The Flyers on Wednesday extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Cam York, Olle Lycksell and Ronnie Attard.
The club did not issue offers to Kieffer Bellows, Wyatte Wylie and Evan Barratt, making them unrestricted free agents.
The deadline to submit qualifying offers was June 30 at 5 p.m. ET. The offers expire July 15 at 5 p.m. ET and can't be accepted until July 1 at noon ET, the start of NHL free agency. Essentially, qualifying offers officially kick off the negotiation process.
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As a rookie, Cates was one of three Flyers to play in all 82 games this season. The 24-year-old blossomed into the team’s best defensive forward, drawing comparisons to Sean Couturier by his teammates.
Frost, on a prove-it one-year deal, answered the bell in his first crack at a full NHL season. From when the calendar turned to 2023, the 24-year-old center led the Flyers in scoring with 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) over 45 games. He finished with 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games.
“Just on a personal level, I’m pretty proud of the way I handled things this year,” Frost said at his end-of-the-season press conference in April. “Still, I think I could have been a lot better and could have done a lot of things better. I think I still have a tremendous amount of room for improvement. I did say it was the biggest year of my life. I think I’m probably going to say that every year that I play in this league.”
After the Flyers made a debatable decision keeping York off of the season-opening roster, the young defenseman was called up in December and never went back down. He played 19:39 minutes per game and had 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) over 54 games.
NHL
With the Ivan Provorov trade, the 22-year-old York should have more on his plate next season.
Lycksell, a 23-year-old forward, and Attard, a 24-year-old defenseman, will vie for depth roles next season. This season, they each had looks with the big club and were key pieces for AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley, which made the playoffs.
Bellows, 25, was claimed off of waivers from the Islanders in October. The winger played 27 games for the Flyers and scored three goals in limited minutes.
Wylie, a 23-year-old defenseman and 2018 fifth-round draft pick, played the last three seasons with the Phantoms.
Barratt, 24, was acquired from the Blackhawks in a minor-league trade during October. The forward played mostly with the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate Reading.
The Flyers still have the NHL rights of goalie Ivan Fedotov. Pursuant to the CBA, his one-year entry-level contract was tolled and will remain in effect for next season.
The 26-year-old did not play hockey this season because of required service to the Russian military. It’s uncertain if Fedotov will play in his native country or North America next season.