Flyers forced to overpay to add Christian Dvorak, Dan Vladar in free agency

New York Times

7 hours ago

VOORHEES, N.J. — The Philadelphia Flyers entered the first day of NHL free agency with two easily identifiable holes in their lineup. They wasted no time — or money — in filling either.
Less than an hour after the market opened at noon ET on Tuesday, the club had agreed to a one-year, $5.4 million contract for Christian Dvorak, 29, while goaltender Dan Vladar, 27, was inked to a two-year deal at $3.35 million annually. Vladar's contract includes an eight-team no-trade clause, per a team source.
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More veteran/minor league depth was added before the afternoon was over, including defensemen Noah Juulsen (one year, $900,000) and Dennis Gilbert (one year, $795,000); and center Lane Pederson (one year, two-way, $775,000).
But Dvorak and Vladar were the much more notable additions, considering how vital it was for the Flyers had to address both of those key positions. Their inflated salaries — both of which were well above most projections — speaks to how desperate the Flyers were to find immediate help, coupled with what was a weak market.
It was also strategic, according to general manager Daniel Briere, who would prefer maximum flexibility for the 2026 offseason, especially.
According to PuckPedia, the Flyers are now approximately $4.6 million under the salary-cap ceiling, a total that doesn't include the coming extension for Cam York, but does include the injured Ryan Ellis' $6.25 million.
'(The salaries) show 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. For us, term was way more important than anything else. But sometimes, you've got to give somewhere to entice those types of players to come in. We know that the salaries were very competitive. But where it helps us is, it keeps the flexibility, moving forward, in our favor.'
Dvorak spent his last four seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, posting 12 goals and 21 assists in 82 games in 2024-25, playing mostly on a line with Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher. They formed what was essentially Montreal's second line in the second half of the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs.
Prior to joining Montreal in 2021, Dvorak spent five seasons with the Arizona Coyotes — the final four of which were with new Flyers coach Rick Tocchet behind the bench. Dvorak's best season came under Tocchet in 2019-20, when he posted 18 goals and 38 points for the Coyotes, both career-highs.
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Dvorak can kill penalties and is strong in the faceoff circle, something that was important to the Flyers, particularly after they traded Ryan Poehling to the Ducks as part of the Trevor Zegras deal. While Zegras could also fill one one of the vacancies at center, he doesn't kill penalties and has been generally awful in the circle throughout his career.
Dvorak gives Tocchet more flexibility to deploy different line combinations at different times, depending on certain game situations.
'He's a player that is not going to hurt you. Defensively, you can rely (on him) and play him against any lines,' Briere said. 'That's the interesting part. Matchup-wise, it makes his life easier with (Sean Couturier) being that way, (Noah) Cates being that way, (Jett) Luchanko is known (for that). … You don't have to worry about matchups.'
Dvorak ran into some injury issues in Montreal. His season was cut short in 2022-23 when he tore his ACL, and after missing the first part of the 2023-24 season recovering, he suffered a torn pectoral muscle in January.
Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes on Tuesday said Dvorak 'had a real strong second half of the year' after overcoming his various ailments in recent seasons. 'I think what we saw of him in the second half is really what he is,' Hughes said. 'He just finally got back into a rhythm, back into real hockey shape.'
In goal, Briere acknowledged that he did explore the trade market, but because it was thin and so many teams were seeking help, 'the prices were way more than we were willing to pay.' Other free agents were seeking deals of at least three years, which was a non-starter for the Flyers. In fact, Briere would have preferred to sign a goalie to just a one-year deal, 'but we realized to get some help, we needed to step it up a little bit.'
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So enter Vladar, whose.895 career save percentage in 105 career games over five season isn't exactly eye-popping, but still figures to be a massive upgrade over the two backups the Flyers played regularly last season in Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov. It's safe to assume that Vladar and Samuel Ersson will form the tandem on opening night, while Fedotov presumably will be waived and assigned to AHL Lehigh Valley to serve as the emergency No. 3.
The Flyers finished last season with the league's worst save percentage (.872).
'Dan Vladar told us very early on that he saw an opportunity,' Briere said. 'He wanted to come in and compete in Philadelphia. We jumped on it. … There's no perfect goalie that was available out there, but we feel he gives us a chance to come in and compete with our group and push the envelope. He has a chance to become our No. 1 depending on how he plays, (and) how our other guys play.'
It's likely the Flyers' offseason is over, other than waiting to find out whether Russian prospect Maxim Shabanov will sign with them. There have been consistent, unverified reports out of Russia linking Shabanov to the Flyers, but nothing had been agreed to as of Tuesday afternoon. Briere said he had spoken with Shabanov's camp on Tuesday, and he's under the impression the Flyers are one of the teams the undersized but talented winger is considering, but they don't know which way he's leaning.
Regardless of what happens with Shabanov, though, Briere sees a more competitive team than the one that finished with the fourth-worst record in the NHL last season.
'We made the team a little better, and that's the goal,' he said. 'Keeps the flexibility for the future. But at the same time, brings some hope, and shows the fans and the players on the team that we're taking steps forward.'
Briere also confirmed a report from OnPattison.com that forward Tyson Foerster could miss the start of the season with an infection in his arm.
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Foerster suffered an injury playing for Team Canada at the World Championships in May that Briere and the club didn't think was serious. But, 'there was some infection that set in to the elbow, and then it just got worse,' he said. 'He saw our doctors and decided they had to go in and remove the infection.'
Briere indicated that the Flyers are still awaiting test results.
'At that point, we'll reevaluate and see if more needs to be done, or if we're lucky enough that's the end of it and he can move on and be ready for the start of the season. But there's no guarantee of that. We're sitting and waiting right now to see how serious it is or not.'
The club's second-leading goal scorer last season with 25, Foerster signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract extension on May 29.
(Photo of Christian Dvorak: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)