Flyers make Jamie Drysdale the highest-paid defenseman on the team with four-year, $26 million contract

After bringing back Trevor Zegras on Wednesday, the Flyers are bringing back both of their prized restricted free agents.

The team announced Friday afternoon that it agreed to terms with defenseman Jamie Drysdale on a four-year deal with an average annual value of $6.5 million. The contract is worth $26 million in total. Drysdale has a limited no-trade clause in years three and four of the contract.

Drysdale now becomes the Flyers’ highest-paid defenseman. He also becomes the fourth player Daniel Briere has extended since July 1. The others are Zegras, Tyson Forester, and Dan Vladar.

Drysdale completed his second full season with the Flyers after being sent over from the Anaheim Ducks back in 2024 for Cutter Gauthier. Drysdale had filed for salary arbitration, which was scheduled for the 20th of July. But Danny Briere and company worked out a new deal, keeping him here for the next four years.

“We’re excited to have Jamie remain a key part of our organization for years to come,” said Briere. “Since we acquired him, Jamie has worked extremely hard and taken big steps in his development and has established himself as a reliable piece on our back end with the ability to impact the game in all situations. We believe his best hockey is still ahead of him, and he’s going to play an important role in strengthening our blue line as we continue to build.”

Drysdale is coming off his sixth season in the NHL, in which he was paired with Cam York on the second defensive pair. He set a career high in minutes per game at 21:33 and also set career highs in goals and winning goals, with 8.

“I think the biggest step was just confidence level,” Drysdale said in his end-of-season press conference. “I think just coming to the rink and believing I was a good player and could make an impact, that was probably the biggest shift for me. I guess that kind of carries all over the ice.”

Three of those goals were winners, and he assisted 24 times to tie his single-season career-high point total of 32, which was second best among Flyers defensemen. He also led Flyers defensemen in power play time with 2:19, and had one goal and eight assists on the man advantage.

Drysdale also played in the first postseason of his career in the 25-26 season with Philadelphia. He scored twice and assisted twice in all ten games the Flyers played against both the Penguins and Hurricanes. 

After the regular season concluded, Drysdale was awarded the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy, as his teammates voted him as the most improved player.

The only remaining restricted free agents who need contracts for the Flyers are Nikita Grebenkin and Hunter McDonald.

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