Flyers’ vision becomes clear: Short-term free agency deals for Season 3 of the rebuild under Danny Brière

Danny Brière is really good at keeping a few cards up his sleeve when it comes to the draft. But right now, the Flyers general manager is laying them all on the table when it comes to the rebuild.

With the signings of three NHLers to one-year deals and another, Dan Vladar, to a two-year deal in a soft goalie free-agent market, the focus on which season the Flyers will go all in, the season they feel they will be Stanley Cup playoffs-ready in, is evident: 2026-27.

The Flyers filled several holes on Tuesday for the upcoming season. Veteran defensemen Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert will push the defense and give new coach Rick Tocchet a few options with Rasmus Ristolainen on the shelf to start the season.

Christian Dvorak, who, like Juulsen, previously played for Tocchet, is expected to be the fourth-line center after Ryan Poehling was traded. Vladar is a formidable backup who wants more playing time and should form the Flyers’ goalie tandem with Sam Ersson. Center Lane Pederson was also signed to a one-year deal and has NHL experience, but will likely spend his two-way contract in the minors.

» READ MORE: Shane Vansaghi already leaving his mark on Flyers development camp — and the staff

These moves came eight days after the acquisition of Trevor Zegras (in the Poehling swap), who is 24 years old.

The question was raised Tuesday at his post-free agency frenzy about possibly overpaying a bit for Dvorak, at $5.4 million, and Vladar, who is getting $3.35 million per year. But the GM said the obvious:

“Well, I think it also shows that we focused on term — short term — to try to fill those holes," he said. “Guys were willing to bet on themselves, which is awesome. And for us, term was way more important than anything else. But, sometimes you’ve got to give in somewhere to entice those types of players to come in. So we know that the salaries were very competitive, but where it helps us is, it keeps the flexibility moving forward in our favor.”

Short term?

Flexibility?

Forward?

The vision is clear.

Now that everything is a wrap — although there’s always a possibility one or two moves are on the horizon, and they still need to sign restricted free agent defenseman Cam York — the Flyers are officially heading into the third season of the rebuild under Brière, president Keith Jones & Co.

It’ll be an interesting one come the fall for sure. How will Tocchet and his staff work with a new crop of players? When he was in charge in Arizona, the team was starting a rebuild, and in Vancouver, it was an already established team. What will he do with a team in the middle?

The Flyers have talent in Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and Matvei Michkov. Brière said York is among the Flyers’ “untapped talent” that Tocchet mentioned at his introductory press conference, and the new coach said that Owen Tippett “is a guy who I feel has another level in him.”

Adding Zegras automatically elevates the center position. Yes, he played on the wing the last two seasons under the demanding and hard-nosed Greg Cronin in Anaheim, but Zegras is a natural center and is excited for the chance to get back to what he knows best. A bonus? Like the others added this week, he’s also got something to prove in the last year of his contract.

“I think coming to a new team, do whatever I can to help the guys win, and try and win over some respect in the locker room and the fans, and always good to put a good foot forward, for sure,” Zegras said in Atlantic City before being a guest at the team’s draft party.

» READ MORE: Top pick Porter Martone reunites with a Flyers legend at development camp, states intention of landing an NHL spot

Vladar is key to the free agent additions. He is a steady goalie who will push Ersson as they take on a tandem role. Why?

Although his best year in Calgary was on a strong Flames team that won the Pacific Division in 2021-22 and saw his goalie partner, Jacob Markström, finish second for the Vezina Trophy, his numbers in the next few seasons have underlying problems. In 2022-23, the Flames dropped down to fifth in their division, spiraling after Johnny Gaudreau signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Matthew Tkachuk headed to Florida. The next season, he battled through 20 games before his season ended with hip surgery that March.

And this past season? Vladar came back strong. Don’t let that under .900 overall save percentage fool you. According to Natural Stat Trick, he has a .919 save percentage at five-on-five and the 18th-best goals saved above average (5.15), among goalies with 1,000 playing minutes.

What pulled his number down was a .802 save percentage while the Flames — who were ranked No. 25 in the NHL (76.1%) — were on the penalty kill. For comparison, this past season, the Flyers’ penalty kill was 20th (77.6%).

“I do. I do believe that,” Brière said when asked if the 27-year-old Czech Republic native can play a lot of games if needed. “Ideally, it would be having a good tandem, whoever that is. … Sam is also a goalie who needs to be fresh; he’s at his best when he’s fresh. Worked really well that one year when he was a tandem with Carter Hart; that was probably his best year. So, if we can get him that again, that would be great.”

There was one blemish for the Flyers this week, losing out on Maxim Shabanov; the talented Kontinental Hockey League winger signed with the New York Islanders instead. While he does have high-end skill, but with a small forward group, maybe it’s for the best they didn’t get the 5-foot-8 Russian, even if they may have a spot open depending on how Tyson Foerster recovers from his infection. And the Flyers did opt for size on Tuesday, as the new guys helped bump up the roster’s average height to 6-2.

In the end, the Flyers GM clearly didn’t want to dish out long contracts. Although the question was asked about signing Juulsen and Gilbert, his response could go for all the free agent signings: “Term was important for us. And if they perform well, we want to keep them, but we wanted to make sure that we don’t block our young guys past next year.”

» READ MORE: Hayes: The Flyers have a real goalie tandem again after free agency, as the Carter Hart door closes

Indeed.

Because when you have players like goalies Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin, center Jett Luchanko, wingers Porter Martone and Alex Bump — although those last three could crack the opening-night lineup — and defensemen Oliver Bonk, Hunter McDonald, and Spencer Gill charging forward, why would you?

Plus, when you’re trying to be a perennial Stanley Cup contender, and not a one-year-and-done organization, it’s important to think small.

And, yeah, that 2026 free-agent group looks pretty interesting, too.