4 Flyers Who Won’t Be Back Next Season

There’s finally new management in Philadelphia and we can’t help but be confident in what Danny Briere (interim GM) can do with this team to get them out of mediocrity. Things are going to have to get worse before they get better meaning the Flyers are going to have to move on from some of their more productive players and somewhat start over. Having said that, here are four players who won’t be back with the Flyers next season.

Carter Hart

We’re starting with a big one and that’s because Carter Hart is available for trade. The young goalie has one year left on his deal after this season at a very reasonable cap hit. Despite the team struggling for the most part, he has held down the crease very well and would be able to put up great numbers on a contending team. The Flyers are in a unique and good position to trade their starter as his value may be at its best right now and they have replacements in Felix Sandstrom, Samuel Ersson, and Ivan Fedotov in their organization for them to find their next starter.

Hart is going to get a lot of interest on the trade market as he is only 24 years old and is a restricted free agent after the season. Hart has definitely helped the team win games as despite a 18-21-10 record, he has a 4.0 goals saved above average (GSAA) and a .907 save percentage (SV%). Whether it be at the draft or later in the offseason, Hart is going to be moved, likely for picks and prospects to better the rebuild.

James van Riemsdyk

I believe part of the reason why Chuck Fletcher was finally fired from the general manager position was the inability to do anything at the trade deadline. He had a winger in James van Riemsdyk who he failed to move either of the past two seasons and will not lose him for nothing.

Related: 3 Penguins Who Won’t Be Back Next Season

It’s not that van Riemsdyk isn’t good enough and the Flyers don’t like him enough to keep him around, he is just not the type of player that will help them in the direction they are headed. Young players need more opportunities in Philadelphia and van Riemsdyk is likely headed to a contender to be a power-play specialist and middle-six winger. His ability to consistently score goals is why it was a failure of Fletcher to not have traded him when they had the chance already.

Kevin Hayes

Kevin Hayes has proven to be one of the most valuable players on the Flyers this season despite head coach John Tortorella. The relationship between the two alone is enough to think Hayes is going to be moved out in the summer. While leading the team in scoring and being named an All-Star, Tortorella made Hayes a healthy scratch. Those antics don’t work with star players and their personalities couldn’t clash harder.

Hayes is a great locker room guy and has been effective at center or the wing. He has three years left on his deal after this season at $7.142 million AAV that also holds a 12-team no-trade clause. But to get him out of Philadelphia, I bet that list is smaller in his mind. The Flyers are going to have the cap space to retain a lot of that contract in order to move him and with 17 goals and 51 points in 67 games on the season, Hayes is proving to be a very good second line center for a contender.

Justin Braun

The Flyers seem to keep going back to Justin Braun, but this may be the last season they do so. He has been a solid sixth/seventh defenceman for the team, but as I’ve been saying, they are headed in a younger direction and the 36-year-old just doesn’t fit in the plans, not even as a depth piece.

Braun has also had a huge drop-off in production and ice time as he is being used much less this season as opposed to last. He was filling in on the top pairing at times last season, but his average ice time has dropped to under 15 minutes a night from over 20 minutes with the Flyers before the trade to the New York Rangers. Braun has also not helped out at all offensively with just two assists in 44 games while his hits and blocked shots per game are also way down. I wouldn’t be surprised if he even called it a career after this season.