The Flyers need to take a home run swing and be creative in their approach to rebuilding. my suggestion:
approach Carolina and offer Ristolainen for a cap dump,
Kkaotniemi. neither side will retain any salaries. Carolina dumps 28M in salaries plus 6 years of a contract and picks up $15M and 3 years of his contract for a net savings of $13M in salaries and 3 contract years.
Carolina, which could lose 3 UFA defensemen, picks up an experienced blueliner. The Hurricanes are a playoff team and at the trade deadline, those teams are always looking for a physical right-handed. Carolina gets their need early.
This is a win-win for them.
The Flyers get a young talented player in Kkaotniemi. there are no cap consequences in the first two years since his salary match with Ristolainen. if Jasper turns out to be a top-six player, the Flyers have him on a below-average contract. if he turns out to be a bust after 2 years, the Flyers can buy him out. Because of his age, the buyout is only 33% or $6.8 M, a similar amount to Risto's contract in his final year. (I understand there are some accounting differences on the buy out)
this is an ideal situation for the Flyers
they lose the Risto contract.
they take a homerun swing on a young talented player.
if they are wrong, they can correct the situation with no complication so their salary cap