Top free-agent targets for the Flyers: How would Jake Allen, Bowen Byram, or Maxim Shabanov fit in?

No rest for the weary.

Now that the NHL draft has come and gone and the future of the Flyers is here, it’s time to quickly turn the page and begin building for the here and now.

NHL free agency begins Tuesday at noon, and the Rick Tocchet era officially gets underway as general manager Danny Brière begins in earnest to build out his roster. Here are 13 names The Inquirer thinks the Orange and Black will focus on when free agency begins.

Could the Flyers get the hottest import on July 1? The organization is considered to be in the running for the speedy winger who finished third in the Kontinental Hockey League with 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists) in 65 games for Traktor Chelyabinsk this season. In the postseason, he had 10 goals and 10 assists in 21 games for the Gagarin Cup finalists. The only issue, from a Flyers perspective, is that with an already small forward group, does the 5-foot-9, 157-pound free agent make sense? They passed over James Hagens, a 5-11 center, and selected giants in the NHL draft, but the talent Shabanov has is too good to pass up.

Brière has not hidden the fact that he wants to get better between the pipes, especially after the trio of Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov posted the NHL’s worst save percentage (.879). Allen, 34, is one of the best backup goalies and could be the perfect complement to Ersson, as the young Swede continues to build up his game.

This past season, Allen went 13-16-1 with a 2.66 goals-against average and .908 save percentage across 31 games for the New Jersey Devils. Philly is probably intriguing to Allen, as it isn’t too far from his current home base, but he may be too expensive and want too long of a contract for the Flyers, who have Egor Zavragin and Carson Bjarnason waiting in the wings.

Now, if Allen is out, could Ersson’s countryman make more sense? The Swedish netminder, 32, would come in at a cheaper price than Allen. He went 11-12-3 with a 2.72 GAA and .901 save percentage in 30 games for the Ottawa Senators, splitting time with Linus Ullmark. He could be a solid mentor for Ersson while also pushing the Flyers goalie as his direct competition for a spot on Sweden’s Olympic squad.

The Flyers need more depth down the middle, and Suter is a known commodity to Tocchet. This past season, under the new Flyers coach in Vancouver, he posted career highs in goals (25) and points (46), and tied his career high in assists (21), power-play goals (two), power-play points (five), and shorthanded points (two). It probably helped that he averaged almost 30 seconds of ice time more than in his previous four seasons.

Could a reunion be in the cards for the 29-year-old? Maybe, but three issues could impede him heading to Philly: size (he’s 5-11), cost (The Athletic has him projected at just under $5 million a year for four years), and the fact he is a left-shot, just like Flyers centers Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, and Trevor Zegras.

He is the only restricted free agent on this list, and Philly has been interested in the blueliner for a while. And if the Buffalo Sabres can’t get him inked to a new deal by today, there may be a chance for a team to swoop in and give him an offer sheet. Let the chaos reign. Byram plays the left side — he was Jamie Drysdale’s partner at the 2021 World Junior Championship, the same tournament in which Byram was on the all-star team — and won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022.

There are obvious questions then about fit, but he’s just 24 years old, is 6-1, plays power play and penalty kill, and is coming off a career high in assists (31), points (38), average minutes (22 minutes, 42 seconds), plus-minus (plus-11) and shots on goal (94). It all suggests he has just scratched the surface.

The Flyers need a right-shot center, and Gaudette may just fit the bill in terms of need and cost. The Athletic is projecting him to snag just over $1 million for one year — which could be the right amount of money and time to let Jett Luchanko continue to build his game. Gaudette, 28, put up 19 goals this season for Ottawa, a career high, while chipping in three power-play goals. He can bring speed and size (he’s 6-1), and his .211 shooting percentage would be atop the Flyers, besting Tyson Foerster’s .176. The one issue? He doesn’t kill penalties, and the Flyers need that with the loss of Ryan Poehling.

The Flyers got bigger for the future through the draft over the last few days, but adding the Utah center would help in that cause today. Bjugstad is huge at 6-5, 205 pounds. He didn’t have the best production this season, scoring eight goals and 19 points in 66 games, but the soon-to-be 33-year-old (his birthday is July 17) knows his role as a bottom-six guy and is the highly coveted right-shot pivot they need. He also finished fourth on the Mammoth with 104 hits and would certainly complement Garnet Hathaway well.

Injuries plagued Lazar this past season, but if the Flyers want a tough, right-shot veteran center for the fourth line who can also kill penalties, this is their guy. His expiring contract has a $1 million annual average value, so it wouldn’t be shocking if he comes in around the same amount. And, like Allen, the Flyers could be enticing to Lazar, who has been in New Jersey the last few seasons.

He is just 27, but there’s already a lot of wear and tear on the body for the defenseman. He is an enticing option to add to the blue line. The Flyers will be without rugged defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen for a while as he recovers from surgery, and the 6-foot, 194-pound Lindgren, who finished this season with Colorado, could easily slide into that role. He may be too expensive, projected at $4 million per year by The Athletic, but he plays a hard game and eats minutes while playing a key role on the penalty kill. A team-first guy, he knows all about Metropolitan Division rivalries and would surely be one to watch when the New York Rangers come to town. He played six seasons for them.

The reaction to this one may not be great, but Ceci can fill that Ristolainen spot, too. He’s big (6-3), plays more than 20 minutes a night, is a righty, a penalty killer, and is a defenseman who, according to The Athletic, “tends to pair well with a more offensive-minded player.” Could he be the right partner for Drysdale? This past season, Ceci went from a minus-9 on the San Jose Sharks to a plus-15 with the Dallas Stars. He played on some bad Ottawa teams back in the day but appears to play better when those around him are better (i.e. plus-18 with the Pittsburgh Penguins and plus-11 and plus-12 with the Edmonton Oilers).

He’s not a right-shot, but Veleno could add some depth to the Flyers after getting bought out by the Seattle Kraken, not long after they acquired him from the Detroit Red Wings. Veleno does have some pop — he had 12 goals and 28 points in 80 games in 2023-24 — is 6-1, and he has played key roles for Hockey Canada at U18s and World Juniors. Another plus? He’ll probably come cheap.

What do you know? The Kings’ Tanner Jeannot has made the list. Jeannot would add some depth and size (6-2) on the left wing, especially after a Flyers source said they are not giving Jakob Pelletier a qualifying offer. His numbers have dipped since a breakout rookie season, but it’s a good sign that under the right system and coach — ahem, like we’ve seen Tocchet do before with the previously mentioned Suter — he could regain that 24-goal scoring touch.

With the Florida Panthers re-signing Sam Bennett a few days ago and Aaron Ekblad on Monday, their money is drying up quickly. Schmidt could be that veteran guy Brière told The Inquirer he’d like to bring in, akin to Marc Staal and Erik Johnson the last two seasons. The 33-year-old is coming off a solid season when he helped the Panthers win their second straight — and his first — Stanley Cup. He could bring some power-play punch, good puck movement, and leadership to the dressing room and be a relatively inexpensive, short-term option.