The NHL trade deadline is still over seven weeks away, but since the Philadelphia Flyers are doing just so poorly and they have a pile of players that could be potentially shipped off to better teams on March 3, we’re getting some early news.
Thankfully, it seems that Flyers management and perhaps GM Chuck Fletcher himself, is realizing that the trigger needs to be pulled on selling players for picks and prospects, instead of trying to do their silly little re-tool that they so desperately wanted to do at the beginning of the season and last summer.
According to one report (maybe the report), the team is going to be looking at every option from a full teardown rebuild, to keeping the status quo with some parts of the roster.
“One of the things that I’ve heard over the last 24 to 48 hours, is that the Flyers are just about going to consider everything over the next six to 18 months,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on NHL Network on Tuesday. “And they should. They’re in kind of a situation where they need to do kind of a rebuild.”
Yeah, that’s been just a little obvious this season. With some players most likely not fitting the timeline as to when (or if) this team is good again, it’s time to do a bit of shuffling with this roster, and we do have at least one player that could get a whole lot of interest before the March 3 trade deadline.
“One of the names that is new on the list is Ivan Provorov,” Friedman continued. “I think he’s frustrated and I think [the Flyers] are a little bit frustrated with just the way that everything has gone down. Now, I think there is an understanding here that it might be time. … I think right now Philly is softly checking the market on him — I don’t think there is anything imminent, but I do think they are checking the market on him to see where it is.”
After this season, Provorov has two years remaining on a contract that carries a cap hit of $6.75 million. Considering that he is a 25-year-old blueliner that isn’t overly expensive for where he would play on a good team, the Flyers might get a little bidding war going on to get a cost-controlled and young defenseman like him.
No matter your opinion on the player, NHL teams go absolutely bananas for any defenseman available at the trade deadline. Ben Chiarot got an unprotected first-round pick last year, David Savard was traded for an absolute haul a couple seasons ago, and depth defensemen get swapped for mid-round picks like it’s nothing. Considering that Provorov would not be a rental, the trade might be a little more difficult to pull off, but the return should be substantial from any team wanting to solidify their blue line.
If it doesn’t work out before March 3, then there is always this summer, when teams have more cap space, to get a deal done. We will still be entertained at this season’s trade deadline with potential trades involving Justin Braun, James van Riemsdyk, and, well, just about anyone else on this team that is over the age of 23.
