With the All-Star break in the rearview, the trade deadline looms large and is now just two weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Philadelphia Flyers.
With an eye on rebuilding, the Flyers have had a surprisingly productive season. Currently sitting in third-place in the Metropolitan Division, Philadelphia has a solid five-point lead for their position, and are headed for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. However, General Manager Daniel Briere has been adamant that the Flyers are not looking to mortgage their future, and may even end up selling a few pieces off by the deadline.
Record
30-21-7, 3rd in the Metropolitan
Deadline Status
Standing Pat/Conservative Seller
Deadline Cap Space
$8.99MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 48/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2024: PHI 1st, FLA 1st*, PHI 2nd, CBJ 2nd**, PHI 3rd, PHI 4th, LA 5th, PHI 6th, STL, 6th, PHI 7th
2025: PHI 1st, PHI 2nd, ANA 2nd, PHI 3rd, PHI 4th, PHI 5th, CAR 5th, PHI 6th, PHI 7th
*-If Florida’s first-round pick falls within the top 10 of the 2024 NHL Draft, Philadelphia will receive Florida’s first-round pick in 2025 as apart of the Claude Giroux trade.
**-Columbus will have until the end of the first-round of the 2024 NHL Draft to decide if they will send Philadelphia their 2024 second-round pick or their 2025 second-round pick as apart of the Ivan Provorov trade.
Trade Chips
As highlighted today, Philadelphia’s most likely trade chips will be coming out of their defensive core. Defensemen Sean Walker and Nick Seeler are generating the most attention on the market, with the team reportedly listening to offers on veteran center Scott Laughton as well. 
Having already engaged with Seeler’s camp about a potential contract extension, it certainly appears that Walker will end up being the odd-man out for the Flyers. Acquired this past offseason in the deal that sent Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Walker has handled over 19 minutes a night on average over 57 games, scoring three goals and 20 points in the process. Given that they could retain 50% of Walker’s salary in any deal, Philadelphia could look to add even more draft capital for the next two seasons.
The market for Laughton will be a little bit more difficult to ascertain, as he is still signed for two years and $6MM beyond this season. Any team acquiring Laughton will certainly be looking to get more physical ahead of the playoffs with that being the part of his game. Producing a relatively average faceoff rate and defensive metrics, Laughton is good to score between 30-40 points a year, depending on how he would be utilized by the acquiring team.
Team Needs
1) Acquire More Lottery Tickets – Unlike many teams across the league, the Flyers have the opportunity to take their roster in a lot of different directions. Already having a cemented core of Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, and Travis Sanheim, the team has the opportunity to add supplementary players in a lot of different ways. Already making a major move along these lines with the acquisition of Jamie Drysdale earlier in the season; a deal such as this should be the strategy for Philadelphia move forward as their deadline approach. While desiring to hold on to their draft capital, the Flyers could look to grab Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers or Arthur Kaliyev from the Los Angeles Kings in return for Walker or Laughton by March 8th.
2) Map-Out Goaltending – Since Carter Hart was granted an indefinite leave of absence on January 23rd due to his inclusion in the 2018 Team Canada sexual assault investigation, the Flyers goaltending has taken a different trajectory alltogether. In the first 47 games of the year, Philadelphia managed a 2.83 GAA and a .901 SV% as a team, helping them stockpile points and make their rise in the standings. Since Hart’s leave, the team has struggled considerably, producing a 3.30 GAA and a .866 SV%. Felix Sandstrom has not inspired much hope this season in Lehigh Valley as he’s only managed an .882 SV% through 20 games, and Ivan Fedotov’s age will likely cut him out as the future of the franchise in net. While many contending teams are looking to improve their situations in the crease, Philadelphia may have to wait until the summer to figure out their plan in goal. Nevertheless, with Hart’s status up in the air moving forward, their long-term vision in net should certainly be on their radar.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Flyers don’t need to move out much salary to be able to put Jusse Saros on the roster. However much Briere might not want to trade picks, he’s got them to spare to outbid most teams for him, and that would be a very solid pickup.
Or a defenseman and a pick to the Bruins for Ullmark.
I think the first part is right, but I think the Flyers are good goaltending wise. They knew for a while Hart was possibly going to be facing charges. When they acquired Cal Petersen it’s been since reported they talked to his agent and let him know playing time would be available.
Also, look at before the season even writers here were questioning if Ersson would be goalie 3 when the end of last year the FO and coaching staff was very high on him. Recently, Jones and Briere talked about their Russian goalie talent even outside of Fedotov and they have invested a lot of draft capital in goalie including last draft. Goalie is probably the position with some of the most organizational depth.
Sure about that? Petersen is, frankly, stinking out the joint. Ersson isn’t playing *badly*, but his save percentage is 33rd in the league among goalies with at least twenty starts — his low GAA is more the Flyers’ defensive play than his doing.
I wish I could remember where I read it, but Ersson is weird in that he has a sub 2 GAA in his wins and a 3+ GAA in loses. He is a rookie though and is doing as well as you can expect. Probably a top 10 rookie regardless of position this year. As for Petersen I think they promised he would get a chance this year. I think long term the Flyers are happy with Ersson and all the pipeline depth.
Oh, sure, Ersson may well be a keeper. But we all know what a crapshoot most goalies are. How many people figured that Devon Levi would be the stopper in Buffalo right now?
With the Flyers having decent cap space they might decide to take on some short term bad contracts in exchange for draft picks from teams looking to create cap space for a playoff run this season.