After going on a ten game winning streak earlier this year, the Flyers now find themselves mired in a similarly-sized slump, dropping nine of their last 11 games as they get set to host Vancouver tonight. That has had many wondering if GM Ron Hextall would be willing to make a trade to shake things up but he told Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post that it’s not something he plans to consider:
“I’m not gonna make a trade to send a message. I’m (only) going to make a trade to make us better. ”
“… We’re staying on course. I don’t care if we win every game for the rest of the year or lose every game. We’re staying on course. We set out a course two and a half years ago and we’re not deviating from what we planned.”
Historically, Hextall has done most of his trading in the offseason. Since taking over from Paul Holmgren in May of 2014, he has only made three in-season trades. Of those, only one was of particular significance, when he acquired Radko Gudas for a pending UFA in Braydon Coburn, who later re-signed in Tampa. The other two trades were to shed part of Vincent Lecavalier’s contract to the Kings last season and giving Kimmo Timonen one last shot at a Stanley Cup before he would have to retire due to blood clots, dealing him to Chicago back in 2015. In other words, history suggests he’s not about to make a core-changing reactionary move. That hasn’t stopped him from voicing his frustration with their recent play, however:
“It’s driving me nuts. I hope it is everybody else, too. In saying that, it’s a close league. Every night, you have to be on top of your game. You don’t play good, you don’t win. We’re not playing well enough right now. You can’t accept losing.”
With no trades on the horizon, head coach Dave Hakstol acknowledged that he will continue to tweak their lines in an effort to get some more players going. One of those moves is switching rookie Travis Konecny over to the right wing, a position he played for most of his junior career. He’s expected to play alongside Claude Giroux on the top line beginning tonight against the Canucks. The 19 year old got off to a quick start this year but has been much quieter of late, scoring just twice in his last 27 games.
HEXY HEI! There are some trades that will make us a better team! I have couple options for you right now and they are; 1 Trade for right shooting defense-man, option 1: Del Zotto and someone else as a bonus to Dallas for they”re right shooting defense-man Stephen Johns. Option 2: Ghost to Winnipeg for they”re right shooting defense-man Jacob Trouba. 2 Trade for real good left wingers, cause we have log jam on at right wing position, option 1: Brayden Schenn and someone else as a bonus to Minnesota for they”re big left wingers Nino Niederreiter and real strong and big Jordan Greenway. option 2: Nick Cousins to Minnesota for Jordan Greenway. So there you go Hexy give it some though!
Trade Gritty