The Stanley Cup Finals start this weekend–a matchup that everybody surely saw coming–and in honor of that, we’re taking a look at three things the Flyers could learn from each team. Both the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights have characteristics that the Flyers should try to emulate in their rebuild as they try to return to perennial contender status. Yesterday, we looked at the Florida Panthers, and today we’re looking at the Vegas Golden Knights. Let’s get into it.
Make the big moves
Yes, this is similar to what I said about the Panthers, but it’s true for the Knights as well: don’t be afraid to go after the big names. Getting Jack Eichel out of Buffalo, bringing in now-captain Mark Stone, signing Alex Pietrangelo–those are enormous moves that reshaped the team’s core. The Flyers, meanwhile, have been timid, even cowardly: Johnny Gaudreau, the biggest free agent of last summer, wanted to be in Philadelphia, and management said no. Any time there’s a big name on the market, whether in free agency or through trades, the Flyers are often on the outside looking in. That’s not a winning formula, and the Flyers need to be involved.
Something else Vegas knows when to do? Cut ties. The Golden Knights gave Max Pacioretty to the Carolina Hurricanes for free to clear cap space and traded the beloved Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks. This is a team that lives by the definition of “aggressive,” constantly signing and moving star players as it suits them. The Flyers may not want to go quite as far as Vegas, but there’s still a lesson to be learned there.
The cap is an illusion
Are the Golden Knights akin to the Snider-era, pre-salary cap Flyers? Making big, splashy acquisitions and paying whatever they have to in order to stay competitive. What happened to that Flyers mentality? Clearly, it can be done in the modern era–just not in Philadelphia, apparently.
Love it or hate it, Vegas knows how to bend the cap rules to make sure they’re both compliant and star-studded. The Flyers, meanwhile, finished with the seventh worst record in the NHL and will have to pay penalties for exceeding the cap. That’s right: this mediocre Flyers team exceeded the cap, even after buying out Oskar Lindblom to clear space. Stunning.
One of the first things the new front office will have to do is fix the cap–and that doesn’t just mean compliance. It also means projecting who will be paid what in years to come, and taking risks by signing young players long term instead of bridge deals that could either walk them into free agency or force them out due to other poor contracts on the books. The New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres are good examples of this, with Jersey signing Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier to long term bargains, and Buffalo locking up Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens early. Signing bridge deals to all of Cam York, Noah Cates, Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett would mean giving them all raises around the same time in two to three years–the Flyers should not do that.
It also means no more giving out NMCs like candy to middling players so that when a superstar comes banging on your door, you can move contracts out to get that elite talent on your team. Sure, Vegas gives out its fair share of NTCs/NMCs–but to proven, established stars that project a long term return on investment.
Vegas is an older team, of course–a product of signing established stars instead of drafting and developing internal talent. The franchise may one day reach a breaking point where they can’t continue at this pace, but when that day comes, you can bet they’ll work some cap wizardry to lock up their next young core early so they can add stars down the line. The Flyers should rebuild with the possibility of a star coming to Philadelphia, keeping enough cap flexibility to make it happen if the opportunity arises.
Sometimes, it is just a bad year
Of these three lessons, this is one the Flyers know all too well. After a blazing run in 2019-2020 before the covid bubble, the Flyers missed the playoffs in 2020-21, and chalked it up to a bad year–fair enough. The team went through some drastic roster changes the following off season and…absolutely flopped in 2021-22, finishing with a bottom five record. One bad year is one bad year, but two? That should’ve signaled it was time to start over.
Vegas was on the brink of that reckoning as well. They missed the playoffs in 2021-22 for the first time in franchise history, and the Jack Eichel trade was looking like a dud. Another lousy season, and some massive shakeups would likely have followed. This year, they won their division and made it to the Stanley Cup final–a massive turnaround. Injuries played a role in the disappointing 2021-22 season, and coaching left something to be desired–but the talent on the roster was there, and Bruce Cassidy’s done an excellent job in his first year behind the Vegas bench.
The Flyers are embarking on a rebuild, and will likely have a few more bad years. However, when they return to contention, a single dud year might not mean the whole thing’s off and it’s time to blow it up again; sometimes, it’s just a hiccup on the way to a championship.
