly. Most notably, Wylie was on the bench after regulation throughout the double-overtime second game of the mini-series.
Barratt, 24, spent most of the season in the ECHL with the Reading Royals after coming to the Flyers organization in a trade for Cooper Zech. He tore up the ECHL (50 points in 46 regular season games, 14 points in 11 playoff games) but only dressed in two games for the Phantoms. Barratt, a Penn State alum and a native of Bristol, PA, is a candidate for an AHL contract in 2023-24. However, it did not make sense to keep Barratt on an NHL contract for 2023-24. This way, it frees up a spot on the 50-contract reserve list.
5) The two-game Rookie Series between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers prospects will return to the PPL Center on Sept. 15 (7:05 p.m. ET) and Sept. 16 (5:05 p.m. ET). Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. EDT.
6) The NHL buyout window opens tomorrow and runs through June 30. I am personally not in favor of the Flyers using any buyouts this offseason. I will discuss why in tomorrow's blog.
7) Today in Flyers History: On June 15, 1994, the Flyers sent a 1994 second-round pick to the Florida Panthers as compensation for hiring Panthers general manager Bob Clarke to return to Philadelphia for a second tenure as Flyers general manager. Clarke's return was formally announced the next day.
8) June 15 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Dean McAmmond (1973), Sandy McCarthy (1972), Zac Rinaldo (1990), Petr Straka (1992).