Danny Briere has bigger immediate business to sort out with the Flyers, but Matvei Michkov is the name that should not get lost in the shuffle.
Right now, the Leo Carlsson situation is tying up Philadelphia’s plans. If that deal falls apart, the Flyers will need to look elsewhere for their “center of the future.”
If Carlsson does land in Philadelphia, then the next steps open up: re-signing and extending Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras. And if more room has to be created, the Flyers may even need to move a player before training camp starts.
Until that whole picture is settled, the team can’t really move too far ahead.
That uncertainty also explains why other NHL executives might circle back and take a run at the Flyers’ young talent. Some may not like the way Briere and Philadelphia are trying to jump on Carlsson, but the Flyers are operating within the rules. The real issue is that most of their young players are already tied up for a while, or won’t be extension-eligible for several years.
Michkov is the exception.
That makes him the one player Briere should be thinking about sooner rather than later. The winger had a strong rookie year, then followed it with what can only be called a “meh” sophomore season.
It wasn’t that he was bad. It was more that he just wasn’t as productive.
Maybe expectations were too high. Maybe the constant line changes got in the way.
Maybe it took him too long to adjust to Rick Tocchet’s system. Maybe the nagging injuries wore him down.
It could have been all of it. Whatever the reason, he was out of the playoffs and was even watching from above at one point.
After that postseason run, the conversation around Michkov changed fast. Should the Flyers trade him while he still has value?
Or should they give him more time to sort it out? One thing that helped his standing was the work he put in this offseason.
He focused heavily on skating and defensive improvement, and both Briere and Tocchet praised his attitude and his desire to get better.
There’s also the contract angle. Next year, Michkov is the only major RFA. If there’s concern about another team throwing a massive offer at him, Briere could get ahead of it with a mid-season extension when it won’t be an issue.
That approach gives the Flyers options. If Michkov’s new routine has him back on track and everyone - Michkov, Briere, and Tocchet included - feels good about where he’s headed, Philadelphia could work out a bridge deal before he reaches his first major contract. If he’s not where they want him to be, they can still offer a smaller “prove it” deal before anything bigger comes into play.
Either way, the Flyers keep control of the situation. And with the salary cap continuing to rise, they can better judge how much money they’ll need to keep the rest of their young core together. That group includes Alex Bump, Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, Denver Barkey, David Jiricek, Cole Knuble, Oliver Bonk, and Carson Bajnarsson, all of whom would be in the 2028 RFA class.
There’s also the hard-line fallback. If Michkov doesn’t improve, or if he proves to be uncoachable, the Flyers could always move him at the deadline.
They could turn him into first-round picks - especially if they lose them to Anaheim - and keep building from there. That would be cleaner than letting the situation drag on and become something uglier.
And if another team ever came in with a huge deal and Philadelphia matched it, the question becomes whether that would force them to lose Martone, Bonk, or Barkey.
For Briere, the safest move is to protect the Flyers now before any rival GM starts eyeing Broad Street a little too closely.
In Other News...
Flyers Fans May Have Missed How Much Of The Roster Changed
Free agency has given the Flyers a very different look in a hurry, even before the dust fully settles. Philadelphia has already locked in Tyson Foerster with an extension and brought back Dan Vladar, while a wave of departures has thinned out the roster and sent several familiar names elsewhere around the league.
Noah Juulsen, Lane Pederson and Adam Ginning are among the players who have moved on, a reminder that this has been more than a routine summer tune-up. The Flyers also made one of the bolder moves of the offseason by putting an offer sheet in front of Anaheim center Leo Carlsson, leaving the next step in the hands of Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek and keeping Philadelphias roster picture very much in flux. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Still Have One Obvious Swing After Missing On Carlsson
The Flyers pursuit of a young center took a hit when Anaheim matched their offer sheet for Leo Carlsson, but the front offices broader search for a swing at the position does not appear to be over. Columbus center Adam Fantilli sits in the kind of gray area that keeps offer-sheet talk alive, and he is the sort of player Philadelphia has been willing to examine as it looks for a long-term answer down the middle.
Fantillis profile is still very much in formation, which is part of the appeal and part of the uncertainty. He is 21, has not reached the playoffs, has already played for three NHL head coaches and is still chasing his first 60-point season even after scoring 31 goals in 2024-25. The Flyers also have some familiar organizational ties to Columbus that could help with the homework, but the real question is whether this is the kind of target worth another aggressive move if the price lands in the range being discussed. [Read more 🡒]