While the recent Chris Tanev trade carried a lighter return than some expected, don’t expect the Flyers to adjust their asking price for their players. Speaking with reporters on Friday including Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer, GM Daniel Briere indicated that the Calgary-Dallas swap won’t affect how they approach the next few days:
It doesn’t change our asking price. Yeah, it was maybe a little lighter than expected, but it doesn’t change our approach. If teams are not willing to meet our price, and what we feel is fair, you know, we’re a playoff team. We get to keep them and we get to make a run. That’s the way I see it.
Briere also confirmed that the team is still in discussions with the agents for their pending UFAs to assess what it would cost to keep them. While not naming names, defensemen Sean Walker and Nick Seeler are almost certainly the ones he’s referring to as several teams are showing interest in both blueliners. That said, if a trade doesn’t happen, Briere cautioned that it doesn’t necessarily mean that an extension will happen either.
More from Philadelphia and Spiegel’s piece:
- Goaltending is a bit of a question mark right now behind Samuel Ersson. With Carter Hart out of the picture and Calvin Petersen’s struggles, Felix Sandstrom is now the backup, a role he hasn’t had much success in previously. Briere acknowledged that they’re looking at all options. Speculatively, with the team having a little over $6.2MM of cap room on deadline day per CapFriendly, the Flyers could keep an eye on the rental market for netminders to see if there’s a low-cost upgrade available.
- On the injury front, Briere is hopeful that winger Travis Konecny will be able to return soon from the upper-body injury that has caused him to miss four straight games. Monday versus St. Louis hasn’t been ruled out yet but Thursday against Florida might be more realistic. Konecny has a 10-point lead on Joel Farabee for the team lead in scoring with 27 goals and 27 assists in 57 games.
- Meanwhile, on the back end, Jamie Drysdale is getting some strength back in his shoulder after his recent injury but the team does not yet have a timeline for his return although they’re hopeful he’ll be back at some point this season. Veteran Rasmus Ristolainen, who has missed the last three weeks with an upper-body injury of his own, is in the same situation timeline-wise.
Flyers outlook: Flyera Season