Flyers Elect to File For Arbitration With Defenseman Travis Sanheim

The Philadelphia Flyers have dramatically revamped their blueline this offseason. This week, the work continued; the club elected to file for arbitration with defenseman Travis Sanheim.

On Thursday, the NHLPA announced the schedule for this month’s arbitration hearings. Sanheim is scheduled for the last day, August 26, along with Andrew Copp of the Winnipeg Jets and Nikita Zadorov of the Calgary Flames.

In most cases, teams and players settle on terms of a new contract before their hearing. In the 2020 amendment to the collective bargaining agreement, the deadline for a settlement is now the beginning of the hearing. Previously, they could also settle after the hearing, any time before the announcement of the arbitrator’s award.

Sanheim, 25, was selected 17th overall by the Flyers in 2014. A left-shot defenseman who weighs in at 6’3″ and 181 pounds, the Manitoba native made the jump from the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms near the end of the 2016-17 season. After a year-and-a-bit in the minors, Sanheim made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2017.

Tale Of The Tape

Over his four seasons with the Flyers, Sanheim has settled into a primarily defensive role. He has seen his average ice time steadily increase, to a career-high of 21:53 per game last season. Arguably his most impactful year was the tumultuous 2018-19 campaign that saw GM Ron Hextall and head coach Dave Hakstol both dismissed. Sanheim finished second in scoring among Flyers’ defensemen that year. He had nine goals and 35 points and also blocked 133 shots.

After his entry-level contract expired during the 2019 offseason, Sanheim signed a two-year bridge deal with a cap hit of $3.25 million per year. That’s the value of the qualifying offer the Flyers extended last week in order to retain his rights.

Like most of the team, Sanheim struggled in 2020-21. He appeared in 55 games, missing only one night during the team’s February Covid outbreak. But he finished the season with just three goals and 15 points, along with a grim shooting percentage of 3%. Sanheim’s minus-22 rating was also second-worst on the team, ranking him among now-departed Nolan Patrick (minus-30), Jakub Voracek (minus-12), and Philippe Myers (minus-10).

Those disappointing recent numbers could hurt Sanheim’s arbitration case, which may be why he didn’t elect to file himself. In all likelihood, the Flyers are using the arbitration tool to create some urgency to reach a settlement with Sanheim’s agent, Craig Oster of Newport Sports.

Who Are Sanheim’s Comparables?

CapFriendly has an excellent ‘Custom Comparable’ tool that lets fans assess where Sanheim’s new contract might come in. If you plug in his personal data, statistics, and his qualifying offer of $3.25 million, the closest comparable that comes up is Nikita Zadorov’s contracts in both 2020 and 2019.

Zadorov is a year older than Sanheim, and a much more physical player. But his draft status is nearly identical, 16th overall in 2013. And he made the NHL at a younger age.

When Zadorov played out his entry-level contract at the end of the 2016-17 season, he signed a two-year bridge deal with a cap hit of $2.15 million per year. He got a raise to $3.2 million during the 2019 offseason. Then, after being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks as part of the Brandon Saad deal in October of 2020, Zadorov re-upped on another one-year deal for the same amount, $3.2 million.

Last week, Zadorov got traded again. The Blackhawks freed up cap space for Seth Jones by moving him to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a third-round draft pick. Now one year away from unrestricted free agency, Zadorov has also filed for arbitration.

Despite the recent spike in contracts at the top end of the market for defenseman, Zadorov’s numbers don’t suggest that his bargaining position is especially strong. That’s not the kind of rising tide that would help Sanheim earn a significant increase on his new deal.

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Secondary Comparables

Most of the other close comparables on CapFriendly’s list signed their deals before the Covid pause, when the marketplace looked quite different. Key signings from 2021 so far are younger and more inexperienced. The Rangers’ Ryan Lindgren, age 23, signed a three-year deal with a cap hit of $3 million in early July. The Predators’ Dante Fabbro, also 23, signed a two-year deal with a cap hit of $2.4 million on Thursday, after he also filed for arbitration.

Sanheim is currently two years away from unrestricted free agency. Arbitration awards can only be one or two years. But if the Flyers negotiate a deal, they have the option of agreeing to a longer term. Usually, that pushes the cap hit up. The club ‘buys’ some of the player’s unrestricted free-agency years, when their bargaining power is at its highest.

After all of Chuck Fletcher’s wheeling and dealing, the Flyers’ top four next season is expected to feature Ivan Provorov skating with new acquisition Ryan Ellis on the club’s top pair. The reliable Sanheim is pegged to partner with aggressive Rasmus Ristolainen on the second pairing.

Per CapFriendly, the Flyers currently have about $8 million in available cap space to bring Sanheim and RFA goaltender Carter Hart under contract. Restricted free agent forward Connor Bunnaman, listed by CapFriendly as a non-roster player, also needs a new deal.

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