Philadelphia Flyers Sign Jamie Drysdale to 4-Year Extension – The Hockey Writers – Philadelphia Flyers

Less than 48 hours after signing one former Anaheim Duck to a four-year deal days before a scheduled arbitration hearing, the Philadelphia Flyers ran it back.

This time, Jamie Drysdale put pen to paper on the last weekday before he was slated to have an arbitration hearing that would have guaranteed a new contract. The Flyers agreed to terms on a four-year pact with a $6.5 million average annual value to conclude their final significant piece of work required for the offseason.

Like the Trevor Zegras deal, a mid-term commitment at a reasonable cap hit has its positives and negatives. Here are thoughts on the 24-year-old’s new deal.

Value Now, Uncertainty Later

Given what some defensemen have signed for this offseason, a $6.5 million cap hit is more than reasonable for Drysdale. He’s way better than half of Bowen Byram, who signed for $12.5 million per year with the Chicago Blackhawks. He’s more proven than Šimon Nemec, who signed for $7.25 million on a deal with the Calgary Flames that only eats into one year of unrestricted free agency (UFA) eligibility. Drysdale’s deal eats up two, just like the Zegras extension signed on Wednesday night.

The 2025-26 season was easily the best of Drysdale’s career. He set a new career-high with eight goals, tied his career high with 32 points, and bested his previous high for time on ice per game by more than 90 seconds. His all-around game came around nicely, and perhaps most importantly, he remained healthy with his most games played since 2021-22.

It’s difficult to see this becoming a bad contract for the Flyers before it expires in 2031, but it may become that once it’s over. When he becomes a UFA at 28 years old, Drysdale could be in a position to cash in big time, especially if he takes another step forward. Even if he doesn’t, the spiking salary cap should position him for a nice raise. If the cap is, say, $135 million (an inexact but reasonable estimate), this contract would be the equivalent of an $8.4375 million signing.

At that point, Drysdale will be eligible for a contract that takes him to age 35 (maximum term for re-signing will be down to seven years by this fall). While that doesn’t take him into a completely geriatric state, it’s far enough to pose serious aging risk, and that’s before figuring out the team’s overall cap structure. That’s complicated because Zegras and Cam York also hit the market that summer, among other future developments that are bound to arise.

The Flyers still have nearly $14 million of cap space remaining, per PuckPedia. Only two notable players are free agents next summer: Rasmus Ristolainen, who’s likely to either walk or be traded, and Matvei Michkov, who will be a restricted free agent. There’s definitely a window for general manager Daniel Brière to make a big splash in the near future. But if that can gets kicked too far down the road, the Flyers may wind up having too many balls in the air at once after not signing Zegras or Drysdale to true long-term deals.

Grading This Deal

Again, the problem with this is not the contract itself, but what happens when it ends. The deal comes with a modified no-trade clause for the final two seasons, so Drysdale does have some control in the back half of it. But he’ll gain full control of his status in 2031, when the cap is likely to have skyrocketed and the Flyers will be in the biggest need of good contracts.

The verdict is a B grade because $6.5 million is a very reasonable cap hit for Drysdale now and could be an outright steal by year four. Five years from now, we’ll see how it plays out.