An Important Detail as Zegras, Drysdale File for Arbitration

After all of Friday’s fireworks, the waiting game is underway and primarily all that is going on in the world of the Philadelphia Flyers.

But on Sunday, the deadline for restricted free agents to file for salary arbitration, two familiar names showed up on the list: Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale.

Zegras and Drysdale are the two most notable RFAs remaining for the Flyers, with both expected to get long-term deals. So filing for arbitration sounds like trouble, right?

Not necessarily the case. It’s very common for these negotiations to never reach the arbitration date and be worked out well before then. There is belief that Drysdale is closing in on a deal and that Zegras’ deal will come together after a resolution with Dylan Larkin’s trade request out of Detroit. Zegras and Larkin share the same agent.

But there’s another important detail about these filings. By filing for arbitration, Zegras and Drysdale are now no longer eligible for offer sheets.

This is notable because the Flyers just tendered an offer sheet to Leo Carlsson and are awaiting the week-long period for Anaheim to match. There was some speculation that after reaching agreement with Carlsson on a deal that would make him the highest-paid player by AAV in NHL history that other teams would target the Flyers’ RFAs for offer sheets.

So it is now essentially a guarantee that Zegras and Drysdale will remain Flyers, regardless of the outcome of Carlsson’s offer sheet. Of course, there’s plenty of interest in how the cap would work with new contracts needed for Zegras and Drysdale and a pending $18 million going to Carlsson. That’s a situation for after the seven-day match period expires, since the Flyers will have more than enough cap space if Anaheim matches.

Anaheim currently has $9.97 million in cap space assuming they match the $18 million AAV for Carlsson. On Sunday, Anaheim dodged another pending offer sheet for defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, who signed a five-year deal with a $7.2 million AAV. Former Flyers first-round pick Cutter Gauthier is still a pending RFA, though not eligible for an offer sheet. Gauthier just completed a 41-goal season and is also due for a big pay day.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.