NHL News
Flyers Admit Big 2026 Free Agency Plans Foiled By Early Signings
The Philadelphia Flyers noted that their 2026 free agency plans have changed because many of their targets were signed already.
Philadelphia Flyers President of Hockey Operations, Keith Jones, recently said in an interview that some of the targets the Flyers planned to pursue in 2026 have been signed and are no longer available. As a result, it will change how the organization rounds out its team.
Jones was asked whether the fact that a once-very-vibrant free-agency class is now almost bare of available difference-makers has ruined the Flyers’ plans. Because all those guys have re-signed, he was asked if the Flyers have had to make adjustments. Is the class not as strong as you had hoped it would be?
Jones responded, “I think there is some adjustments that had to be made by all teams.”
He added:
“I think something that a lot of people didn’t anticipate was the cap going up and being informed that the cap was going to go up over the next two or three years with a dollar amount attached to it, forced team you know re-sign their own guys and get ahead of it, where they might have got caught by not having enough space if it would have stayed flat. I think you would have saw more reach free agency and we would have had some cap space to use on those players and go out and bid for their services.”
He then noted that the amounts those players were offered and the security they received made those contract offers difficult to turn down. “So yeah, the landscape changed on the fly and it would have been impossible to anticipate unless you run the inside and recognize that you know for three years out the cap was going to go up x amount of dollars.”
There was some level of disappointment with it. I don’t think we’re alone in that. I think there were a lot of teams we would have been bidding against in order to get some of those players services. You have to reset and refocus, find different ways to make your team better.
Jones then said that trades, free agency, offer sheets, and anything within the rules are avenues the Flyers are going to explore.
Next: Analyst Floats Matvei Michkov as Maple Leafs Target Amid Ice-Time Concerns
More News
