The Philadelphia Flyers may have missed out on the biggest upgrade they could have in Leo Carlsson, but there is still some room for improvement — maybe just ever so slightly. And you can find that still in the free agent market.
The pool of free agents this summer was dire to start out with, but now as we are deep in the middle of July and have not had any actual notable free agent sign with a team since Claude Giroux broke our hearts and went back to Ottawa, there remains an interesting crop of players who are available for all 32 NHL teams to sign.
Do any of these players make sense for the Flyers? With a bit of a logjam at forward and seven capable defensemen already on the roster, there might not be too much movement, but we could see a world where they pick up any of these players as an opportunity to get better.
Just walk with us here. It feels unlikely the Flyers pursue any of these players, but in a pure sense of making the actual team better, these free agents could do exactly that, even if there isn’t a spot for them on the roster right now.
Patrik Laine, RW
Obviously, the Flyers aren’t going to just sign a winger right now when they can’t even find room for the ones that they have right now. But if they are in need for making a move like this after, say, trading Owen Tippett and Alex Bump to the Senators for Shane Pinto or something (we can make stuff up, too), then they could be in the market for someone to score some dang goals.
Patrik Laine can do exactly that and would come fairly cheap with a whole lot of incentivizing bonuses attached to a one-year, show-me contract.
The former second-overall pick has been somewhat disappointing as of late and whether it was injuries or off-ice issues or just not being a fit in Montreal, Laine played in just five games for the Canadiens last season. But the year before that, he appeared in 52 and scored 20 goals and 33 points while averaging just 14:18 time-on-ice — and 15(!) of those goals were on the power play.
Adding someone of this talent is an easy win and would potentially replace whatever scoring the Flyers could lose if a trade were to happen.
It was earlier this year that Laine was linked to the Flyers as the Canadiens were trying to move some contracts around. No one knows if it was the Flyers that rejected the player coming in, or that it was Montreal that wanted something in return, but there were at least some rumblings.
It’s not a perfect fit but Laine is at least someone who has an undeniably elite shot and in Rick Tocchet’s system, his lack of defense can be covered up by the players around him. Tocchet might hate him in the end, but then we’ll look up and see that he scored 35 goals and pushed the Flyers’ power play to over 20 percent.
In a vacuum, Laine clearly could help this team, but only if there was a spot for him to take.
Nick Blankenberg, RD
In a similar vein, Nick Blankenberg is a player that would make this Flyers blue line better. While he is a 5-foot-9 defenseman, and the Flyers just sent one of those to Toronto earlier this summer, his underlying numbers have been astronomically good for someone his size.
Among all 271 qualifying defensemen in the NHL last year, Blankenberg finished 34th in WAR, according to HockeyStats. That’s above top-end blueliners like Dougie Hamilton, Philip Broberg, Esa Lindell, Thomas Chabot, Charlie McAvoy, Noah Dobson, K’Andre Miller — basically a lot of very good players. The 28-year-old did that while averaging just 16:48 time-on-ice split between Nashville and Colorado.
He is just a solid playdriver and is a very high-end puckmover, according to data from All Three Zones — two things that impact your team so much it does not matter how tall he is.
Blankenberg could easily play in a solid top-four role and if the Flyers decide to move on from Rasmus Ristolainen this summer, he might not bring that same level of physicality, but he would certainly make more of an on-ice impact than the large Finnish blueliner. Not the perfect replacement but an adequate one to really balance out the blue line with some strong puck-moving ability.
Again, it’s a pipe dream and almost certainly is not going to happen since they just moved Emil Andrae because he was too short for them.
John Klingberg, RD
We have to use even more of our imaginations. Is there some sort of fantasyland out there where John Klingberg completely forgets how he has played hockey for the last several years and reverts back to his Dallas Stars self? Can he reverse age himself in some freakish Swedish way to take him back to 2018 or 2019 John Klingberg? If so, that would really help the Flyers out.
Klingberg has not had a good time since leaving the Stars, in an effort to chase the bag elsewhere. He was once seen as one of the most high-end offensive defensemen and someone truly special to deliver the puck from the back, but has now faded into being one of the worst defensemen in the game when it comes to making a positive impact at 5-on-5. He’s been dreadful.
But is there something that can happen where he can take on a much more sheltered role on the Flyers’ bottom pairing and play on the top power-play unit until David Jiricek maybe figures some stuff out? Klingberg and Jiricek can maybe rotate in and out of that spot on the third pair on the right side and whoever makes the power play work, wins the job. At the very least, Klingberg can be someone that sets a benchmark for the young defenseman to get over.
It’s not an ideal fit and could be a disaster defensively, which would make Tocchet’s head explode, but if there is even an ounce of 2018 Klingberg left in his body, it could be worth it a league-minimum contract.
Pavol Regenda, LW
In the “Why the Hell not?” category, lies Pavol Regenda. A 26-year-old winger who has only played on some disappointing hockey teams — 24 games with the Sharks this past year, and a cup of coffee with the Ducks a few seasons ago — but was surprisingly very solid in his stint in San Jose.
In those 24 games, he scored nine goals and 10 points while averaging just 13:21 time-on-ice. And, according to Evolving-Hockey’s RAPM model, he graded out well above league average in impacting the game, despite not playing a whole lot.
He’s not the perfect option or whatever, but taking an easy bet and giving an NHL contract to a player that could certainly provide some scoring spark in the bottom six is nothing to scoff at.
The Flyers can easily sign Regenda and have him start in the AHL (once he clears waivers) and be one of the first players to call up in case of an injury. Carl Grundstrom is projected to be that, but why not get another one of those guys? He could help insulate some of the Phantoms’ offense, making them a better team while also maybe carving out an NHL role later on. And maybe if he pops in training camp, then he can jump to the front of the injury call-up line ahead of Grundstrom.
While the other players on this list are more free agents to sign if the Flyers make certain moves this summer and if they’re still on the market, Regenda feels like someone they can sign tomorrow to just improve some organizational depth.
Kevin Hayes, C
The Flyers do need some more veteran leadership down the middle and that is exactly what Kevin Hayes can provide. He clearly knows the market and…
Okay, we couldn’t continue doing some sort of really stupid bit.
This would be a terrible idea but it’s just funny that he’s still out there as a free agent and since he barely even got into the Penguins lineup. All the best to him but if Hayes is done at 34 years old, it’s also just unfortunate.
