Flyers add another center in offseason by agreeing to terms with Dvorak originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Flyers opened Day 1 of NHL free agency Tuesday by agreeing to terms with Christian Dvorak on a one-year, $5.4 million contract.

The 29-year-old center is coming off a season in which he played all 82 games for the Canadiens, putting up 12 goals and 21 assists.

A little over a week ago, the Flyers started their addition down the middle by trading for 24-year-old Trevor Zegras.

Center has been a position of need for the Flyers. Dvorak gives the Flyers a solid bottom-six boost after they lost Ryan Poehling in the Zegras trade.

Dvorak, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, won 55.2 percent of his faceoffs over four seasons with Montreal. Last season, he started in the defensive zone a career-high 69 percent of the time, so he’s a center who can be trusted in tough spots.

In 2019-20, playing under Rick Tocchet with the Coyotes, Dvorak put up career highs in goals (18) and points (38). In the playoffs last season with the Canadiens, he had a pair of goals over five games.

The Flyers have to like the one-year commitment to Dvorak. It shouldn’t block anyone and it gives the Flyers a good look at if Dvorak will be a fit.

Right now, the Flyers’ competition at center includes Dvorak, Zegras, Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, Jett Luchanko, Rodrigo Abols and Karsen Dorwart.

With the trade of Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, Tony DeAngelo, Andrei Kuzmenko, Cal Petersen and Jakob Pelletier coming off the books and the NHL salary cap rising, the Flyers had some room to spend this offseason.

They opened free agency with $15.14 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.com. They ended up adding Dvorak, goaltender Dan Vladar and defensemen Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert. They still need to re-sign restricted free agent defenseman Cam York.

“There’s a little bit of a window to add from the outside,” general manager Danny Briere said about free agency in April. “We’re not going to be able to fix every problem, but it would be nice to be able to, if the situation is right, add a player or two to come in and help on that front. That also should help taking a step forward.”

The Flyers have not changed their rebuilding plans, but they do need and want to get better this season. They hit “rock bottom” last season and the 2025-26 campaign will be Year 3 under Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones.

The club also added a depth center by agreeing to terms with Lane Pederson on a one-year, two-way, $775,00 contract. The 27-year-old is projected to open this season with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.

(More coming…)

Oilers trade left wing Viktor Arvidsson to Bruins for 2027 draft pick originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins have made a trade with the Edmonton Oilers shortly before the NHL free agent market opens Tuesday.

The Oilers are sending forward Viktor Arvidsson to the Bruins in exchange for a 2027 fifth-round draft pick, the teams announced. Arvidsson waived his no-trade clause to allow the deal to go through, per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

Arvidsson is entering the final season of a two-year, $8 million contract ($4 million salary cap hit). The Bruins will have about $8.7 million in cap space after this trade.

The 32-year-old left wing provides some much-needed scoring depth to Boston’s lineup.

He had a bit of a down 2024-25 season with the Oilers, scoring 15 goals with 12 assists in 67 games. He scored 26 goals for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2022-23 campaign. He has scored 20-plus goals five times in his career.

Viktor Arvidsson, acquired by BOS, is a rushing scoring winger who generates basically all his offence in transition. #NHLBruinspic.twitter.com/KAwOsqdVgo

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 1, 2025

Arviddson can be a dangerous player off the rush and isn’t afraid to fire pucks on net — two attributes the Bruins need to add.

There were 380 forwards last season who logged at least 500 even-strength minutes, per Natual Stat Trick, and Viktor Arvidsson ranked 19th with 9.56 shots per 60 minutes. He’s not afraid to fire the puck on net.

Arvidsson isn’t going to be a huge difference-maker for the Bruins, but he’s a solid buy-low addition.

New Bruins head coach Marco Sturm was an assistant during Arvidsson’s first season with the Kings in 2021-22, so he already has some familiarity with the Swedish forward.

The Philadelphia Flyers picked a bad time to need a goalie from the NHL free agent market.

Of the 12 unrestricted free agent goalies, two had a save percentage of .900 or higher, and none of the 12 recorded more than 16 wins this season.

The top option in free agency, Jake Allen, is still playing at a high level and will draw attention from Stanley Cup contenders, including his own team, the New Jersey Devils. The former Stanley Cup champion will receive offers more suitable from elsewhere around the NHL.

So what does that leave the Flyers with? An old friend and a bunch of redemption stories.

Leading the pack, and perhaps the most likely of the bunch if for no reason other than a feel-good story to carry us through what could very well be another long year, is Alex Lyon, who spent five years with the Flyers organization after going undrafted out of the USHL.

Lyon, 32, fell apart after a strong start to his pro career, but re-emerged with the Florida Panthers two seasons ago.

The former Flyers goalie has spent the last two seasons - his first and only two as a full-time NHLer - with the Detroit Red Wings, going 35-27-6 in 74 games to the tune of a 2.96 GAA, a .901 save percentage, and three shutouts.

Spectacular numbers? Certainly not, but the Flyers can do (and have done) worse at the position. Lyon is a veteran and has been through the grind of the AHL, which should help set a positive example for the younger goalies in the organization, like Aleksei Kolosov and Carson Bjarnason.

Among 45 goalies who played 30 or more games this season, Lyon's 2.4 goals saved above expected ranked 26th in the NHL, per MoneyPuck.

Flyers starter Sam Ersson ranked 45th out of 45 with -19.9.

Another name to watch - and there aren't many - is Ottawa Senators netminder Anton Forsberg.

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The 32-year-old Swede has been with Ottawa since 2020-21 and has generally never played for great teams at the NHL level, aside from a three-game stint with Carolina in 2019-20.

Despite that, Forsberg owns a respectable .904 career save percentage. In Ottawa, Forsberg was 62-56-10 in 142 games, posting a 2.99 GAA, a .905 save percentage, and eight shutouts.

Again, like Lyon, not spectacular, but achieves the goal the Flyers are setting out for this summer.

It should be noted that Forsberg is coming off a three-year contract worth $2.75 million a year and could easily bargain for the same on this market.

That could prove to be a little rich for the Flyers' tastes, especially knowing that Lyon was pulling in a more modest $900k for his services.

In terms of goals saved above expected this season, Forsberg finished right behind Lyon, placing 27th with 2.2 goals saved above expected.

One last free agent goalie the Flyers should be considering is none other than former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov, who has seen his fair share of ups and downs after once being considered one of the most exciting goalie prospects in the world.

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The 28-year-old has posted .890 and .891 save percentages in consecutive seasons, but also has two seasons under his belt with save percentages of .913 or higher.

If and when he leaves the Vegas Golden Knights, Samsonov will be on his third team in three years, so a one-year prove-it deal is in the cards if the Flyers make an offer.

By most metrics recorded by MoneyPuck, Samsonov performed about how he was expected to this season, even despite his underwhelming raw stats.

For instance, MoneyPuck has him at 0.6 goals saved above expected for the year, a save percentage 0.0004% above expected, and a GAA 0.02 above expected.

Basically, Samsonov was not actively crushing his team's chances of winning games, but also not providing any surplus value beyond that.

Interestingly, Samsonov's 0.825 high-danger save percentage was 0.135 above expected, which is considerable.

The talent has always been there for the Russian, but consistency has not. If the Flyers feel they can get any value out of a short-term stay, Samsonov is worth a dart throw in free agency this year.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Steven Lorentz is staying at home.

The 29-year-old forward was trekking the back nine of a golf course on Monday afternoon when he agreed to a three-year, $4.05 million contract with an annual average value of $1.35 million. Lorentz was creeping towards the open market, with less than 24 hours until free agency, though he knew he'd always remain in Toronto.

"There was no doubt in my mind that I'd be back in Toronto again. It definitely has been a process, and maybe it went a little bit longer than I'd hoped, but that's part of being unrestricted," Lorentz said Monday evening.

"In my heart, I knew I wanted to come back. I knew that I wanted to stay, I didn't want to go anywhere else, and I'm just so proud and happy to be able to get it done, and I'm already looking forward to next year."

Lorentz's story isn't different from many who grew up as Maple Leafs fans in the Greater Toronto Area, except for one aspect: he now plays for them. As a child, Lorentz watched Toronto push toward a Stanley Cup, hoping that they'd get across the finish line every year.

They won two rounds, in 1999 and 2002, but that's the closest they ever got.

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After basking in being a Maple Leaf this past season, Lorentz will now have three more years to go into battle with Toronto in hopes of bringing the historic trophy back home.

"Honestly, that's what I wanted more than anything, was just the longevity. I would love to play my whole career here in Toronto. Last year was even better; it exceeded expectations," he said.

"Just being able to wear the Leaf with pride and being able to play at home, with friends and family, and trying to bring a cup to a city that's been longing for it for so long, and it deserves it...

"We still have that goal that we want to be the hardest-working team. We want to be the best team. We want to be the team that comes out on top in June. It was kind of a no-brainer, working out the contract details and stuff like that."

Report: Maple Leafs Lose Out On Brad Marchand Who Signing Six-Year Extension With PanthersBrad Marchand reportedly won't be hitting NHL free agency after all.

Bursting onto the scene with his puppy-like personality at training camp last September, Lorentz and the Maple Leafs agreed on a one-year, $775,000 contract after the preseason. He had just won a Stanley Cup a couple of months earlier with the Florida Panthers and wanted to return home so that he could do the same here.

"I've tried (to imagine winning the Stanley Cup in Toronto)," Lorentz said with a grin last September. "This is such a hockey city, and it's no secret it would just be mayhem if the Leafs were ever to do it."

Ultimately, after a 19-point season, which tied a career high, plus two assists in the playoffs, Toronto was ousted in the second round by the very same team that he won with the year prior. The year didn't finish how he and many others would've liked it to, but what it means to be a Maple Leaf isn't lost on Lorentz.

"I don't think I'll ever forget skating out for Game 1 of playoffs," he grinned.

"I remember looking at [Scott Laughton] on the bench, just a couple of local boys, and we're like, holy you know what, this is sick. I still remember the first 10 minutes and we came out flying. That's something I don't think I'll ever forget, so that's one that sticks out, but there was so many (memories).

"Little things on the ice, off the ice, in the community, at practice, it was a blur, but I don't think there was a bad day, minus the day we lost out. It was just so disappointing, but it was such a fun year, and like I said, it's such a great group there, and I wouldn't really want to go to war with anybody else."

Maple Leafs Trade for Matias Maccelli: Why Toronto Acquired Winger From Utah MammothThe Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired Matias Maccelli from the Utah Mammoth in exchange for a conditional third-round draft pick in 2027, which will convert to a second-round draft pick in 2029 if Maccelli record at least 51 points in the 2025-26 NHL season.

Lorentz is already feet-first into his offseason work, skating with several players from the Kitchener-Waterloo area. There's one thing, though, left to tick off his summer bucket list: getting married to his fiancée, Erin. 

And after that, it's back to Maple Leafs land—with a three-year extension in his hands—to begin the quest of bringing hockey's ultimate prize back to Toronto for the first time since 1967.

"My head's kind of still buzzing right now," he smiled.

"It's been a crazy couple of weeks in just trying to get this thing done, but more than anything, I'm just excited, and like I said, it's such a great group that, it didn't take a lot of decision-making. I knew my heart was here."

(Top photo of Lorentz: Nick Turchiaro / Imagn Images)