Flyers Lock Up Grebenkin on Two-Year Extension

The Philadelphia Flyers signed forward Nikita Grebenkin to a two-year contract extension, the team announced Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. The deal is worth $2.2 million in total, carries an average annual value of $1.1 million and runs through the 2027-28 season.

Both years are one-way, which is the meaningful part of the raise. Grebenkin will be paid his NHL salary whether he is in Philadelphia or in the minors, a step up from the $875,000 he earned on his entry-level contract. The signing leaves the Flyers with just under $14 million in cap space and defenseman Hunter McDonald as the lone remaining restricted free agent.

Grebenkin arrived on March 7, 2025, in the trade that sent Scott Laughton to Toronto. Philadelphia also sent a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Maple Leafs and retained 50 percent of Laughton's salary. In return, the Flyers received Grebenkin and a Top 10 protected 2027 first-round pick.

The 23-year-old forward was playing for the Toronto Marlies when that trade was made. He had nine goals and 21 points in 39 AHL games in 2024-25 before the deal, then finished that season with Lehigh Valley of the AHL, adding three goals and four assists for seven points in 11 games. He did not appear in an NHL game for Philadelphia in 2024-25.

That came the following year. Grebenkin made the Flyers out of training camp in the fall of 2025 and recorded his first NHL point in his Philadelphia debut on Oct. 11, 2025, at Carolina. He finished his first NHL season with four goals and 10 assists for 14 points and 46 penalty minutes in 55 games, and he did not play a single AHL game along the way.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound winger built that role on energy and physical play, and teammates noticed. "He's a feisty guy... part of what we do," defenseman Cam York said.

The season ended early for him. Grebenkin was hurt March 21 and missed the final 13 games and the playoffs. General manager Danny Briere said the injury proved worse than the club first believed. "Initially, we thought it was going to be something short, and it just never got better," Briere said.

Grebenkin was progressing well in late July and is expected at training camp when it opens Sept. 17. A healthy start matters, because Philadelphia has a deep forward group and ice time will not be handed out. Drafted in the fifth round, 135th overall, by Toronto in 2022, Grebenkin now has two years of NHL money to prove he belongs in the lineup every night.