The Philadelphia Flyers could be headed toward a decision on Rasmus Ristolainen, and the signals are getting louder.
On Sportsnet, Nick Kypreos said it looks increasingly likely that this could be the year the Flyers move the defenseman, particularly if they keep chasing the group of playoff teams above them.
“It’s growing more and more likely that this is the year the Flyers will trade him, especially if they continue to chase the pack of playoff teams ahead of them.”
Elsewhere, Patrik Laine’s next move appears clear: it’s staying in the NHL. Emily Kaplan reported that the unrestricted free agent forward has no interest in going to Europe for his next contract and is focused on proving people wrong at the NHL level.
The conversation around roster-building also swung back to offer sheets, with Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky addressing the topic on The Sheet with Jeff Marek. Asked whether more offer sheets are coming, Tulsky compared them to trade offers and pointed to cap space as the major factor from both sides.
Marek brought up Bill Armstrong’s recent comments that offer sheets are legal and that more could be on the way, then asked Tulsky whether he agreed.
Tulsky responded: “I honestly don’t know. You know, an offer sheet, it’s it’s basically a kind of trade offer, right?
I’m saying, you know, you can give me this player and have my second-round pick. The only, and the team decides whether they want to take the pick or let you have the player or keep the player.
The difference is, you can, as part of a offer sheet, do something you can’t do in a normal trade, and say, ‘I’m going to jack up the player’s salary and make him less valuable to both of us.’
And that is something that can help force a team to accept a trade if they don’t have a lot of cap space.It’s easier to do if you have a lot of cap space. So right now, both of those things are true for most teams.
Is, ‘I have more cap space. It’s easier for me to to raise the price on someone.’
But if they have more cap space, it’s easier for them to say, ‘Fine, I’ll just pay it.'”
In Other News...
Flyers Just Entered A New Kind Of Trade And Cap Fight
The NHLs rising salary cap is changing the way teams think about every big move, and the Flyers are now operating in a market where money is getting louder by the season. The cap is projected to climb to $104 million for 2026-27 and could reach $127.5 million by 2028-29, a jump that is already showing up in the size of recent contracts around the league. Leo Carlssons $90 million offer sheet and Cale Makars $163.2 million extension are only the latest examples of a market that has moved far beyond the old limits.
For Philadelphia, that creates a different kind of trade fight than the one teams were used to even a few years ago. Bigger cap ceilings give front offices more room to dream, but they also force sharper decisions on how to build a roster and how aggressive to be in negotiations, especially with a new collective bargaining agreement reshaping contract structure and team leverage. The Flyers are navigating not just a more expensive league, but one where the rules of the spending game are changing too. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Showed Fight But One Familiar Problem Ruined It Again
The Flyers made the kind of rally that can steady a room, digging out of a three-goal first-period hole and finding a way to turn a runaway into a game that felt up for grabs. Columbus had set the tone early, but Philadelphia answered with a push that brought some life back into the building, while Cam Talbots 28 saves kept the Blue Jackets from completely losing control.
Even so, the finish was another reminder of how slim the margin can be when a game gets away from a team early. Philadelphia had done enough to reach overtime, but the Blue Jackets cashed in when it mattered most, with Kent Johnson delivering the winner in a 4-3 Columbus victory. For the Flyers, the fight was there again, but so was the familiar cost of an opening stretch they could not fully undo. [Read more 🡒]
Rasmus Ristolainen Is Becoming A Tougher Flyers Trade Decision
Rasmus Ristolainen has become one of the Flyers trickier personnel decisions because the question around him is no longer just whether he can help, but how often he can actually be on the ice. The 31-year-old defenseman still brings the kind of size and physical edge that can matter on a blue line, but recurring injuries have kept interrupting his rhythm and made it harder for Philadelphia to treat him like a reliable every-night piece.
Over the past six seasons, he has missed roughly one-third of the teams games, and that kind of availability track record naturally chips away at his trade value. What once might have been a straightforward conversation about a sturdy veteran defenseman has turned into a much murkier calculus for the Flyers, who now have to weigh the usefulness of his game when healthy against the reality that health has become the biggest part of the discussion. [Read more 🡒]