The Flyers on Wednesday extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, Cam York, Olle Lycksell and Ronnie Attard.
The club have made no offers to Kieffer Bellows, Wyatte Wylie and Evan Barratt, making them unrestricted free agents.
The deadline to submit eligible offers was June 30 at 5 p.m. ET. Offers expire July 15 at 5 p.m. ET and cannot be accepted until July 1 at noon ET, the start of NHL free agency. Essentially, eligible offers officially initiate the negotiation process.
As a rookie, Cates was one of three Flyers to play in all 82 games this season. The 24-year-old has emerged as the team’s best defensive forward, being compared to Sean Couturier by his teammates.
Frost, on a proven one-year contract, answered the bell on his first crack in a full NHL season. From the time the calendar expanded to 2023, the 24-year-old center led the Flyers in points with 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 45 games. He finished with 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games.
“Just on a personal level, I’m pretty proud of how I’ve handled things this year,” Frost said at his season-ending press conference in April. “Still, I think I could have been a lot better and I could have done a lot better. I think I still have huge room for improvement. I said it was the biggest year of my I think I’ll probably say that every year I play in this league.
After the Flyers made a questionable decision to drop York from the season-opening roster, the young defender was called up in December and never came back down. He played 19:39 minutes per game and had 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) in 54 games.
With the trade of Ivan Provorov, York, 22, should have more on their plate next season.
Lycksell, a 23-year-old striker, and Attard, a 24-year-old defender, will compete 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 waivers from the Islanders in October. The winger played 27 games for the Flyers and scored three goals in minutes.
Wylie, a 23-year-old defenseman and 2018 fifth-round pick, has played the past three seasons with the Phantoms.
Barratt, 24, was acquired from the Blackhawks in a minor league trade in October. The striker played mainly with Reading, the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate.
The Flyers still have the NHL rights of goaltender Ivan Fedotov. According to the ABC, his one-year entry-level contract has been canceled and will remain in effect next season.
The 26-year-old hasn’t played hockey this season due to required service in the Russian army. It’s uncertain whether Fedotov will play in his native country or in North America next season.