Flyers

After six seasons in Toronto, what does James van Riemsdyk bring the Flyers in his return to Philadelphia through free agency?

Right now, the James van Riemsdyk signing means that the Flyers were willing to spend to make upgrades. Make no mistake, Ron Hextall made a statement with this move. The Flyers are ready to be players on the market, not just on draft weekend.

According to multiple reports, the first from TSN’s Frank Seravalli, the Flyers and forward James van Riemsdyk have agreed to a five-year, $35 million deal that will become official when free agency opens at noon on Sunday.

With almost $22 million available in cap space entering the 2018-19 season, the Flyers have the funds to make some deals. So what do the Flyers do with this cap space?

GM Ron Hextall has talked about wanting to add a veteran forward and veteran defenseman to the lineup. The Flyers certainly have room in their bottom-six group of forwards and definitely can improve on the blue line. Here are few targets in free agency among forwards and defensemen.

All eight selections from the 2018 NHL Draft will be on the ice, as well as 25 other prospects, as part of the team’s development camp, being held from June 27 through July 2.

With the NHL Draft in the books and free agency starting up in another week, the guys look at the newest Flyers prospects and look ahead to the possibilities for free agency.

From his draft day last June until now, Nolan Patrick has gone through quite the journey and while his rookie season with the Flyers wasn’t the biggest success by the numbers, it was a year of overcoming adversity and tremendous growth, showing just how far he has come already since his draft day.

It’s worth noting that in drafting five Americans — and three Swedes as well for that matter — that the Flyers don’t have to jump to sign anybody from this year’s draft class.