Ryan Johansen Outcome Affirms Flyers' Cap Situation for 2025-26

With the arbitration in the Ryan Johansen grievance against the Philadelphia Flyers all but officially siding with the team in proceedings, the Flyers have received clarity on their salary cap situation for the 2025-26 season.

Multiple reports indicate that Johansen, 33, will not be owed a penny moving forward, which is the expected outcome after the reported arbitration ruling.

Johansen's contract would have expired on July 1 anyway, but the Flyers already terminated it last August, leading to this grievance and successful legal battle.

So, with that in mind, the Flyers have avoided any potential cap charges in 2025-26 or beyond by winning the arbitration. Ditto for the Nashville Predators, who were already retaining half of Johansen's salary after trading him to the Colorado Avalanche to begin with.

Simply put: this saga is done and dusted, for good.

With that all said, the Flyers officially have $370k in cap space with 22 players on their NHL roster, excluding the injured Tyson Foerster and Ryan Ellis and including Rasmus Ristolainen, per PuckPedia.

Further breathing room will be created with some roster cuts on defense, with newcomers Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert set to battle for one roster spot.

In goal, Ivan Fedotov will likely be a cap casualty and find himself assigned to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms in short order.

The cap relief for one of the defensemen and Fedotov will be fleeting at best, so the Johansen news benefits the Flyers in that they now can definitely plan for various scenarios to start the upcoming season.

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What's next for the Flyers and their 2025-26 roster largely depends on the outcome of training camp and which players, if any, stand out.

Philadelphia always had a strong case in the Johansen grievance, but they can rest easy now and begin scheming for the future.