By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Flyers biggest moves of free agency were seemingly known long before the 12 noon opening of the signing period.
On Thursday night, the Flyers finalized a deal to re-sign Jordan Weal. By Friday afternoon, it was confirmed that Brian Elliott would officially become a Flyer on Saturday. And aside from some depth signings, that was it.
GM Ron Hextall officially put a wrap on the free agency period as he addressed the media on Sunday afternoon, looking at the Elliott signing, the goalie situation and where the Flyers stand cap-wise following free agency.
“I don’t suspect we’ll bring in anybody else,” Hextall said. “You certainly have to keep an eye and ear out for something that’s out there that might make you a better team. We’ve got other restrictions that you can’t just do whatever you want. There is a salary cap, there is a roster limitation. And again, as I stated a few days ago, we don’t want to box young players out.”
Hextall’s only free agent signing was adding Elliott. Hextall said he had a good amount of familiarity with Elliott from his time as assistant GM of the Kings and the frequency that Los Angeles faced St. Louis when Elliott was playing for the Blues.
After doing some additional homework on Elliott, he proved to be the best option to Hextall.
“He’s a real good team guy, which is important. His work ethic is at a high level. He competes at a high level. Teammates want to play for him,” Hextall said. “There’s a lot of things when you look at goalies that you look for and Brian checked a lot of the boxes off.
“He’s played in a tandem. He’s played very well in a structured system. So a lot of things that we felt were important with the guy that we signed, Brian fit the criteria.”
With Elliott joining Michal Neuvirth, it sets up goaltenders Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon to split time in net at Lehigh Valley again. There was a chance that Stolarz could have slotted in as Neuvirth’s backup, but ultimately, Hextall admitted he wasn’t comfortable with that option.
“I think Anthony Stolarz has improved every year in the American League. If the situation was different here, if we had Martin Brodeur here, that might have been a consideration,” Hextall said. “But as I mentioned with Neuvy’s track record of injuries, we just didn’t feel comfortable with bringing Stolie in at this time.
“I think the guy we all forget about is Alex Lyon. He’s done a pretty good job down there too. Those two guys will go back down there and battle it out and we’ll see where it goes. They’re two very good young goalies.”
So for the Flyers, the attention shifts to Development Camp for a host of the prospects and then the long wait over the remaining weeks of the summer until training camp. For Hextall, the Flyers are in the right situation.
Hextall had said he did not want to sign any players who were veterans that could take a spot away from a prospect that was ready for the NHL. With the way the Flyers handled free agency, Hextall is still in a position to do that, and expects to fill some roster spots with young prospects next season.
“Three years ago, we set a course and we’re staying with that course,” Hextall said. “Part of that course is draft and develop. Part of drafting and developing is making your players earn it but not boxing them out with older veterans. We feel like there’s opportunity on our hockey club for young guys to step up and quite frankly we expect them to.”
