The Philadelphia Flyers announced that they’ve traded defenseman Dennis Gilbert to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for defenseman Max Guenette. Philadelphia also announced that they’ve signed Guenette, who was an RFA, to a one-year, two-way deal.
It becomes the second trade in as many seasons to the Senators for Gilbert. The 29-year-old native of Buffalo, NY, was traded to Ottawa during the 2024-25 season as part of the Dylan Cozens and Joshua Norris swap with the Buffalo Sabres.
Still, Gilbert didn’t earn much runway with the Senators after the trade. Despite the trade taking place in early March, Gilbert only appeared in four games for Ottawa down the stretch, registering one assist while averaging 13:02 of ice time. In Buffalo, he tallied five assists in 25 games while averaging 10:04 of ice time.
Gilbert has spent the entire season up to this point with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He’s added one assist in six games with a +1 rating and is expected to join the AHL’s Belleville Senators.
Unlike Gilbert, Guenette will play for his first professional team outside the Senators organization. The former 187th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft has spent the last five years within the Senators organization, scoring 27 goals and 116 points in 236 AHL games, with zero points in eight NHL contests.
Despite the freshly signed two-way contract for Guenette, there’s no indication he’ll join the Flyers’ active roster immediately. Whenever he suits up, whether with the Flyers or the Phantoms, it’ll be his first appearance of the 2025-26 campaign.
Seems like both GMs were bored and just wanted to do something inconsequential to pass a few hours.