Philadelphia Flyers general manager Danny Briere hasn’t been tricked.
While his Flyers wildly surpassed expectations this season, it’s still obvious the club has lots of work to do before it can establish itself as a legitimate playoff contender — let alone a Stanley Cup contender.
Many expected the Flyers to trudge through the season as one of the NHL’s bottom dwellers. Instead, they finished 2023-24, Briere’s first full campaign as Flyers GM, as a competitive squad that wasn’t eliminated from playoff contention until their final game of the year.
Granted, the season ended in disappointment with the team losing nine of its final 11 outings. But all things considered, the Flyers’ first year with Briere at the helm can be classified as a smashing success.
Still, the rookie GM hasn’t lost sight of the Flyers’ ongoing rebuild.
“I know the expectation next year will be that, ‘Oh, we’ve got to get into the playoffs.’ I don’t even know that we’re there yet,” Briere said in his end-of-season media availability.
“It was a great year, but there’s still a long ways to go.”
Briere made it known he will be “open for business” in the trade market, and several players could see their names being thrown around in trade rumors as the 2024 NHL Entry Draft approaches.
Scott Laughton
Laughton, who will turn 30 on May 30, is no stranger to the rumor mill. According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Flyers were offered a first and second-round pick for Laughton last summer, and before the trade deadline in March, the veteran forward reportedly drew interest from the New York Rangers.
The trade winds aren’t expected to die down this offseason.
Despite struggling for extended portions of the season, Laughton fell just short of matching his career high of 43 points. In 82 games, he logged 13 goals and set a personal best in assists (26) while leading the entire NHL with eight shorthanded points.
Laughton’s 2023-24 campaign may not have been spectacular, but he remains a rock-solid bottom-six forward capable of making a significant impact on the penalty kill. And, of course, he’s cemented himself as one of the unquestioned leaders in the Flyers locker room.
Briere is very much still in the business of acquiring future assets. Draft picks and prospects are at a premium, and it would hardly be surprising to see a swap involving Laughton that gives the Flyers more draft ammunition.
Joel Farabee
Farabee is coming off the best season of his NHL career. He set career highs in goals (22), assists (28) and points (50) while sitting behind only Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett in total points per 60 minutes of ice time.
Still, the 24-year-old may be a trade candidate this offseason, thanks partially to a shaky second half of the campaign.
After posting 40 points in his first 48 outings of the season, he managed just 10 points in the Flyers’ remaining 34 games, being outscored by the likes of bottom-six forwards Ryan Poehling, Noah Cates and Garnet Hathaway over that span.
The 2018 first-round pick has struggled with consistency since becoming a full-time NHLer during the 2019-20 season, and under the tutelage of head coach John Tortorella, there have been signs of turbulence. Farabee saw just 56 seconds of total ice time in a tilt against the New Jersey Devils early in the campaign, and in the midst of his disappointing 2022-23 season — due in no small part to a significant neck injury suffered while training during the offseason — Farabee’s camp was reportedly displeased with his usage under Tortorella.
Even with the drop-off in production at the end of the season, Farabee still figures to be a key cog in the Flyers’ group of forwards. He’s still young, and it’s possible he hasn’t yet hit his ceiling. With four years remaining on his contract, which carries a manageable average annual value of $5 million, trading Farabee now could end up haunting the Flyers in the future.
Stanger things have happened, though.
Morgan Frost
Frost’s roller-coaster career has been the subject of much debate among the Flyers fan base. Soon after Tortorella compared his play to that of a toilet seat in November of 2022 (that actually happened), the 2017 first-round pick famously went on to finish the 2022-23 season leading his club in points (40) over the final 56 games of the campaign.
Expectations were high for Frost going into the 2023-24 season, but after a less-than-superb start to the year, he found himself in Tortorella’s doghouse, routinely watching games from the press box as a healthy scratch.
The tides turned in early January when he requested a one-on-one meeting with Tortorella, though. Frost was reinserted into the lineup with a new air of confidence, and before long, he was playing like the Frost the Flyers saw to end the 2022-23 campaign. From January 6 to the Flyers’ season finale, Frost ranked third on the team with 30 points through 44 games.
Tortorella didn’t scratch him again after that meeting.
Frost has one more year remaining on his contract at a modest cap hit of just $2.1 million. The 24-year-old has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his career, even dating back to his NHL debut against the Florida Panthers in 2019. Moving on from him could be risky, and Briere has made it known he does not plan to trade away young assets. Still, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a good old-fashioned hockey trade. Given the historically tempestuous dynamic between Frost and Tortorella (though their relationship appears to have improved considerably), a trade shouldn’t be totally ruled out.
Rasmus Ristolainen
A move involving Ristolainen may be unlikely due to his ongoing durability concerns, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.
The 29-year-old defenseman was limited to just 31 games this season, missing all of October and most of November with a lower-body injury, only to later suffer a ruptured triceps tendon that caused him to miss the final two months of the campaign.
In his 31 games of action, though, Ristolainen showed encouraging signs after an up-and-down 2022-23 season. Believe it or not, Ristolainen led all Flyers defensemen with a stellar 56.67 Expected Goals For percentage at 5-on-5.
According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the big defenseman’s improved play didn’t go unnoticed ahead of the trade deadline.
“I do think Toronto has taken a look at Philadelphia’s Rasmus Ristolainen,” Friedman wrote in his 32 Thoughts column in December. “I don’t believe the Flyers are eager to give him away, and there’s no rush for them to do anything while their group is playing well. That’s not to say it couldn’t be something down the road, but when the team is competing hard, getting good results and generally doing what is being asked of them — why throw a stink bomb into your dressing room?”
Ristolainen’s injury-plagued season is likely to limit the amount of teams interested in making a swap. Throw in the three years remaining on his contract, which carries a $5.1 million annual cap hit, trading him seems nearly impossible. But in the NHL, general managers sure do love a towering right-shot defenseman with size.
Travis Konecny
A Konecny trade is the most improbable of the bunch, but moving him may be the best possible option if the Flyers are truly dedicated to their rebuild.
Konecny, 27, is far and away the Flyers’ best player. The London, Ontario, native set career highs in goals (33) and points (68) and earned his second trip to the NHL All-Star Game this season. The speedy winger has established himself as a bona fide star with the ability to score in any situation, leading the entire NHL with six shorthanded goals on the campaign. He’s a dynamic skater, a leader in the locker room and one of the NHL’s most notorious pests.
All in all, Konecny is the very embodiment of what it means to be a Flyer.
However, Konecny is on track to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2024-25 season. With a cap hit at just $5.5 million — a bargain for a player of his caliber — contending teams would fork over a ransom to acquire his services and slot him in as a top-six point producer.
Such a move would be a massive risk for Briere. But considering his club’s dearth of elite talent and desire to build from within, a trade involving Konecny might just bring back a return that Briere cannot refuse.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.
