The Philadelphia Flyers have let go of Jakob Pelletier — one of their more effective late-season performers — for no clear reason.
Pelletier, 24, just signed a three-year, \$2.33 million contract (at the league minimum \$775K AAV) with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That kind of deal is rare for a player like him — a former first-round pick who’s still looking to stick in the NHL. The Flyers could’ve kept him easily by issuing a \$840K qualifying offer, but they didn’t. As a result, they lost his signing rights, and Tampa Bay quickly snatched him up early on Day 2 of free agency. That swift move suggests other teams saw value in Pelletier, even if Philly didn’t.
Letting him walk for nothing doesn’t reflect well on the Flyers — especially after Maxim Shabanov chose the Islanders over them, and with Tyson Foerster potentially sidelined to start the season due to injury.
Pelletier may only be 5-foot-11 and recorded just eight points in 25 games, but his impact went far beyond the box score. After joining the Flyers, he played 16 games under head coach John Tortorella and posted a 52.73% scoring chance share — bettered only by a handful of teammates. He led all forwards in high-danger scoring chance percentage at 58.33%.
Even after Tortorella’s firing, Pelletier still made his ice time count. In the final nine games of the season, he had the highest scoring chance percentage among regulars (55.56%) and was the only forward with a positive high-danger scoring differential.
Despite this, the Flyers let him go — a questionable decision given how effective he was and how thin the roster now looks. With Foerster hurt and Shabanov out of the picture, the Flyers will have to rely on untested young players like Alex Bump, Porter Martone, and Nikita Grebenkin.
Their moves in free agency — signing Christian Dvorak and Dan Vladar — have only further constrained their flexibility. Now they’re limited in what they can offer RFA defenseman Cam York, in their ability to make injury replacements, and in adding help on the wing, all while trying to avoid dipping into LTIR.
Whether this goes down as a simple misstep or a bigger mistake will depend on what the Flyers do next.
