It’s no secret that the Philadelphia Flyers are searching for a top-four defenseman to play on the right side of their blue line. A prototypical player that almost every single team in the NHL is looking for, but for the Flyers, this wasn’t something they set out to do this offseason, with months of planning.
Last week, defenseman Matt Niskanen surprised everyone when he announced his retirement. Reportedly, the team and player met prior to the announcement, with the Flyers asking Niskanen to take more time and think about it, but the 33-year-old decided to hang up the skates nevertheless.
This opened up a significant hole on the blue line and with that in mind, Philadelphia quickly re-signed pending unrestricted free agent Justin Braun to a two-year extension at a substantial decrease in cap hit. Although they’re not the same type of player — Niskanen playing all situation and Braun just staying in his depth role and some penalty killing — they do share the same agent, so that must have been an easy turnaround.
After bringing Braun back, the Flyers also signed free agent Erik Gustafsson to a one-year, $3-million deal to fill out their current crop of defensemen. Although the 28-year-old is left-handed, he has some experience playing on the right side and can fill out Niskanen’s former role on the power play. It’s not quite a perfect fit though, a talented offensive player, but Gustafsson can’t quite provide that all-around presence that the retiree did last season.
Even after acquiring two capable blueliners, there appears to still be a pensive need to acquire another defender prior to the start of the 2020-21 season. Niskanen provided while he was on the ice, but also his one year remaining on his contract worked perfectly as a stopgap for the Flyers’ young defensemen to mature and get closer to a regular role. The timeline worked and this team could still stay competitive while turning over the six spots to the next group.
While no player similar to Niskanen is available via free agency, going the trade route appears to be the only option other than keeping with the status quo and the Flyers have explored that.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his latest 31 Thoughts blog, the Arizona Coyotes and the Flyers have talked about a potential trade bringing defenseman Jason Demers to Philadelphia. Whether this is before or after signing Gustafsson isn’t mentioned by Friedman and the lines are currently blurry with six defensemen signed and Philippe Myers still a restricted free agent.
As briefly Demers to the Flyers was mentioned, the hypothetical acquisition makes sense. The 32-year-old has one year remaining on his contract that carries a cap hit of $4.5-million, but currently sits slightly over $3.9-million after the Florida Panthers retained some of his salary in the trade sending him to Arizona back in 2017.
The Demers contract can fit snuggly under the ceiling with the Flyers currently having around $5.6-million in cap space and just Myers needing a new deal. It’s tight but with some possible retention, a deal can get done to bring in the experienced blueliner. But is it really worth it?
Acquiring Demers to bolster the blue line for next season is certainly a risk that can work out for the team — since it is a risk to not take a risk. The established defenseman has had his top-tier years pass him by while being exiled in the desert, but one year and someone that can fill out the minutes that Niskanen did, is something to consider.
Only Jakub Chychrun and Aaron Ness had higher expected goals percentage at 5-on-5, on the Coyotes’ blue line last season — and when it comes to Ness, his 289 minutes isn’t truly enough of a season to get a good grasp on his ability to drive play. And while the Coyotes ability to put pucks in the back of the net was questioned all last season, they still outscored their opposition while Demers was on the ice at 5-on-5.
He won’t replace every aspect of Niskanen’s game. Minimal experience on the power play and seeing his offensive production dip as he gets older are certainly going to raise some questions if he becomes a Flyer — they’re not getting a carbon copy of the now-retired defenseman. But if Gustafsson is able to fill out the power play role and Demers remains a stable force as a top-four NHL defenseman, that can pack in the Niskanen-sized hole on the roster, piece by piece.
When it comes to established blueliners with just one year until they hit free agency and can bring some key experience to this Flyers blue line that is aiming to get younger, Demers seems like the standout candidate. It just depends if GM Chuck Fletcher wants to make that trade and have eight defenders fight for the available spots.
