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When looking across the NHL it is well known that certain teams have indulgence factors that play a huge part into where a potential free agent may sign. For example, who wouldn’t want to sign with Tampa Bay? Where, after an afternoon game or practice in January, you and the family could still head to the beach seeing that it’s over 80 degrees. Or, if a player likes the night life, why wouldn’t he want to sign in Los Angeles with the Kings, New York with the Rangers, or play in the City of Sin for the Golden Knights? With that being said, while Philadelphia may not offer the same kind of fun in the sun or glitz and glamour as the previously mentioned locations, it is a city rich in history with a passionate fan base who is known to take care of their players well after they hang up their skates for the last time. I mean, it’s not like the Flyers are in the same position as, say, the Minnesota Wild trying to sell themselves to potential free agents when this time of year record lows reached a subzero temp of -60 degrees in 1996. Or the Arizona Coyotes who are getting evicted from their stadium because they cannot pay their bills and will now be forced to play next season in the much smaller 5,000 seat arena that is owned by the Arizona State University Sun Devils. So why do the Flyers seem to overpay both for new players they hope to acquire from free agency and the players they already have in their organization with expiring contracts that they wish to re-sign? To dive further into this conundrum let’s take a look at the team’s current roster and what they pay some of their top players to see if they are getting the most bang for their buck.
Claude Giroux
We of course should start at the top with their long-time captain, 34-year-old Claude Giroux. Giroux is and has been the Flyers’ best player for many years now which is why eight years ago the team paid him thusly when they inked him to a $66.2 million contract with a $9 million signing bonus. This contract when signed, made Claude one of the wealthiest men in the league, and still sees to it that he is the 35th highest-paid player in the league to-date. But, as much as his salary may now look like a bargain compared to the ever-increasing totals today’s top stars are receiving (in the $10-12 million range), the real question is of how his production stands up against the masses that receive a similar pay scale? This season Giroux has been one of the team’s only bright spots- netting 15 goals (G) and 20 assists (A) for 35 points (P). Tampa’s now 31-year-old former number one overall pick Steven Stamkos, who during his time with the Lightning has helped to bring them two Stanley Cups, takes home $8.5 million per season right now. For that money the Lightning have gotten 20 G 32 A and 52 P from him so far this season. Then there’s one of the league’s best and brightest stars right now: the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl who grosses $8.5 million annually as well. Draisaitl, who is 26-years-old, has already brought home the Art Ross Trophy (given to the player who leads the league in points at the end of the regular season), the Ted Lindsay Award (which is presented annually to the “most outstanding player” in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the National Hockey League Players’ Association) and the Hart Memorial Trophy (which is an annual award for the most valuable player of the National Hockey League, voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association). Once again, he is well on his way to taking home some more hardware as he is among the league leaders in most statistical categories this season. The last salary comparison that we will look at next to Giroux is the Hurricanes’ young star Sebastian Aho who, at just 24 years of age, has already managed to surpass Giroux’s career high in goals of 34 with his own 38 goal campaign back in the ’19- ‘20 season as well as winning this year’s All-Star shooting accuracy challenge going four for four. All this while he gets paid a mere $185,250 more than Giroux right now. After looking at these comparisons, you have to ask yourself- is Giroux an exceptional player? For sure, I mean his performance in the All-Star Game proves it! But does his point production during actual games warrant him to be paid the same as these NHL elites listed above? The answer may be yes, in the 2017-2018 season he scored 102 points; but other than that, in the last eight years of this contract, no.
Kevin Hayes
Was an impending free agent whose rights were traded to the Flyers by the Winnipeg Jets for a 5th round pick. He was then signed shortly thereafter by Philadelphia to an unbelievable 7-year $50 million contract (that included an outrageous $15 million in signing bonus) that forces the team to have to shell out $7,142,857 a season for the duration. Now, while as impressive as Kevin’s size and strength may be with him standing at 6’5 and 216 pounds, when healthy he is nothing more than a third-line center for a cup-contending team. To prove this, Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets- who receives the exact same salary as Hayes- has already topped Kevin’s best year as a Flyer (where Hayes scored 23 G 18 A for 41 P back in the 2019-2020 season) at just the halfway point of this season! Connor already has 25 goals and 20 assists for 45 points in just 42 games played so far this year.
James van Riemsdyk
Who was originally drafted by the Flyers second overall back in 2007, was traded and later re-signed by the Flyers as a free agent heading into the 2018-2019 season for 5-years at $35 million. This deal also included a five million dollar signing bonus which gives him a $7 million cap hit. At the time, this did not seem like such a bad deal since he had just finished a season in which he had a 36 goal campaign playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs before becoming a free agent. But his production once back in Philly has never seemed to reach those plateaus again. In fact, van Riemsdyk has been so inconsistent since rejoining the Flyers that at times it seems to be all or nothing with him. He’ll have a two to three point night and then turn around and be non-existent for five to ten games without tallying even a single point. Case in point, his stats this year: in 45 games played, JVR has 11 goals and 7 assists for 18 points while being a -21 on the season. If a team wants to be successful, this kind of inconsistency simply can’t happen- especially from a player you’re allocating that kind of money to towards the cap. So, let’s look at how he stacks up with other left wings who get paid that much, starting with 29-year-old Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche. Landeskog has the exact same cap hit but has 19 G 26 A for 45 P this season while being a +20: a significant difference, especially since he contributes to the team’s offense most every night. Take his last five games: only once did he go scoreless. The other four games he had points in and tallied a combined 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points in that time span. Then, there’s Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, whose cap hit is also an even $7 million dollars and at just 24-years-old he already has 20 G and 25 A for 45 P and is a +24 on the season. But that’s not all Tkachuk excels at: besides the art of hitting the twine he is more than capable of dropping the gloves to stand up for a fellow player as well as laying a few bone-crushing hits during a game. This shows just how much a complete player Matthew really is and proving him worthy of the type of salary in which he gets paid.
Ivan Provorov
Was originally drafted by Philadelphia in 2015 with their first-round pick. In a lot of people’s minds, he instantly became the Flyers’ best defenseman the second he boarded a plane to Philadelphia from Brandon, Manitoba after his last game of juniors (where he played for the Wheat Kings of the WHL). But does this mean that he is worthy the six-year $40,500,000 contract and a $12 million signing bonus that Philadelphia currently has him inked to? I’m not so sure. The Flyers handed this substantial contract that carries a $6,750,000 cap hit to Provorov when he was just 22-years-old with the hopes that one day he would deserve it. The team did so even though Ivan didn’t win a Calder Memorial Trophy (given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year in the league), has never won a Norris Trophy (awarded to the NHL’s top defender), nor has he helped the Flyers hoist the Stanley Cup in his now six seasons playing for this team. So, my question is: why did the Flyers pay him as if he did? As far as stats go, he’s not exactly setting the league on fire with 5 G ,12 A and 17 P this season, nor is he completely shutting down the other team’s best players given his -6 plus/minus rating this year. So, lets look at some defenseman who get paid the same (or close to) as what the Flyers shell out for Provorov. One player that fits that criteria is long time Blackhawk defender Brent Seabrook, whose current contract pays him a cap hit of $6,875,000 a year. While he may be battling injuries now that he’s 36-years-old and his career is all but over, Seabrook earned that salary by playing in over 1,100 games and winning three Stanley Cups with Chicago, which just might be enough to see him one day voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Another defender who gets paid exactly the same as Ivan is Tampa Bay’s veteran blueliner Ryan McDonagh who is now 32-years-old. Over the course of his career, he too has earned his paycheck by being a shutdown defender as evidenced by his career +211 plus/minus rating while playing for both the New York Rangers (who he helped reach the Stanley Cup Finals back in 2014) and the Lightning (who he has now won back to back Stanley cups with). Both players were once promising young stars like Provorov was when he received this massive raise but, unlike Philadelphia, their teams made them earn the right to be paid as if they’re elite by waiting until they were already one of the best in the league at their position to pay them as such. What a concept, right?
These players are your highest paid on the team and all were signed (not traded for with a deal already in place) to these crippling contracts by a Flyers’ general manager, either past or present. Therefore, Philadelphia must break the habit of overpaying their veteran players as if they are elite and stop rewarding their promising youth with inflated contracts before they actually deserve them. To say that this continued practice has hindered the Flyers’ ability to bring in more qualified talent to round out the bottom of their lineup over the years would be an understatement for sure. They are not considered to be an undesirable destination, or in a position like the Arizona Coyotes are in currently, so they need to stop acting as such. Doing so would only help them to put a better team out on the ice moving forward.
